Happy New Year!

Hello everybody!
Well, this past week has been pretty fantastic! We were truly blessed to find so many people who seem at least somewhat sincere in their pursuit of the gospel. It all came about because President Miller called us on Sunday afternoon and asked why our numbers were so low and what he could do to help. I didn't really have a satisfactory answer for him, so he promised to pray for us and to set up exchanges with the zone leaders to come work our area with us. So that is what we did Monday and to tremendous success. We tracted in one apartment complex for about 3 hours and found 3 new investigators, some people who had just prayed to get in contact with the English speaking missionaries! What a miracle! It totally got me pumped up again to do missionary work and to talk to everyone in our path and invite them to learn the restored gospel. I have been thanking God for that experience ever since and tracting has taken on a whole new light to me and I now really enjoy it. We start meeting with our first person tomorrow. Plus we picked up another new investigator yesterday from the unbaptized list (but blessed as children) and are picking up an African American lady tonight over dinner. PRAYER WORKS! I know that to be true, but it is a great blessing to have it verified every once in a while. I know Heavenly Father is there and that He loves each and every one of us and wants to help us to come back to Him. Thank you for all the prayers from home to find people as well, they helped a ton!

In other news, Christmas was a truly special day and was AMAZING in every sense of the word. We opened Christmas presents with the Spanish elders in the early morning (and managed to find presents for Elder Hernadez to open since he did not get any). That was very good because they were not getting along anymore at that point and so us being there helped them to cool down and be hospitable to each other. Elder Hernadez did get transferred and now Elder Jolly is companions with Elder Fordham, which seems to be going along a lot better. Another answer to prayer there. Then we went to Aunt Kara and Uncle Blair's house for an hour. Grandpa and Grandma Walker met us up there and we had a good time visiting for an hour. Reminded me a lot of our Christmases at home with presents strewn in piles everywhere according to what person they were for and just the congenial happiness and family togetherness. It was very nice. Then we went to Bishop and Sister Rassmussen's for brunch down in Draper. It was a lot of fun to get to seem them again and to talk about how the work is now going in their ward and stake. It felt like coming home to visit with them almost. Then we went to the Gonzalez family home. Man, did they put out a spread. It was delicious! Costa Rican food is probably fastly becoming my favorite. Really good chicken in some sort of spice, beef-potatoe-carrots cooked together in some other spice, then pork in gravy with carrots and potatoes and peas. What really touched me though was that we had so many missionaries there - about 11 - and they served us. They wouldn't let us help with anything, nor would they eat with us. They acted like the best waiters or waitresses I have ever seen - they said they wanted to give back to us for the best thing that anyone has ever brought their family, the gospel. It really touched me heart. It was great to catch up with them too and see how they are doing. Then we stopped by some more people that I had taught before and that I had known really well before in my old area. Then we came back up to Taylorsville and visited a few families for Elder Noll. In the evening, we went to the Cremer's home and played Catch Phrase! and Curses! with them. It was a blast! It wasn't as good as really being at home and at Grandma Hughes' house for Christmas, but it was still a day that I really enjoyed very close friends that I hope to cherish forever.

Christmas Eve was a spiritual experience. Instead of watching movies and playing games during traditional "lock down" days of the year, we will now have mission conferences. With speakers from the Seventy or the Quorum of the Twelve. They are going to simply be spiritual feasts. This past one, Elder Jensen came and spoke to us about his memories and thoughts on missionary work and Christmas. Then we were privileged to open gifts so graciously provided by the members in the mission. They had donated so much in answer to the call made by Sister Miller to have presents for every missionary. Everyone there got at least two big presents to unwrap and they were all full to the brim with treats, clothes, gift cards, you name it. Ironically enough, the basket I received had a Utah "Utes" hat in it. Very funny. Everything else I received was amazing though and it was another touching and humbling experience to receive so much from people I don't even know or will probably never meet. Then we had another chance to listen to speakers - they went through the Christmas story and we sang many, many hymns. Then Sister Miller addressed us and then President Miller addressed us on the need for obedience. He was in tears and I think everyone else in the room was as well. The Spirit was there so strong, it was almost tangible. A fog of goodness, hope, and cheer that surrounded and ended the entire evening is the only way I can think to describe it. It was FANTASTIC!

The rest of the week was really good as well with the new people we found to teach and the other people we are teaching making very slow, but steady progress.

It was great to have a spiritul powerhouse kick to the face this week for Christmas to get me really motivated to keep doing my best in missionary work. I am going to work harder, be better, and give it my all. That is what I came out to do and that is what I am going to finish the rest of my mission this year doing. I am working on a system to get letters to where I really want them to go. I found out that none of the letters I mailed out the past transfer got to the people I sent them too and some of those were very important letters. I am sorry for this and will try to do better and get them in a secure location to be mailed. P-days seem to keep getting shorter and shorter though, I don't know how that works. So the time I write letters in keeps seems to get smaller and smaller and harder and harder. But I can and will do better and letters will hopefully make it to their correct destinations.

Elder Noll and I are still together and I am still a district leader. I am liking it though and finding it has really helped me to learn and grow. Especially having the charge of other missionaries and their welfare has really opened my eyes and my heart and I have learned that revelation really does flow right when it is needed if we have lived worthily of it. I really enjoyed this past transfer and look forward to this one being full of more amazing experience and great blessings from Heavenly Father. To keep inviting people to come unto Christ and to be baptized so that they can return to live with our Heavenly Father. This is His work and He is at the head of it. Of that I am sure and know without a shadow of a doubt.

Much love and prayers,
Elder Hughes

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!
I have decided that life gets very interesting as a district leader. Elder Jolly, one of the Spanish missionaries in my district, passed out over the weekend and hit his head and starting to have convulsions from hitting his head. Since he was the only one who could drive out of his companionship, they are now only walking for the forseeable future. I had to work as the inbetween man for the missionary and the mission president and his wife and try to sort through all the medical stuff and what was needed and how to work out getting them transportation and stuff like that. CRAZY! The sister companionship in my district had quite a bit of drama as well so between the two, I have had my fair share of being very busy this week and lots of earnest, hard prayer and seeking for heavenly help. It does come and it has made a big difference. Now things are starting to cool back down and it looks like the last week of the transfer will be very good for everyone.

Last Friday, we had a mission wide Christmas conference. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came and spoke to us. Needless to say, it was quite a good talk and there was some pulpit-pounding involved as most the time seems with him. He talked to us about how Preach My Gospel was written to convert the missionary so that missionaries can than help to convert others. The goal behind Preach My Gospel was that no missionary is supposed to go home less active. It was a really good talk. They also had about 50 musical numbers from different missionaries. It was a huge spiritual feast.

I got the package last week and this week - thank you so much! I will call around one in the afternoon, that will work great! I ran out of time to write much this week reporting back to president about the different needs of my district. When I call, could you get me the Lyon's address? I couldn't stay very long (one hour max family visits) but I could be there for an hour on Christmas. They could call me at (801)205-6524 if I can stop by in the morning at 9ish. That or in the evening around 7 or 8. Whatever works best for them, let me know on the phone call or give them the number so they can get in touch with me if the morning visit would work better. I would love to visit them! Especially because they are currently only a few miles away. Life is going great and prayer really works! The church is true and our Heavenly Father really does love us. Jesus Christ suffered, died, and was resurrected. That fact makes the entire plan of salvation possible. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know miracles can and still do happen every single day and many times throughout each day.
Have a Merry Christmas!!!!!
Elder Hughes

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...and then the snow came

Hello everybody!
Well it snowed again last night, another good 3 or 4 inches. All the snow was melted and gone and now everything is covered in snow again. I think it looks better that way though. You don't notice how muddy everything is or how dead the trees really are. Anyway, things have been going fairly well! Lots of people we are hoping to start teaching and the appointments should start holding steady, so we are praying for anyway. We should be picking up an African American lady named Kimberly Dance tonight or tomorrow. She has been attending church for the past two weeks and has asked a lot of questions of her member friends about different things the church does. No one in the ward was quite brave enough to ask her to take the missionary discussions or would give her our address though so tracking her down has been quite a chore. We finally managed to find her though and she is excited and very interested to meet with us. The only problem is that she is constantly sick and suffers from severe insomnia. So whenever we have had an appointment set up in the past those two things have gotten in the way. But we are supposed to stop by again tonight and things should get better. We should start teaching a part member family next week, they have been taught before but were ok with trying again. The cool thing was that the husband who is a member just talked about going back to church the day before we knocked on their door. We caught the nonmember wife home and for the first 5 minutes we talked to her on the doorstep, she seriously thought her husband had set her up. Finally she called her husband and after he denied speaking to us about anything and acknowledged maybe there is something greater at work here - God. After that she was willing to set up an appointment for a week from today. Also, we should start teaching a woman named Jen Mace tonight. She just moved here from out of state and was taking the missionary lessons before and is interested in continuing. We are so excited to see things start to pick up! We have been working hard all day, every day (as my companion likes to keep reminding me) with not much success. Finally the blessings are starting to come from the efforts we have put in. We are so grateful. We have a lot more potential that are starting to surface as well and should be good to start teaching hopefully in the next couple weeks. The zone leaders double worked our area with us yesterday to help us find more people because we have been doing really bad at that. They said we were both doing the right thing and to keep going and things would pick up.

Information about Christmas and new rules that have come out. I am not allowed to Skype, not at all. There is no time limit or set time to make the phone call, so let me know what would be the best time to shoot for. Do you want me to call while you are at Grandma's house? Or at a different time? Also, I am now allowed to go out to lunch any day with any family members within my own area - EXCEPT for my parents and girlfriends, but I don't have to worry about that one haha. Interesting rule, huh? Lunch still has to be an hour or less like any normal day. But that is an interesting change up from the absolutely seeing no family members from before. On Christmas Day, I have Christmas dinner currently at 10 AM with the Rassmussen family. Then hopefully we are getting something set up with the Gonzalez family for a later lunch because that is what they wanted to do. Our landlords have invited us to eat Christmas dinner with them so we will probably do that. Also, planning other visits throughout Riverton and Draper while I am down there to people that I taught before and now are struggling with trials. BIG ones. Hopefully I can help them in some way, I have been trying to write them as time permits. I can't believe it is already Christmas again, that is ridiculous. It was just Christmas the other day or so it feels like to me, the more I try to slow time down on my mission the more time seems to speed up and slip through my hands.

It has been that hot down there?!? You should send some of that up here! Haha. I could use it, so could my companion. We are probably a sight to see with our scarves, hats, and gloves, and jackets. We just get cold so easy. My companiond does have stuff to open. My presents really don't fit underneath the tree but that's ok. Looks like Christmas still anyway. I did get the box from Aunt Kara and thank you so much! I think the Chex mix might be gone by tomorrow. Like always, it is addictive so I munch on it and then it has been a hit with some other people I have shared with as well.

The people we are teaching have all seemed to stalemate for the time being. Various concerns and challenges, not to mention Christmas have made things a little bit difficult for most people. But we do have one person who should be getting baptized on New Year's Day! How cool is that? I can't think of a better way to start off the new year, especially for him. His probation just ended so now he can finally get baptized and he is absolutely loving the gospel. It has done more to help with his mental health issues than anything else has. He is a really awesome guy and his family is reactivating around him which is great for support.

Well, that is all I have really time to write right now. I am loving life and my mission, things are awesome! Oh! Tina and Cassidy Reese are finally getting baptized this Saturday! I am so excited! I get to go down to Draper on Saturday night and give the talk on the Holy Ghost! So I get some of my visiting done that night with the people that will be at the baptism. I should have pictures of that next week and I am so excited!

Much love and prayers,
Elder Ryan Hughes

Heat Wave

Merry Christmas!
Well, the way things are turning out, Utah might be having a very green Christmas. The temperatures have been shooting up to the upper 40's and lower 50's and almost all the 2 feet of snow that used to over everything has melted away. Feels like spring again. Only problem is that everything is dead instead of blossoming. Oh well, it is nice to have warmer weather at least for a little while until winter hits again.

Ok, to answer all the questions. No, I didn't find the stamps. But now that I know they are there I will certainly find them. I haven't done anything at all to the box so they should still be right there. The razor is definitely helping a lot, so thanks so much. I got quite a few nice things from the Lyon family today and I want to tell them "THANK YOU" from the bottom of my heart. Also, got the package from you and a present for Christmas. It will go underneath the small tree that Grandma sent me last year that I put up again right next to Grandma's presents. For the protein diet - we have a lot of salad bars, a lot of potato bars, and a lot of vegetables and fruits. We still eat with members every night but he has to tell them ahead of time what he can eat and they are gracious enough to feed us anyway. Lots of sherbert for dessert. Last night, we had a curry and potato soup, it was delicious! I absolutely loved it! I really, really like Indian food. So, we still get plenty to eat but it just happens to be more healthy than before. Plus it helps me to try vegetables I have never tried before like parsnips. They were pretty good. Also, a lot of people make some part of the meal with meat still for their families and allow me to eat some of that. No, there is nothing else that I need. Everything else is good, I have more than enough stuff. Trust me. As for the phone call, I do not know what the rules are yet. No one has said anything. We will have to wait and see. I had Costa Vida a few weeks ago from a very nice ward mission leader's wife! Costa Vida happens to be up here as well, plus I have discovered the tastiness of Cafe Rio. Sweet pork burritos are simply the best. The one thing Utah doesn't do is Tia Rosa's. Nothing even comes close. But that's ok, they have plenty of restaurants up here that Mesa doesn't have and that I have found myself enjoying.

This past week we have been working really hard. At least Elder Noll lets me know that he thinks so. Appartenly, I have way too much energy because I am all go, all the time. I seem to tire everyone else out, all my companions so far at least when they didn't have any other problems with anyone else. I still don't find myself too tired though, so I don't know what to do. The missionary work in general though has been going fairly slow. Everyone is sick or extememly busy. Nice, but too busy. In some ways, Christmas is great and in other ways it kind of hurts the work. We have been able the watch the church movie "Joy to the World" with several of our investigators and several new less actives we have picked up. We started to teach the Golson's on Monday night. Jayden is about 11 and was baptized about a year ago and has not been back to church at all since. His mother stopped going to church about the same time and picked back up her smoking habit. We knocked on their door and they immediately invited us in and wanted a message. They have very fond memories of the missonaries that taught Jayden and so we shared a message about the true meaning of Christmas and the blessings of the Atonement in our lives. Both the kid and the mom were riveted the whole time and bore very sweet testimonies about the gospel. We are excited to teach them and work with them and they are very excited to be reconnected with the Spirit as well. Hopefully in the next few weeks we can them back out to church and then start working on the smoking habit. She really wants to and so does he. It is amazing how much the Lord truly prepares people and how the gospel can arrive at just the perfect moment to help them out.

Logan Margetts got baptized last Sunday. It was an awesome experience. He was truly prepared by the Lord as well and was very ready for baptism. I have never seen someone so excited to pay tithing in my life. That and fast offering. He was jumping at the occasion. Wayyyyy excited. He gets confirmed this Sunday and is looking forward to it.

Now that he is baptized, all of our prospects have been shot. No one else is really progressing towards baptism at the current time and things have really slowed down.

We are praying hard though and trying to do what we can to help things pick back up. The Lord will bless us. We are excited for Christmas and for everything that is coming up, it should be awesome!

Much love and prayers,
Elder Hughes

I survived the Salt Lake City "blizzard"

Good morning everybody and Happy Thanksgiving!
Well, as you can tell by the subject. There was a blizzard here last night, supposedly anyway. It pretty much felt like a regular snow storm, but the weather services had been warning people about it for days so every house we went to had people telling us to be careful and to park our car and stay inside. We did end up having to ground the car, but it never snowed hard enough to where it felt like we had to hide inside. It did get pretty cold last night though and for the first time in my life, I had to chip ice off all the windows of our car. And "warm" the car up by leaving it on for about 15 minutes with the defrosters on at full heat blast. Definitely a far cry from the Arizona Thanksgiving, that is for sure. We sang "Prayer of Thanksgiving" last Sunday at the Taylorsville Utah Valley Park Stake and it had already snowed a good foot by that morning so the song seemed to be a little bit behind the times with "All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin." hahaha, I was thinking "too late". Trees and branches have been falling down all over the place because they all still have their leaves. Add all the weight of over a foot and a half of snow and lots of them came crashing down. Did a lot of damage to our landlord's trees, they used to be so beautiful and now all the big branches have been broken off and are scattererd throughout the yard. I have decided being moved to a new area right before Thanksgiving is not the best, I had so many options and offers in Riverton. Out here, my companion is kind of shy so we have only one offer and that is for 1, so the rest of the day we might just be sitting in the apartment. We aren't really supposed to knock on doors and disturb people's family gatherings and celebrations, but maybe we can set up more appointments or find something to do. As long as we can stay indoors most the day, we should be fine. Today and tomorrow there is a huge cold front, which is keeping temperatures down in the 20's and teens. Then back up to 40's again, Utah is so bipolar. Elder Noll and I have started to really exercise this week as we played sports on Monday and then shoveled all our landlord's snow today. There are drawbacks to having a huge driveway and lots of sidewalks is what I discovered.

I have been blessed to be placed in a really good area with lots of very nice people and a huge amount of potential. Elder Noll is willing to work hard and follow my lead, but I wear him out to easy I am afraid. He fell asleep a lot yesterday and has already done so again today. He tries his hardest, but I guess I am blessed with a lot more energy than most people. Working on calming it down a little bit so that he can stay focused and awake during lessons. My district is also amazing. All the missionaries are very obedient and are working hard in the Lord's work. All are excited to do the work and have the faith necessary to perform miracles in their areas. All are also happy and energetic and willing to give it everything they got. Much better than it could have been according to what President emailed me. I have Sister Wasden and Sister Johnson from Hawaii and Canada, respectfully. Elder Hernadez from Las Vegas and Elder Jolley from Seattle. Elder Jolley is a brand new missionary and Sister Wasden has only been out a transfer. Our entire district has only been out a short amount of time collectively on their missions. Elder and Sister Palmer are our senior missionaries and they are awesome and hard working as well. I had to do my first baptismal interview last week for a 10 year old girl. Thankfully, they give us "cheat" sheets for all the questions we have to ask and such things so it went very well. The Lord has truly blessed me with such great missionaries and such amazing opportunities. I don't know why He has given me so much responsibility, but I will do everything I can to live up to what He expects of me and pray as hard as possible for His help and guidance. That is the only way to ever do anything with His work anyway, with all of His help and Spirit.

As Thanksgiving approaches, a lot of talks and thoughts have been centered on gratitude and I always love that. I especially have enjoyed reading and re-reading President Monson's talk from last general conference. If we live grateful lives and have an "attitude of gratitude" then we will truly be as happy as we can ever be and become the type of people we truly want to be. I have been working on being much more grateful in my prayers and in expressing more gratitude for the infinite blessings the Lord has granted me. Also, worked on expressing it more to all those that we teach, work, and come in contact with. The difference it makes is astounding and has helped me to keep happy and going strong. Right now, I am working on sending out thank you cards to a bunch of people in my past area who truly watched after me and helped me in the Lord's work. There are so many people to thank though is what I am realizing and so much to be thankful for from every house and family. The list has gotten fairly long and comprehensive. But I really enjoying writing them and including my testimony and letting people know how much I truly appreciate them and their service towards me.

The people here in Taylorsville are a much more humble people, but not nearly as outgoing or loving as Riverton and Draper, at least not right away in the first week. No one seems to trust me or want to talk about the gospel or anything for that matter - all want to stay working hard and don't seem to find joy in the work that they do. All seem to be just "existing" rather than "living" if that makes any sense. It makes a huge difference in the missionary work and the missionary spirit in the two stakes that we cover. We are trying to work on gaining more trust from members and uplifting their moods. Helping them to understand that the gospel and life are not something only to be endured, but to be ENJOYED! We pray for people's hearts to change and for them to be happy. I know the Lord will help us know what to do and what we can say. We will work as hard as we can and do everything possible to help people to feel the Spirit and to change. But I can understand why there has not been much missionary work. Church this Sunday was much harder because instead of being happy, enjoyable, and fun - the mood was somber, downtrodden, depressed, and dull. If one didn't have a strong testimony of the church, it would be very hard to want to go to an environment like that every week.

That being said, we have 5 people on date for baptism currently. All have been touched by the Spirit and have that strong testimony and are excited for their baptisms. All have been filled with the light the gospel brings. We should be having 3 baptisms in the next week from people who know that the church is true. We also managed to pick up a new investigator this week. His name is George Alan and he comes from a very rough life. He has tatoos all over his body and has been involved in numerous motorcycle gangs and always hung out with such crowds as those people attract. Then his wife died (who was VERY less active) and evil spirit started to haunt his house and his life (why I have people with crazy situations like this every time, I don't know. Every other missionary I talk to never has people have evil spirit, visions, dreams, or the like. Just normal people, whereas the ones the Lord has me teach all have very special and individual experiences.) The stake president, who lives down the street, had the prompting to go visit with George and as soon as he walked in the house, he casted out evil spirits and offered a blessing on the home. The difference was immediate and George was truly touched and humbled. So then the stake president had us visit him and he cried the entire time that we shared the message of the Restoration with him. He didn't yet want to commit to baptism or anything (says he needs to take things slower from changing from heavy biker to church goer) but the Spirit was so strong! He was very honest and open and wanted to learn. He had been truly prepared by the Lord to receive the gospel at this time. The only other person I have seen that was more prepared was Jose Flores, so we are very excited to be teaching George and have given a lot of thanks to the Lord for him. Also, he offers the most sincere and heartfelt prayers, people invesigating the church have a knack for doing that. Always makes me feel like I can't pray at all because of the strong Spirit that is always present in their prayers and their great faith in God's answers to their prayers. Much stronger faith than I see in normal church members. I feel the same way Ammon and his brothers did when they were teaching the Lamanites - they didn't have to fight the people to accept the word, but they accepted every word and doctrine that Ammon taught and believed. Same with the people we are teaching here. It is an awesome experience.

Thank you so much for forwarding me Jake's email. It was great to read about his experiences and to see the differences and the similarities of the Lord's work in different parts of the earth. Also, gave me a lot of new ideas that I think we will try out this week in the work that we do and the contacts that we make. Thanks also for all the letters and emails from various people, I appreciate it so much! It is the best to hear how everyone is doing and to be updated on how things are going. I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving this week and to take the time this week in prayer to thank the Lord for our innumerable blessings. Also, as President Monson put it to thank all those that deserve our gratitude the most but that we take the most for granted. Ponder who those people are and let them know that you care and the difference that you have made. I am thankful that God has given me such wonderful family and friends who have helped me to live the gospel and to stay on the path. I am thankful for caring people in my life that have led and guided me and provided for me. I am thankful for how you have all influenced my life and helped me to change for the better. I am thankful for our saviour Jesus Christ and for a Heavenly Father that loves us and gives us everything that we need to return to Him again.

Much love and prayers,
Elder Ryan Leroy Hughes

So, things will start happening!

Dear friends of Ryan,
I must sincerely apologize that I have not had access to his blog for some time! :( Now that I have all the information I need, it will be updated. Thanks for your patience! Sorry for the LONG delay!
Quite Sincerely,
Ryan's Inept Lil Sister

Ryan's new email

Good morning everybody!
Well, as my subject says I have been transferred! And wow is it crazy. I am currently writing you from the Utah Valley Park Stake Center or the Utah Taylorsville North Central Stake Center - I am not quite sure which one. Either way, I am now in Taylorsville, Utah and will likely be for at least a few transfers (thank goodness, the packing to move was horrendous). I moved from the farthest south you could get in the mission up to the farthest north. It is like two different worlds - up here there are all apartments or old, tiny houses. Old meaning at least 50 years if not much, much more. Absolutely no farms or livestock or anything like that was in Riverton. The people so far seem very different as well....not nearly as friendly or happy. Oh well, guess I will have to work on changing that. The area I am in is not doing too well - only 5 or 6 baptisms for the past 7 months (in the other one we had around 20ish). We only get to use the car half the time, we share it with the Spanish elders and we have half of the miles that I used to have on top of that. The apartment is very different as well - no more duplex with a whole half to ourselves and lot of extra space and tons of nice furniture. Plus two bathrooms and a big kitchen and family room. We are in a member's basement with quite limited space and one small bathroom, a tiny kitchen, and a small bedroom. It is a very nice place to be, but it is also a very big change to make. However, the bed I have now is much nicer. I might actually be able to get some sleep now, who knows? Luckily, we still managed to have a family history center at one of our stake centers so we can email from there and not have to wait in the long lines in the library or pay money for using those computers. Oh, I am also now a district leader. Don't know how that happened. Most of the areas in my district I have just found out were whitewashed this transfer and moved around a lot. (Whitewash is two brand new missionaries entering an area and all the old ones moving out). So appartenly this district needs quite a bit of work - my companion is the only one left over from the last district at all. I have to give an hour and a half training tomorrow and I have no idea how that is going to work out - they haven't even given me the paperwork I am supposed to train from yet, supposedly getting it later today (at least I hope). Also, I have to work out exchanges, interviews, and all that jazz. I am feeling kind of overwhelmed, but excited. I'll tell you though, I am homesick for my old area. We went around yesterday after I got the transfer calls and said goodbye to about 50 or so people. It almost broke my heart. All are excited to see me go and experience change, but all also gave me big hugs and said they were going to miss me. Boy, I am going to miss them. Thankfully, Christmas Day we can go visit anywhere we want and I already have a lot of offers to go for meals, visits, treats, games, and etc from down in Draper and Riverton. Also, got the brilliant idea from Elder Simpson to start a missonary journal of everybody. Kind of like a missionary yearbook. I took it to everyone's house and asked them to take a few minutes to write some memories in it and also to put a picture. It turned out looking really great and it is the best thing I have gotten physically from a mission so far, one that I will cherish forever. Everyone also wants me to come up and visit when I am at BYU, which I really want to do. The problem is not ditching my BYU ward to much for wards up here on Sundays, hahaha. I didn't know how much you could come to love people that weren't family until I came on a mission and I will love those people forever. If you come pick me up at the end of my mission (not saying I am trunky or anything) Mom and Dad, there are really a lot of people that want to meet you and I would like you to meet them. Quite a few of the journal entries from people also wanted to thank you for raising me right and being such a big influence on my life so that I could touch theirs. Thought you would like to know that and I truly am grateful to have two such wonderful examples as parents that have such strong and solid testimonies of the gospel. That helped me to gain my own and helped me to obey all the family rules, even when I really, truly didn't want to. So thanks.

Also, I have decided for Christmas, above everything else I could use some stamps. I am out of them and now that I am writing a lot more letters every week, I have discovered how truly expensive stamps can be to buy in bulk and then use them all and have to buy more. Especially now that I have to write a few more people that I have taught and worked with from down in my last area to keep in touch. That is my Christmas wish list, truly.

I think I am still mostly in shock from actually being transferred. A part - and quite a large part - of me for quite a few of the past weeks was really hoping to serve my entire mission in that one area. It felt like home to me and the people have become family. I could now actually see myself living in Utah to be around such people later on in life - the cold and snow would still get me though. I completely trust in the inspiration that President Miller received though and am confident that God has me here for a reason and He will help me to adapt. Even the district leader part of it, even though I think I have no leadership skills whatsoever, especially to train and teach other, better missionaries for that long every week. I don't know how I am going to do it. But I have been fervently praying for help and I have already been greatly comforted through the Spirit.

Whitney Snell and Ben Boss did get baptized this past week and it was a simply wonderful occasion for both. The kids, yes, but especially the less active parents and siblings were touched by the Spirit and have made solid commitments now to follow their kids to attend church each and every week. The Spirit that is at a baptism is so powerful and overwhelming. But it was nothing compared to the Spirit that was felt at the sealing of Tom Hansen and McKaylee Farhner this past week at the Jordan River Temple. That was overpowering, almost to the point of being overcome by the Spirit like the multiple people in the Book of Mormon. Both of their faces were shining so brilliantly with the Spirit, there wasn't a single dry eye in the whole sealing room and not a single person that was not beaming with true and everlasting joy. It was amazing to watch both of them gain a testimony and get worthy to enter the temple for their marriage and not have to get married and wait another year, but be able to just get married in the temple right off the bat. I have never felt so happy before in my entire life watching them kneel at the altar and look into those mirrors and think of their eternal destinies and that they were able to make it. It made me think of all the other people I constantly pray for everyday to make it to the same place and how totally worth it is to do missionary work to help people to get there. There is no better calling in all the church, or none more fulfilling, especially at the moment. Next summer, I am looking forward to attending a good 5 or 6 more at least and it will be just as great and amazing experience as this one.

My new companion is Elder Noll and I have already come to like him a good deal. He and I immediately seemed to "click" which is very nice considering I have yet to do that with any of my other companions. That only happened after two or three transfers. But Elder Noll seems a lot more like me and we have a lot of things in common and I am excited to get to working with him and becoming really great friends with him. He does have an interesting condition that will help me to lose weight and get me to look like I was lifeguarding or swimming again. He cannot digest protein. So therefore no meat at dinners anymore - chicken, steak, fish, you name it, can't do it without seriously making himself ill or even possibly killing himself. Only some basic grains and mostly fruits or vegetables. That should slim me up a good 10 to 15 pounds in the next few months. I am really excited for that, I was starting to get a belly and was not overly happy about it. This will be much better. Plus I will actually get to eat healthy foods! I haven't had fresh fruits and vegetables for so long, it will be delicious! :) Elder Noll is also excited about my blender, so I am not the only one who has an addiction to smoothies. I think this is going to be a really great transfer. We don't have very many investigators or a very big area or very many nonmembers to actually teach at all, but having a companion who is excited to do the work and wants to work hard everyday. Loves talking to people and getting to know them. Has all the right social skills. Is always usually happy. Knows how to correlate with ward and stake leaders. It is going to make a huge difference!

One more request, please update the blog if at all possible! People have been telling me in my old area how they googled my name and found the blog. Only to notice there was no update since April. There are quite a few people that would love to read it if you have the time to update it. If not, that is ok too. I will just write more letters and buy more stamps. The Lord will provide somehow.

I know this church and gospel is true! Living the gospel has brought me the greatest happiness in my life and makes all the difference. I know that President Monson is a living prophet and that the church was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Like Bishop Bickmore said in stake conference "I do not worship him, but I revere him." I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He did it all out of love so that he can help us. The Atonement works and I know it is true. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us. He is our Father, we are His children. Prayer is how we talk to Him and is one of the greatest gifts that we have. The scriptures are true and if we honestly study them and ponder them and pray about them, we can find answers and guidance in them everyday and multiple times throughout each day. Thank you for all your love and prayers and support, they truly make a difference! I went through a rough patch there for a month or two, but it is nice to be back to being regular me with all the same quirks, smiles, and positive-ness. Much better, I know all your prayers helped me to get back to that and where I should be.

I love you all and pray for you all by name. I am so excited about the block party you are throwing with the missionaries, let me know how that goes!

Sincerely,

Elder Ryan Leroy Hughes

PS. If someone wants to get on my Facebook and add some of the people who are trying to add me as friends, that would be great.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Good morning everybody!
Well, it has been snowing on and off the past week and the temperatures have been heading steadily downwards. And I have discovered the miracle of thermals! The ones that were supposed to be for Mongolia, I now wear every time it snows or is freezing and they work like a charm. It makes doing the work much better and I actually am finding the cold to not be so bad anymore. Wool socks definitely help a lot as well in that direction. The mountains have now all gone back to the way I like them the best - covered in white. The snow in the valley really hasn't stuck at all yet, but that is supposed to change before Thanksgiving so it cannot be that long. Also, we finally managed to get our windows clean! Riverton water has two systems - a primary and a secondary. The primary is the one inside the house that you use for bathing and washing dishes and stuff. It is also supposed to be used for drinking but I don't know of anyone at all that actually drinks it - it is the hardest water on earth. They measure the particles at 37, when 7 is already a high measurement for hard water. The secondary water is free and is used for irrigation, sprinkler systems, etc. It is NOT for drinking or bathing whatsoever. Our neighbor that happens to live in the other half of our duplex happened to aim the sprinklers at the windows and so they were so heavily stained that you couldn't see through them. One of our bishops told us about the miracle of Lime Away! though and we tried it out yesterday. We had to wear gloves and long sleeves and glasses so that it didn't get any of the particles of it on us but it cleaned the windows right off! It was amazing! We can actually see outside now! Who knew that could be so awesome?!?
Anyway, the last week has been going really great and the Lord has really blessed us in the work. I don't know what happened for a transfer or two there but now the area is getting back up to where it needs to be and where it should be. Oh interesting thing that I learned at the Draper Mountain Point Stake Conference the past week. President Morgan talked about "building a boat." He reviewed the story where Nephi, Laman, Lemuel and the gang got to the ocean after travelilng through the Judean wilderness for so long. They called that land Bountiful because of all the materials and fruits and foods that were provided there for them. However, when the Lord called Nephi to go and build a boat and move on, he immediately asked - "Where shall I go to find ore that I might molten tools?" He was happy where they were at, but knew the Lord had so much more in store for them. Laman and Lemuel had no desire to move on and were content where they were at, didn't see any need for change and didn't trust that God would give them more. His talk was about that we all have "boats" to build in our own lives. God never expects us to be content but to keep improving and changing for the better. We have to have the faith that when God calls us to leave our normal rituals for life that there is so much more in store for us. It isn't worth remaining content where we are at, we need to have faith to take the next step and build a boat. I really liked that talk and have been using that with all the people we are teaching to tell them it is time to change and take that step. All of them have agreed and I have to say President Morgan was very inspired and it has been great!

Tina Reese is solidly on date for November 21 with her family! Bishop Bartholomew went over last night and used his priesthood keys as bishop to challenge Tina for that date, plan out her baptism, and give her a priesthood blessing. She readily accepted and is excited for that date now and so are her kids! It is a miracle and a true answer to our prayers. We got the idea from presdient last time in interviews and then he came and shared that idea again at our stake leadership training. Bishop Bartholomew readily accepted the challenge and went over and did it and now they are progressing and moving forward in a way we never would have thought possible. Bishops truly have a mantle and are called to preside over their ward area and can get the work done where we cannot.

Also, a lot of doors have been opening for us lately. We have managed to catch a great many of our referrals at home and for the past week, their hearts have been a lot softer and they have allowed us to share something with them so that they could feel the Spirit. We should be picking up several new families soon from that and we are so excited!

Whitney Snell and Ben Boss, both 9 year olds are getting baptized this Saturday and we are so excited for them! It is a great way to end this transfer and to keep moving forward with the work here in this area.

The less actives that we work with are also starting to pick up the pace a bit and progress in the right direction. They are willilng to keep changing and keep working unil everything is ready that needs to be and they can get to the temple again or for the first time, whatever the case may be.

Oh, I am getting comments now from some of the families in my area that they googled my name and found the blog. But the blog hasn't been updated since April and they weren't to happy about that. I know you are busy Mom, but if you could update that, apparently people are really trying to read it and enjoy it.

Also, I am finally buying stamps today! I keep forgetting too, but today should be good, I promise!

Well, I love you all and pray for you all. Even if I have been terrible recently at writing letters, I still love you guys and want you all to be happy, healthy, and strong in the gospel!
Elder Hughes

Good morning everybody!
This week has been going great! Missionary work is amazing! Plus praying and fasting to change my attitude really does work wonders! The work truly hasn't picked up or anything, but life is just going so much better. I thank Heavenly Father for that and helping me to change. The weather has been simply delightful for the past week - all 60's and so much warmer than normal and perfect! We have been cleaning crazy the last week and our apartment is so clean! It looks like a home now to me! The only problem is that our sink managed to break last night. It doesn't drain at nearly the rate it used to and so it takes about a half hour to drain the sink instead of 5 seconds. We are going to try to buy some Drain-O today and see if that can help fix the problem. Other than that I have no idea what to do. Plumbing is definitely something I have never seen worked on before really at all. But we are actively praying that the sink will work soon and I have faith God can help us with that miracle. Last Saturday, we had another "zone activity" to avoid being out on Halloween night (or when it was celebrated here anyway). We got to see Forever Strong and How to Train Your Dragon. Forever Strong was good to watch again and How to Train Your Dragon was pretty funny. Also, I have been cooking a lot more lately. We inherited about 40ish pounds of frozen meat from a recent convert that moved away a few months ago. Plus I found out that we have a crockpot. So not we have pot roast, barbecue chicken, etc. It has been good and I have discovered my love of cooking again. Plus a very nice and kind member got me a blender at Walmart that other day and so now I am making smoothies again. They are delicious! Anyway, life is going great and I am as happy as can be.

What else is happening?

Oh! So cool spiritual experience this week. Tina Reese called us about getting a blessing for her son. We were in an appointment so didn't get the call and she didn't say much in her message but to call her back. We were already almost late to get in that night, but I said we needed to call her back because someone needed a blessing. So we pulled into a parking lot and kept calling her and her daughter until we got someone to pick up. Her son, Dylan, needed a blessing and she was wondering if we were still out so that we could give it right then. We replied we could be there in about 2 minutes and drove over. We got there and he asked me to seal the anointing and to give the blessing. I did so and giving the blessing was so had. It felt like something was blocking me and wouldn't let me say what I was supposed to say. It was exhausting to say a single word and took great effort. The thought came to my mind to cast out evil spirits and that was what was needed. I thought I was going crazy and just imagining things so I ignored and kept struggling to give a blessing. Again the thought came to my mind to say that in the blessing and again I ignored it. It was getting really hard to say any words now and it truly was a tremendous struggle and effort. The third time the thought came and I decided it was time to stop ignoring it and to say what I was being prompted to say. Instantly, the entire house and atmosphere brightened up and the Spirit was so pronounced it was overpowering. The words just started to flow from my lips prompted by the Spirit and all the struggle and exhaustion was gone. All was filled with hope and happiness and the brightness the Spirit brings. The absolute change that happened in that one second was astounding. It really strengthened my testimony of how strong the Spirit really is and how powerful the power of the priesthood is and blessings can be. Also, was eye opening to me to actually experience the powers of Satan and that wasn't easy. But God is so much stronger and so much better. It was an amazing experiece and one that I will always remember.

We picked up a new investigator this week. His name is Ben Boss, he is 9. He already knows everything and has been going to chruch actively for the past few months. We are planning on getting him baptized in about 2ish weeks which would be really good. We are excited about him and for him. We are still actively searching for more people to teach though!

Well, time is running short. But I love you all! I appreciate all the letters and support you all give me and how much it helps me!
Elder Hughes

Good morning everybody!
This past week has been really great! Not so much with finding investigators but with finding prepared less actives from the less active lists our bishops has finally been giving us. Lots of people who accepted the challenge to start working towards the Melchizedek prieshtood or towards being sealed in the temple. I am so excited!!! The weather us here has been phenomenal with a very, very warm Fall. The leaves are starting to all change colors and that just fascinates me to no end. I have decided Fall might be my favorite season because of all the beauty that it brings. Plus all the food we are getting out of people's gardens. Utah is garden crazy and everyone has tons of tomoatoes, zucchini, squash, pumpkins, green beans, potatoes, etc. We have gotten bags and bags full of the most delicious fresh produce and I have to say we have been very blessed by it. They totally beat anything that you could buy at the store. Actually picking pumpkins from a pumpkin patch is a ton better as well and we really enjoyed it! Everyone is getting their Halloween/Fall decorations out as well and they all look amazing. Tons of fun. The moutain tops are randomly covered in snow though and so the winter season isn't too far off. Hopefully you got the letter and the tile that I sent. Hopefully the tile didn't break, but the shipping options were limited. In other news, I have had EVERYONE (and I mean everyone) comment about how long I have been here and how impossible that should be, every member at church on Sunday walked up to me and let me know that. They call me the forgotten missionary, but are grateful that I have been "forgotten", haha. So now I have a working camera, I am going to start taking a lot more pictures - like of the house, the car, the people we teach, etc. But for now I don't have anything new going that direction. The people that I have taught these past few months have now all made me promise to never forget them and to keep in touch with them for the rest of forever. They all want me to come visit and do fun things with them when I am back at BYU. I could probably even get free housing from some of the people, but it is just too far away from Provo up here in Riverton/Draper.

Let's see what all has happened to the people we teach. We started to visit with the Davis family in the 5th ward. They just don't know how to be active, both grew up in less active families and so are currently less active. Both have strong testimonies though and want to go to the temple. They are only in their early 20's, so they are about our age and they are so much fun to teach because they are willing to change and to learn. They have a love and an enthusiasm for the gospel, that is rarely seen and are excited to start living actively.

The McGee family had a miracle occur. We have been teaching them on and off since March at least. But they keep going in the "pride cycle" in their lives. Live the commandments, get blessed, forget God, stop living the commandments, lose the blessings, come back. They didn't seem to get the fact that they were caught in this vicious cycle until a few weeks ago, so we challenged the dad to work towards the Mechezidek priesthood, then the next day the bishop visited (unbeknownest to us) and challenged them to be worthy for the temple in March. Both were very shocked and shaken, but felt that the timing is now or never to get their family sealed. So when we had an appointment with them, the Spirit was finally there and it made all the difference! We had a lesson about tithing which was just what the bishop had talked to them about, again we had no idea. They were both feeling the Spirit so much that they bore their testimony and agreed to pay titihing to start turning over a new leaf. We also finally got her issue addressed with a modern prophet and she accepted what we taught! I am so excited for them and for the progress that they are finally making. They thanked us too for our dedication on trying to keep working and the difference it has made in their lives.

The Nay family is still going strong and has their sights set on the temple as well. They are so happy and excited, the Spirit is truly radiated from them! The Knudsons are doing well too, the bishop challenged Tony to 3 months until the Melchizedek priesthood and he accepted. The countdown starts on tomorrow and then 3 months later, he should be good to go. He has promised to give up all cigarrettes and alchohol and we will see what happens.

Raymond is ready for his baptism this weekend and so is Candy. Both are very excited and are loving the gospel. Their countenances have changed a lot as well. Both are also counting down the days to enter into the temple and to make that next step in their lives. The baptism should be very interesting this weekend, all of his very Catholic family will be in attendance. And although they have promised to be cordial, they are very set against Raymond joining the church. I know the Spirit will be there though and it will touch their hearts if they are open to it.

Tina Reese is not committed enough to live the Word of Wisdom and doesn't feel like she can get that way. She knows the church is true and that she needs to change and do those things, but it hasn't happened yet. We keep trying to build her faith and testimony. We keep praying for her to have a change of heart, a complete change. She is only halfway there right now. But the ward is not giving up on her and is holding on to her with all their might. Her kids are ready to go and are just waiting for her.

Well, time is out for today. Sorry I didn't get to write as much but I love you all! Keep up living righteously and doing the right thing!
Elder Hughes

Happy Fall!

Good morning everybody!
This past week has been pretty great and although we haven't been having too much success, we are still finding joy in the work. I am still in my first area, survived another transfer for now. That will make 8 transfers in one area, basically just about 2ish weeks short of a year. Kind of crazy, but I have really enjoyed it. Before I ever (if I ever) leave this area though, I want it to end on a high note and not on a downhill. Both stakes are trying to do great missionary work, but all the easy people who were extremely open to the gospel seemed to have been found and baptized. Now, there is just really stubborn people left. Love them all as I do, stubborn investigators are a lot more frustrating than golden investigators. But it is all good and we are working to solidify our investigators, less actives, and recent converts. They are all still progressing, some only at a very, very slow rate, but still progressing. Oh, I learned how to fix something new! My key broke in the doorknob this past week as we were coming home for the night. I was able to get the door unlocked and to get inside, but half the key was still stuck in the lock. Not the best option to leave you door stuck between locked and unlocked. So I took apart the door knob and was able to get the key out using a screwdriver and patience. Then I had to reassemble the door knob back on the door. That turned out to be much harder than taking it apart trying to get all the screws and pins to line up exactly so that it would fit perfectly back on the door. But I managed and I learned how to put a doorknob back together. I guess that is one good thing about being the only missionary companionship to have their own apartment in the whole mission - we get to learn how to be handymen and how to fix everything you can imagine. It was fun though and I enjoyed doing it.

In other news, I fasted this past Sunday to be reconverted and re-exhilirated for missionary work, because my fire for it has kind of been dying out with no change and a lot of the time feeling like I am alone instead of with a companion. I got my answer by the third Sacrament meeting we attended. It was all about people who have been struggling with financial issues or recent deaths or other life changing tragedies and trials. Their message and testimony was all the same though - although the gospel might not make life easier or perfect, it is the only way we can receive the strength to carry on and usually with a smile. So I was given the inspiration to carry on and work hard, even if we aren't doing nearly as well as we did. Heavenly Father is aware of our struggles and everything will work out for our good if we keep trying. Life and the mission will not always be perfect and just peachy, but it will be the best that it can be as we put our whole heart and soul into what we do. So I found a new spark to go out and do missionary work and renewed faith that everything that we are trying to do is not in vain and that it will all work out for the best someday. It was a huge miracle and blessing to me though to receive an answer to my fast, even before I had finished fasting though. Heavenly Father truly does love and take care of His missionaries and do everything He can to help to feel loved and to work hard. How cool is that!

The people we are working with are in various stages of progression and regression. They seem to take two steps forward and 1.999 steps back. But they are slowly changing for the better and helping their lives to gradually improve. No one will rise to the challenge of immediate progression though, they are all content with where they are at. I found out one reason why missionary work in Draper has slowed down - the bishops have all had their attention devoted on other matters. About 20% of each ward is probably in some process of foreclosure and so instead of having all the correlation and ward leadership missions be focused on missionary work, they are focusing on the 5 or 7 new families who are about to lose their house this week. The economy has opened up many people's hearts to receive the gospel, true, but it is also distracting the faithful members from reaching out to those who aren't members or who are less active because the active members have enough crisis issues to keep every organization busy. We are trying to get the bishops to refocus back on missionary work, because it brings great blessings and I think the wards would be blessed in this matter for doing so. But for now, the focus has shifted elsewhere and missionary work gets a ton harder when you don't have the membership backing. Especially in Salt Lake City South Mission.

Raymond Martinez is still excited for baptism though and is pushing ahead for it, despite the numerous tricks and traps the Adversary is putting on his path. So are the Reese family. We are so excited for them and love them.

Oh, something else that happened this week. One of my recent converts found himself being offended and upset for trying to do the right. He was going hometeaching with the elder's quorum president and the ward mission leader. Turned out not one single visit they made had a lesson attached, the were all social visits. Jose had prepared spiritual thoughts and everything and was so excited to bear testimony and do those things, but to no avail. Then one family they visited said that they were doing fine, and then Jose got the impression they were facing really big trials and problems. His companion didn't believe him, but now the family has not been attending church for 2 and a half months, when they attended faithfully every week before. Jose feels it is all his fault for having received the prompting and not acting on it because the more "seasoned" member of the church didn't seem to care. He was really down about it this past week and the amazing thing was that all our appointments cancelled that evening and we were searching for people to visit to get more referrals, but instead of that we ended having a lesson that was the most spiritual one we have had all week with Jose about what his calling and responsibility is and how he has to follow the Spirit's promptings courageously despite the examples of others. I don't think Jose was going to leave the church per se, but Heavenly Father loved him enough to watch him struggling and to have everything else fall through so that we could help Jose that night. That is how much Heavenly Father truly cares. It amazes me and I am so grateful for it. Also, we are working on reteaching the ward on how hometeaching = teaching, not just social visiting. There should be prayers and a lesson and seeking for the Spirit's guidance. So please if you read this letter and you are a home or visiting teacher - be a fantastic example in everything that you do! You never know who is watching or how much you are influencing others!

Well, I love and pray for you all every day! Time is running out though and I must leave and go do other things! I hope you are all loving Fall!
Elder Hughes

General Conference was Amazing!

Good morning everybody!
It is finally Fall in Utah! Temperatures today are only supposed to get to the low 70's and stay that way for the rest of the week with lots of rain and thunderstorms. All the leaves on the mountains have started to change colors, the mountainsides are now pretty colors of orange, red, and yellow. The communities that live up the mountain are expected to get snow starting this week too. I bet it snows sometime before Halloween, it always seems too. I simply loved General Conference this time around. It was full of inspiring messages and things that got me thinking as always. Probably the talk that stuck out to me the most was President Monson's talk about gratitude. I am really trying to shift my views from focusing on what I lack to focusing on giving thanks for all the great and wonderful things that God has given to me. Having an attitude of gratitue. Time to stop taking things for granted and giving sincere thanks for each and every thing that we have. Plus what he said about having regrets when we lose track or people or they pass away and we were not able to give them our proper thanks hit me hard too, always giving thanks to our families, friends, and strangers for all that they do for me is my goal. That way there will be no regrets. I think that sounds like a much better life to live than continually thinking of what else we need or want from life or how everything is turning out. The rest of the talks were superb as well and each hit the people that I am teaching or working with as appropriate for their time and cirumstance. All the talking about Holy Ghost and baptism hit Raymond Martinez really hard and helped him to prepare for that this upcoming month. He also had been thinking about pride earlier on Saturday and had been listing out in his head all the things that Elder Uchtdorf mentioned in his talk, every single point that he had. He considered it a miracle and it reconfirmed his testimony. Also the talk on addiction was by Elder Ballard was perfect! It was just what almost all the people that I teach needed to hear!!! From pornography to smoking to pain pills to everything else, most the people that we are working with have some problem with addiction and it helped them so much. Plus it helped all the spouses and family members that have felt betrayed by the addiction of their spouse to find some healing and peace and to want to move toward forgiveness. It was very powerful. Heavenly Father truly inspired all those who spoke to meet the needs of each and every member of the church and for each and every person that was willing to watch and listen with an open heart. Ok, so new announcements just came in! P-day is now going to be on Wednesdays from now on starting next week. So my next email will not be until October 13 so don't freak out when it doesn't show up on Monday. Also, all of our days have now moved around, Tuesday is now service day, Thursday is now district meeting, Monday is a regular proselyting day, Wednesday is now temple day (in the morning, we have to attend the 5:30 AM session). Kind of crazy but it will be interesting to see how everything works out. I don't think the changes have stopped yet either, I think changes are going to keep coming down the line as fast as President Miller prays about them. I am fine with all the changes though, they are helping to make the mission better.

So something that really touched my heart yesterday and really got my faith going again was said by Sister Gonzalez. We stopped by last night to let them know the good news that Bishop Boshard wants Erik to get the Melchezedik priesthood soon and was good to interview both Sister and Brother Gonzalez for patriarchal blessings. Plus Claudia if she feels ready for one. The whole family was so excited, then Sister Gonzalez asked how the work was going for us. The answer was not very well, we only have 3 lessons the past week and everyone was kind of way up and way down depeding on the day. Sister Gonzalez then said that their whole family needed to start praying really hard for us and to find people for us to teach because everyone deserves that chance to belong to this fantastic church. Her face was so happy and she was so confident that everyone would want to join the church as her family has just done that it really built my faith and gave me the confidence to get out there this week and talk to everybody! That there are people truly prepared to receive the gospel and that they are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. It was a huge boost for me after two really slow weeks and it really helped me out a lot. Plus with the Gonzalez family praying now for us too, we have to succeed. Their faith is too strong not to. It was a very awesome experience!

Not too much went on this week other than those things. Tina Reese has been getting hit really hard by the adversary lately and it has really been pulling her down. But there isn't much we can do to help because she isn't letting anyone help. We all keep praying for her though and we ran over a whole thing of pumpkin cookies and a card to let her know that we were thinking about her. I hope it helped. Raymond Martinez is excited for baptism and is handing out invitations right and left for people to attend, he is so excited and despite the fact that his entire family is angry about it, he is going to move forward. Deylon Falkner has kind of fallen by the wayside, sadly. His dad got home from Alaksa and has turned out to be very anti and against the church. So that is not working out like we planned. There is still hope though if things will work out and we can get the right people to visit with the dad and to calm him down. We are picking up quite a few new investigators this week and we are excited for that. Way excited. We are hoping that everything will work out. Praying for it too!

Well I love you all and really do pray for you all!
Elder Hughes

I have been out one year this week...where did all the time go?

Good morning everyone!
This week has been pretty hard. Everyone who was making changes and progressing and enjoying the fruits of the gospel has gone completely 180, and I have no idea why. Or how everyone manages to do it on the same week. So I spent a lot of time in prayer last night and I got the impression to keep working. Keep trying. But people have a right to choose and that right cannot be circumvented. No matter what. But it breaks my heart to see people fall back to where they used to be and become just as depressed again and just as bad as before. I can only imagine how Heavenly Father feels watching His children and doing everything He can to help them make right choices and then watching them still make wrong ones despite how everything has been set up. It hurts. Not everyone has fallen away though, some people are holding strong and are making those changes. Everything else this week has been great and enjoyable, but it kind of puts a damper on everything when you watch people start to consciously choose the wrong.

Raymond and Candy are still doing great though. He is on date for the 23rd of October and is excited for it with all his heart. So is his wife. Both have become steadily and steadily more converted to the gospel and the blessings it will bring to their lives and their marriage. Heavenly Father helped them to find the gospel at exactly the right moment to save their marriage and their relationship. That has been a true miracle to watch them change and build their faith and testimonies.

The Nay family is doing awesome!!! Kamomi (full name is Kamomilani Stanlyn Villaverde-Joaquin or something close to that) was baptized by her father last Thursday and it was one of the most touching baptisms ever. He practiced and practiced and practiced like crazy with our help this past week to make sure he had all the words down right. He did perfect, didn't even have to dunk her again or anything. The whole ward almost showed up to show their support of the experience and all offered heartfelt congratulations to the family and to keep going strong. The other miracle that happened was that we received a phone call from Miki on Saturday about the blessings of tithing. Tithing was the one and only thing that Miki was struggling to keep or fighting us on at all. But she paid it because of our and her husband's request. Even though it put them another $50 in debt, when they are already $300 behind on really important bills. She paid the tithing though and was waiting for the blessings to come. And come they did. She was asked randomly by her neighbor if she would shampoo his carpet and she agreed for the price of $50, enough to cover the tithing she had just paid. She scrubbed all the carpets as best as she could so she could make up the tithing. Then she went to go collect her check a few hours later. The man paid her $200 and wouldn't take it back and refused to request any further work from her or anything else. He said he just felt it was something that he needed to give and that she had done an amazing job. She called us the minute later to tell us that story and to bear her testimony. AWESOME! She also told me that I was right, tithing works and to please use her story to bless the lives of others that we are teaching. She wants others to move past the skepticism like she has. A true miralce and I know that God really does fulfill His blessings and His promises.

Other than that, everyone really has regressed and not progressed. Everyone is still letting us meet with them - as far as we know - but all are not sure about the gospel or the church anymore. It is amazing that it can take months and months to change for the good and climb the hill, then it takes only a few days or a week to slide all the way back down to the bottom. I am still doing well and happy though. Ask some of the people that we teach or visit with, several have made the comment that I always have a smile on and that I am always positive and looking forward. That I just embrace everything with a smile and keep going. I am confident things will work out and I am praying that they will. I still am having a really hard time that I have been on a mission for a year, it only feels like yesterday I was walking off the bus in Sandy to the mission office and only a few days ago that it was the cold and cloudy day the MTC when I was dropped off. Hard to believe how many things have changed in a year and all the people I have come to love and cherish and the things that I have learned and look forward to. Well, sorry for the short letter. But there isn't too much else to report. I got the camera to work great and so I have been able to start taking pictures again. Good thing too, I really missed doing that.

I love you all and pray for you all!
Elder Hughes

When the entire valley is filled with smoke, you know the wildfire is pretty close...

Good morning everybody!
Well, as you can tell by my subject, wildfire season has officially hit Utah. Very late in the season, but very prevalent right now. The entire Salt Lake Valley was filled with smoke yesterday thanks to fires surrounding the valley everywhere. It kind of seemed like the giant dust storms down in Mesa but instead of breathing in dust and dirt, you were breathing in smoke and everything smelled somewhat like a campfire. The entire mountain to the southwest of the valley was on fire and at night it lit up like a huge beacon and gave light to our Riverton Stake and could be seen for miles and miles and miles. No worries though I am not in any danger. The missionaries that live about 7 miles west of us had to be evacuated but unless the fire can move 7 miles in the next few days, we are safe. That was pretty exciting last night. I will send a picture of it next week, once I have my camera and can take pictures again. Hopefully, a bunch of good baptism pictures as well. Utah is back up into the 90's this past week and this week and it feels great! Absolutely amazing! It is supposed to cool back off soon though and you know Fall is in the air because all the mountains have started to change from green to orange, yellow, red, and gold. Very pretty, and before you know it, they will be doused in white again. The seasons are gorgeous up here, I will give it that. Lots of things have been going on the past week and lots of things have happened. Still haven't found any new investigators but we have a bunch of potential appointments set up right now and are trying to catch a bunch of people that are excited to take the lessons. The problem is that now that school is back in session, the work has slowed down, quite a ton. With school, football, clubs, music, dance, and who knows what else, no one is at home anymore or has any great amount of free time. We are trying though and are working as hard as we can to stay as busy as we can. The Lord has blessed us to catch people at home and having hearts softened that I never dreamed would happen. Elder Gosch and I are getting along better, which is great and I have learned quite a bit from him and hopefully he is learning something from me. I still find it hard to always be in the driver's seat all the time, since Elder Gosch has little to no intiative but he is trying and improving. That is all I can ask for. I hope to get people to trust him soon though or this area is going to die out...all the people that call on the phone (which he holds because I am driving) only want to speak to me. If he answers and cannot hand the phone to me, they tell him to have me call them back later that night or when I am available. They will not talk to him at all. Makes a lot of work all night long for me. Oh well, I am sure by the time one of us ever has to worry about getting transferred we will get the members to trust him. He is doing a lot better.

Let's see what all happened this week.

Tuesday was a working day. The new mission president philosphy was sent this week in his announcements to our email. Here it is: "The first cause of failure is a subconscious will to fail. The will to fail manifests itself as “action to avoid action”. It is an ever active campaign of the subconscious to bring so many unnecessary activities into each day’s program that there isn’t sufficient time for action which would be most productive." So that means, everything that we used to do during the week meeting wise or otherwise that isn't strict proselyting is usually cancelled. We are having our second district meeting of the transfer tomorrow, and I think that might be the only other one that we get. I like having all the extra time to work, but it is taking some getting used to. A lot more brainstorming of activities to find people to teach during the hours when no one is usually around in the mornings. Tuesday was a true answer to prayer though because the Lord helped us to find new investigators to start teaching this week! We were able to catch Joey and Janene Day at home and they have agreed to meet with us this Wednesday. Joey is a returned missionary, now playing drums for the Baptist church, and Janene attends with him but "isn't Baptist." Both are interested in at least listening to what we have to say if nothing else. We will see how the appointment turns out. Also, I got the prompting to just go talk to less active parents and get their permission to teach their children and that was a true inspiration from God! The Lauritzen's and the Miller's were home and both gave permission for their children to be taught, when the ward has said about 100 times in the past that the parents were too hard-hearted to have anything such thing happen. It was a miracle! Now our only challenge is catching the kids at home to start setting up appointments, Eli Miller and McKenna Lauritzen both are in school, clubs, dance, sports, and never seem to be home! We are praying for the chance though and the 6th ward that they both work in is praying with us and trying their hardest to catch them.

Wednesday was probably our last temple day! It was a great session and it was a great feeling to be in the temple again and to feel the Spirit so strongly there. I am going to miss the temple, not because it used up time that I didn't have to work during, but because I could write down all the names of the people I was teaching on the prayer rolls and I know the Lord truly blessed those people because of that action and of all the faith of those who attend the temple. But the Lord knows my heart and desires and I am sure He will not bless the investigators or less actives less for me working harder and longer.

Thursday we taught Thomas Woodworth, and he is excited to be baptized this upcoming Saturday, the 25th. He is probably the most golden of golden investigators and a true answer to my prayers and petitions to the Lord. He will be getting baptized down in Hurricane where all his family and friends live, so we will not get to witness his baptism but it will be a sweet event and a very spiritual one. He is already excited to receive the priesthood and is counting down the days to when he can get his endowments in the temple. I think the Lord watches me struggle knocking on doors and never saying the right thing or catching people at home or whatever and so keeps dumping these amazing golden investigators on my lap. I appreciate that blessing and thank Him everyday for it.

Friday was another hard working day. Lots of knocking on doors and talking to people, but very little interest of enthusiam from those we met with. It was a still a good day though and Whitney Snell should now be getting baptized about halfway through October. She is so excited for it and her parents have committed to take her to church, not sure if it will actually happen, but they said that they would and looked pretty positive about it. They have testimonies of the gospel and know the church is true, they are just lazy! But hopefully we can overcome their laziness and work with them towards getting worthy to go to the temple again and getting Whitney baptized. Such is my prayer constantly everyday.

Saturday was another working day. We got the car washed (finally) and it now actually looks fairly nice. We correlated with a lot of bishops and ward mission leaders about needs that we had or that we needed to talk about. Also, I managed to get the waffle maker broken at Roxberry Juice. We went there for dinner because our dinner cancelled. They had just barely started to offer waffles and were excited to do so, but the guy who was making my waffle, didn't grease the waffle maker. So they washed it out with that strong sink thing that they use to wash out blenders like at Jamba Juice and it broke. What was supposed to be about a half hour dinner, turned out to be about an hour and a half as we tried to help them clean up the mess and they kept trying to get the waffle maker back working to get my dinner done. It was good though, the cashier there was taking missionary lessons in the stake right next to where we work in Draper, so we got to talk to her and encourage her to keep going for her baptism date of October 9. It was a nice Spirit there as we all bore our testimonies. Saturday night we had the adult session of stake conference in Riverton. It was an amazing meeting. President Higbee talked about something that really touched me. He talked about the recent Ensign article about Lehi's Dream by President Packer and how we were all inside the great and spacious building because of television. But most importantly he went over the work "mock" and how it keeps us glued to the building instead of glued to the rod. He used the story of Lot from the Old Testament and how he was commanded to flee form Sodom and Gomohorra. He went to go tell his sons-in-law to flee with him, but they "mocked" him. Lot left anyway and was protected for it, while his sons-in-law were destoryed. How often do we not cling tightly to the Iron Rod because others are mocking us and we do not flee the great and spacious building because of mocking? His point was to be like Lot and raise the voice of warning and then to flee from the world regardless of the heavy mocking and who it comes from.

Sunday was a great day and it went by superfast because we had appoinments and meetings all day! It started off with a general priesthood meeting in the Draper Mountain Point Stake. It focused on the talk "Good, Better, Best" given a few years ago at General Conference by Elder Oaks. The question to ask ourselves for every activity we are doing is if that activity will help us return to our Heavenly Father and brings others with us? Or does it keep us stagnant on the path back to him? Or does it turn us away form Him and push us back on the path? Such simple questions but if we apply them to every activity and amusement that we pursue, I think we would change a lot of what we do. I know I need to when I get back home. After that, we had a PEC in the Mt. Point 6th ward. Went over all those people we hope to start teaching, good meeting. The bishop and priesthood leadership have really caught the fire of missionary work because of all the excitement. After that, hustle back to Riverton for the general session of stake conference. It was a great session, but I was so tired and worn out, my notes were terrible, so I don't have much to report. However, after that we hustled over to Mt. Point 6th ward sacrament meeting and that was good. Then back to Riverton to see Noa's baptism!!! One of the highlights of the whole day. It was a great spiritual experience and his mom and father and stepfather were all there and dressed properly. Even though they are all kind of anti. All there felt the Spirit and it was a very sweet and touching experience. After that, back to Draper to see Sam Nay get the Aaronic priesthood so he can baptize Kamomi on this Thursday. The blessing that followed the ordination was simply beautiful and had just what he and Miki need to stay fully active and to lead their children in righteousness. We are so excited for him and for their family! They are AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL!
After that, back to Riverton for dinner and a FHE with the Peart family. Then we had a simply fantastic lesson with Tina and Bailee Reese. Tina has decided to get baptized and is excited to do so!!! We had a lesson truly taught by the Spirit answering questions and helping her out. I came to really love and appreciate Bishop Heaps because he is the ward mission leader and was sitting in there helping us to teach. He and I taught together the whole lesson and Elder Gosch chimed in helpful testimony and stories that were not distracting or way off topic. It was great! I am so excited for them and to be reteaching fully by the Spirit again! It makes the biggest difference!

Well, I am out of time again. But I love and pray for you all!
Elder Hughes

"Sorrow is looking back, worry is looking around, faith is looking up!" :)

Good morning everybody!
So I found that quote that is the subject of this email on the floor of the cultural hall today as we were working out on a nice, small piece of posterboard. It made me happy because that is so true and I am now making it one of my many life mottos. Whenever we are unwilling to change and not happy with where we are at, we are truly looking back, that accomplishes nothing. Whenever we are looking around and feeling embarrassed or discouraged by what we see around us or people who are better, we are worrying and therefore still not accomplishing anything whatsoever. But if we look up and trust in Heavenly Father, then we have the faith to keep going on the path that we are on even if it ends up getting hard or difficult. It all depends on our perspective. Anyway, a little bit of inspiration that hit me this morning as I was working out from some flier that someone had left on the floor. Alright, to answer all of your questions. Yes! I could really use a camera! I was going to buy one today, but if there are still extra at home I will take whatever one you could send to me! My camera is dead, I have tried to fix it and get others to look at it and fix it and none of us can figure it out. I don't know what happened at all, but all the SD cards are fine and work great and aren't full yet, so I am good on that account. But if you would send a camera up, I would really appreciate it! Go ahead and forward me other missonaries' emails, I enjoy reading them and it helps me to see what I can do better as I read their ideas and experiences. Plus I get to really feel the Spirit strong by reading other people's stories! I only don't have any time to respond to the message because the time is so short. I am used to having a lot more time to write everything that I want to, but oh well. 14 pounds of chocolate pudding, huh?!? CRAZY!!! That is one big answer to clean up and work with. So that means Nathan and I both went to our first homecoming with the Richardson family, kind of weird how that all works out. But cool. I still can't believe Jamie is married. And Lucy, And Aubrey is well on her way. Everyone that I ever went to a dance with is now married or engaged, well almost everyone. Haha, I love the Mickey Mouse socks! They are awesome, thanks for getting them for me. I haven't yet found a chance to wear them with moving people in and out of our apartment, but we finally got everything organized again and now I will! My coat is plenty warm enough, it helped me to survive one winter just great, I have the faith it has the ability to help me survive another. Plus the sweaters and the wool socks help a ton too. Of course, I remembered it was 9/11. I can't believe it has already been 9 years though and that it seems like so many people have forgot. It is interesting to look back and see how far our country has come from that point and how that one event has changed the entire way we do our daily interactions in the United States and changed the complete course of our nation, communities, and lives. I am good on slacks, I have plenty of other pairs that will work just fine with no problems. That is the only pair that has any holes or anything, the rest all still look very nice and almost brand new. Thanks to semi-frequent drycleanings. The only thing I am truly struggling with is not having a camera, so if you could send one of the other ones up that would be awesome! That is all really need. Sister Johnson sent you that picture on Saturday night, I have come to really love that family and all the people in it. She was really glad I wasn't transferred because she wanted to send home a picture for the past 6 months or so and keeps forgetting everytime we visit them. Well, the mission is out to change a lot now. Elder C. Scott Grow from the the first quourum of the Seventy visited our mission on Friday and he turned everything upside down and shook it and President Miller is all over it. No more weekly temple attendance, takes too much time away from proselyting (which I can agree with). No more calling in at night, we are old enough to take care of ourselves and to get in on time because it is the rule without having to be accountable to anyone. No more exchanges, too much of a waste of time. No more district meetings every week, but less frequently. A lot more time needs to be spent doing actual missionary work and talking with people and so those were the solutions that were proposed and selected. I have a feeling there might be many more to come as well. Let's see, what else? Oh, we are getting a list of every less active member in every ward to go out and contact. We are asking each bishop for a list and for information to be provided on what their next best step needs to be to progress. Whether that is receiving the priesthood, becoming endowed, getting sealed, renewing a temple recommened, whatever. We are to go out and invite each person on that list to make that change and step in their life. That will keep us busy for the next 4 months at least! Considering we cover 17 wards and about half of each ward is less active so that is at least 1700 people and more like 2500. Lots of visits to be made and invitations to be given out. The whole theory behind it is that many less actives have many non member friends that the active members would never dare to think to spend time with. As well, people watch the bishops and relief society presidents and active members of the ward, and they are never home. They are always too busy serving, who want to join a church with that impression? But the less actives have more than enough time to spend at home and don't even attend church, so people watch them and think that our church isn't too bad. The idea is to get the less actives out and their non member friends will follow suit and then the baptisms and everything else will go up. That is just a lot of people to visit, but we are excited to go out and do it! All of our bishops and stake presidents are really enthusiastic about it as well!

Well anyway, on to a little bit of what happened every day.

Tuesday we were out contacting all day long looking for more people to teach. Not much luck, lots of nice people to talk with but no one sincerely interested. We were able to teach the Nay's on that day at the Mendenhall's house. The whole family is excited for Kamomi to get baptized and I have never seen anyone more excited to receive the priesthood. The whole family is actively attending church and keeping commandments like crazy. They read and pray faithfully everyday, and have started to have FHE. I can't believe the complete turn around that has happened. It has been nothing short of a miracle comparable to Moses parting to the Red Sea or anything else in the scriptures. Once people are willing to take the gospel into thier live sand start to live the principles that are taught in it, the blessings are immediate and astounding.

Wednesday we started to teach Thomas Woodworth, and talk about golden contact and investigator. He was willing to get baptized on that day but we are waiting for his families and friends to be here for the special event so it is going to happen on September 25. When we showed up to the stake center to start teaching him, he came with a Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel in hand. At first I thought, it was some kid who had pulled our leg wanting to be taught and instead was trying to get ahold of the missionaries to prepare for his mission. But we started talking with him and he has not been baptized yet, but wanted to study out of the book that missionaries had and so obtained a Preach My Gospel. He believes everything that we go over wholeheartedly and has one of the strongest testimonies of anyone I have ever met. He has already prayed about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and received an amazing answer to both. Heavenly Father does truly answer prayers and the most sincere desires of our hearts, Thomas was the investigator that I have been praying so hard for and it is a miracle! He has a great desire to get married to his girlfriend in the temple too, I love him!

Thursday was another big, long contacting day. We had Elder Hoehn with us. He is being trained by the zone leaders but they had to go to a leadership meeting so he came with us and we got work done. I love Elder Gosch, but he isn't totally socially there and is easily distracted. Elder Hoehn was a firecracker and we worked so hard and met so many people and made so many contacts.

Friday was the day we listened to Elder Grow all day. It was a good meeting and I learned a ton and felt the Spirit more. I already told you what all he is changing and the things that happened. It was good.

Saturday was another conacting day. I think the members in my area know me well enough now to understand my facial expressions. They could tell before I started talking that the work has been slow and that we are struggling to find more people to teach. All of them got recommitted towards spreading the gospel with their friends and families and we got quite a few referrals as a result. A lot of the members now too are asking their neighbors and friends to meet with us instead of us having to cold contact. They see the difference it truly makes if the invite comes from them and not us.

Sunday was very awesome! Church all day is always a highlight for me (something my companions always think I am crazy for and weird). A truly exceptional miracle happened yesterday. I was fasting all day for the son of that bishop's family that sent you my picture. They have one son on a mission in Argentina, and his twin is still here and has gone less active and kind of dark. I fasted for him all day to have a renewal of his testimony and for the desire to be born within him to go on a mission. We went to a stake fireside that night for the youth put on by a motivational speaker where she talked about a lot of great things. But guess who we sat with? Josh Johnson was there, he had only come to drop off his little brother and then we going to go hang out with friends or something, but he felt like he should stay, so he did. He followed my lead and sung all the hymns with us and listened attentively all night long and guess what she covered? The blessing and the returns that come from taking the time to serve a mission. Heavenly Father answered my fast that day and there was a spark of something in Josh that wasn't there before that night! It was an amazing and inspiring miracle to me!

Well, I am out of time so I need to go. But Tony Knudson now has a testimony as well, means he can soon recieve the Mechezedik priesthood and then get sealed to his wife. They are so excited!!!

Love and prayers,
Elder Hughes