Hey everybody!
So as you can tell by my subject, the sun is out and spring is finally here. And I have to say I love Spring, I have never seen a "spring" before. At least not one like here. There are so many flowers everywhere and all the trees have the most amazing looking blossoms on all the trees. I am going to have to take some pictures and send them to you guys of all the awesomeness because I have seriously never experienced it before. Fall and spring don't really exist in Mesa is what I decided. We have summer and winter. That's it. Anyway, so I got a letter mailed out today to the family and some other people, that should hopefully get there in the next few days. This week was probably one of the best weeks I have had since I have been out on a mission yet. We had 13 lessons this week and a baptism. That is the most lessons we have taught in one week ever, still a far cry from the 21 that the mission "standard of excellence" is at, but Heavenly Father blessed us to teach people who wanted to meet more than once a week and to find more investigators to teach. Investigators who are honestly searching to find the truth and so are excited to be baptized and to learn the truth. They are reading and praying every night and love going to church. I don't know what the deal is but Heavenly Father seems to bless us with all "golden" investigators - that or just everyone is golden in the Lord's eyes and so at the right time and in the right way, He will reach out to His children here on the earth by letting them find the missionaries. It also amazes me how we have found no investigators by tracting yet, not one. We have found all the people we are teaching or have taught in the past by member referrals. That is the way missionary work is supposed to work I think.
So Aliya Reece was baptized and confirmed on Saturday. We taught her all the lessons in one and half weeks. Crazy fast! But when someone is willing and ready to learn, they are able to take it all in. Whereas, if they are being stubborn, it takes a lot longer to teach and to get them to keep commitments. She is 12 years old, but about the size of an 8 year old. Reminds me a lot of Jamie Richardson in that way, but is a very sharp young woman. She marks all the scriptures that she enjoys and she shares them with us when we teach her. Basically, she is awesome! Her family is all less active and so they were not willing to do anything about it. So we taught her at the ward mission leader's house, Bro and Sis Brown have become 2nd grandparents to her since she spent most of the past two weeks almost living at their home. Her family came out to the baptism them - all the less actives and the non members. So now the ward is on top of getting them to start coming back to church and to work towards baptism for a few of those people.
Dakota Bradley is learning crazy fast as well. He loves to compare the gospel to things that he knows and so has taught Elder Craigo and I quite a lot since we started teaching him just over a month ago. We finished the message of the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation last week and he soaked it all in like a sponge and shared it all back with us with insight included. Teaching him is a complete joy. Teaching him at the Maynard's house is a ton of fun too. Teaching at members' houses brings the greatest joy and is the most fun because they have such great testimonies to share and experiences that are awesome - lessons are their houses always go at a slower pace though because of all the discussion that goes on. But that is why they are supposed to be disucssions and not just boring lessons, right? Our investigators sure seem to learn a lot more from a discussion atmosphere surrounded by their friends in the gospel. Dakota is on date to get baptized this weekend, but we will see. He is sincerely praying, attending church, and now reading so he should get the answer that he is searching for, I know it. The family is all praying for him as well, so things should work out.
Kristina Davis is an earnest 11 year old who wants to know the truth. She comes from a part member family who has all now gone less active. Her mom is a fundamentalist so treats us pretty coldly, but at least she let us in the house and she is ok with Kristina getting baptized. Kristina is excited to read, pray, and attend church. She doesn't know if she wants to get baptized yet (based on her getting an answer that the church is true) but she believes in it so she can get there. She should be getting baptized about halfway through May if all goes well. The trick is getting them to start coming back out to church, so far yesterday they are still giving us the run around but they should be able to come next week, they promised.
We are also now teaching Vern Peterson Jr. He is an unbaptized 9 year old who really wants to get baptized. His family has just been having depression issues and things and so stopped attending church a few months before he could get baptized. His father committed to start coming back to church though this Sunday and is excited for it. He knows that his family has drifted apart and struggled a lot harder with life since they went less active and he wants to get all the blessings of the gospel back into his life as soon as he can. His wife is going to be harder to work on, but I know that with the help of our Heavenly Father she can regain that desire to be active again as well.
Teaching Careie LeFevre (isn't that an awesome spelling for that name?!?). She is a bit more of challenge. She knows the church is true and loves everything about it. She even made it to church yesterday and loved the experience again and set up an interview with the bishop. She used to be athiest thanks to the abuse she received from the Fundamentalist church her parents belong to. But events in her life and her praying and reading of the Book of Mormon in the past 2 weeks have given her a strong testimony. She is ready to get baptized basically - she just needs to stop drinking coffee and she has to move out of her mother's house. Since it is owned by a Fundamentalist (polygamous) church, she cannot be baptized until she moves into a place that is not owned by them. Also, she will have to be interviewed by an apostle (most likely Elder Holland and if I don't get transferred I might get to meet him!) She is determined to be baptized though and she really wants to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, a lot! She knows the feeling the Spirit brings and she wants that guidance, peace, and direction with her all the time. She hates that He has to leave when she isn't doing church stuff and wants Him there at all times and through all her righteous activities. So pray hard for her to find a place to move to and to overcome her coffee addiction. Coffee is one of the hardest addictions, that and smoking. But I know people can overcome anything through the help of the Savior and His Atonement and by pleading for help from our Heavenly Father through prayer. Careie knows that as well and is excited to overcome these things and receive all the blessings that her Heavenly Father has for her.
We are also teaching Devlin Flynn right now. He is hot and cold towards the gospel. Loves it and then doesn't see why it matters so much. So pray for him to keep his desire up so he can receive a witness that the gospel is true, because once he does, he will be good to go.
Still working on quite a few potential investigators. The Gonzales family is so close, but the mom is hot and cold to the extreme. Pray for her to be softened and for us to be able to start teaching this week. I know that as people do, miracles will happen and that household will open up. Also, might start teaching the Sheppard children this week. They are ready to go, just waiting for the go ahead from their Catholic grandmother who has had really negative experience with missionaries before. (She thinks we are all such terrible people, we have tried to show her otherwise, but hasn't worked yet.) The bishop of that ward is working hard on that family though and they have made huge strides in the past few weeks. Bishop Rassmussen is his name and he took a picture of Elder Craigo and I last night before transfers came up because he and his wife treat us basically like thier own children. It is very awesome!
Well, time is really limited today. So that is all I got to write about. Hopefully that is enough to let you all know what is going on. I love you all!
Elder Hughes
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