Good morning everybody!
Life is going fantastic. The only exception is that I am wearing wool pants and a jacket right now. I am fine with that when it was thundering and lightning earlier this morning, but now that it is sunny, I wish it would warm up. Seeing Mom and Dad was great, kind of awkward, but great. It was nice to see that you guys were smiling too and seemed to enjoy bringing Lora up to college and everything. The scripture case will work great and the new scriptures are awesome, I have to break them in though and mark them up still. That is one thing that I do miss because my old scriptures had notes and highlights and everything on every page and helped me to understand the scriptures better. But I will break in these new ones and that will make all the difference, working on getting good colors to mark up the scriptures with, especially to mark all the Preach My Gospel scriptures. The bike is amazing and riding it feels even better! However, Elder Gosch bike had a bunch of issues on Saturday and so we spent most of the day fixing up his bike so that it would work and was rideable. First, everything had been put on backwards or wrong. So I called up one of our ward mission leaders, Br. Steck, and asked him to help. He is an avid biker and loves to ride all over the place. He got all the bike taken apart and then put back together. Then warned us to watch out for the three-pronged spike weeds that Utah is so infamous for. Because they can puncture tires. So not 2 or 3 hours later, we were riding our bikes around to contact people, and Elder Gosch blew both of his tires. Luckily, a very kind member family lived nearby and he was able to get both flats fixed and get a new innertube for Elder Gosch's rear tire. Now, today we are going to go buy some inner plastic lining to go in his tires so that they will not puncture so easy. My bike worked like a charm though - all the gears are great, the tires had no issues, the steering was perfect, and it felt so good to be out biking instead of sitting in a car all day. After today, we will be doing a lot more biking as often as we can, because we run into more people to talk to that way and also are able to balance out appointments and miles for the month a whole ton better. Anyway, everything has been going really good. Elder Gosch is going to take a little getting used to, isn't quite all there socially. But he has a strong testimony and good work ethic, so everything will work out. He also gives amazing speeches and talks, his only issue is dealing with people in small groups. Yesterday, we had to talk in sacrament meeting - we were both supposed to take between 10 and 15 minutes. He ended up taking somewhere between 35 and 40 minutes. Leaving me with about 5. So I ditched the talk that I had planned and just followed the Spirit and bore my testimony for 5 minutes instead. Someday, Elder Gosch will make a great highcouncil man because he can just keep going and going and keeps it entertaining with his goofy personality. The ward mission leader in that ward was very amused and wished me luck on this transfer. But I don't think it will be too bad. I think a lot of people are so used to me being there now, it would blow them away to see anyone else get transferred in. I will have served in only one area for the whole first year of my mission and I must say I enjoy it immensely. I actually have really gotten to know and love the people here and wouldn't mind visiting here quite often for vacations or while at BYU or whatever. Especially if the familiies I have been teaching make it to the temple, it is not too far away to come back and see them get sealed! Oh yeah, and I am driving now! Life couldn't get much better than this! Minus the fact that my camera is now broken, but I will be buying a new one/getting this one fixed today. I don't know what happened, but it is just dead. Doesn't matter how often I change the batteries or try to make it work, it stays lifeless and useless. But I will get that worked out today. On to the happenings of another week in the life of Elder Hughes. First things first, this week was kind of slower, but still great.
Last Tuesday, we had our last district meeting together before transfers and it was a great event. Went over Jesus Christ's gospel again and baptismal commitments again. The new mission president has been hitting that very hard for some reason. Not quite sure why yet. We also got a chance to teach Raymond and Candy Martinez that day! They are both doing fantastic. Candy was able to attend church last week all by herself and felt completely comfortable and included there. A huge step for her since she used to be anti not all of 3 or 4 months ago. Raymond is doing a lot better as well, he is excited for baptism and moved up his potential date from next April to this October. Much better. He is trying his hardest to get his work preferences switched so that he can finally get Sundays off to go to church, but is in danger of losing his job, so taking things tenderly to avoid being fired. He is confident that he will start getting Sundays off in about 2 weeks though and is so excited to start attending church. Both have really gotten testimonies over the last several weeks and have had an outpouring of the Spirit in their lives. Both are excited about Raymond being baptized and then being sealed in the temple a year after that. I love them so much and it has been one of the greatest experiences of my mission watching them completely change and come around to the Lord. It has made the biggest difference in their lives and in their family relationships. It is so awesome! Heavely Father has had so many miracles take place there!
Wednesday was tranfer day. About the whole mission ended up being switched around. President Miller has not been happy with the obedience level with this mission and so was shaking things around to help us become truly "converted" to the Lord. I didn't know there was that much of an obedience problem, but I guess I have been blessed with obedient and willing companions so far and I chose to be obedient so it makes all the difference. Everything really did get moved around though and changed. It is a massively different mission now. I really do believe I got called to the Riverton/Draper Mountain Point mission because everytime any mission president prays about where I should go, the answer is that I should stay put. So it is all good and I am happy about it. Elder Holm ended up in Herriman and Elder Gosch ended up here - they actually switched places oddly enough. The Lord works in mysterious ways. We got to see the Nay's on Wednesday and they are doing great! Sam is on the path to receiving the Aaronic priesthood to baptize Kamomi. Both have been completely faithful on paying tithing and avoiding coffee. Despite numerous trials and tests that have come up. Both have completely changed their lives and are in a so much better place now. It blows me away the blessing Heavenly Father pours out on people as soon as they turn unto HIm and follow His commandments and His will. Miki's last remaining struggles is giving up black tea. She is so close though and has committed to being completely clean when Kamomi gets baptized. I think they might be part of the reason that I stayed in this area because they did NOT want me to leave, not one bit. I know they prayed for it to.
Thursday was see Mom and Dad day. It was a great day anyway and it was awesome to see Mom and Dad again. And to get a hug from Mom. Lora looks completely grown up now and ready to take on the world. I don't know if BYU is ready for that, she might be too good for it. Everyone that has seen her picture or sees her in person thinks see looks gorgeous by the way. She had better watch out for those RM's at BYU, they will be all over her.
Friday was a service day. Lots of pulling weeds and everything else. Lots of good, nice people though. We got to teach the Moran family that day and they are doing great. Ashton is excited and willing to be baptized. Now we just have to see if his mother will give him permission. Maybe....they got us some awesome Papa Murphy's pizza though. I still think it is weird that people buy it and then have to take it home and bake it, but it tastes really good. So what can you do.
Saturday was fix Elder Gosch's bike day. Enough said.
Sunday was miracle baptism day!!! Christina Davis and her little sister Alexis were baptized by their father, Brian Davis at 7:30 PM. About half the ward showed up to support them and it was an amazing event. Christina didn't ask for permission from her parents to be baptized until the Thursday before because she had forgot and was afraid. Turns out, this and next weekend (perfect for the confirmation) were the only two weekends her dad was going to get off work for the next year or so. Did anyone know that? NO! But when we challenged her to be baptized that is the date the Lord inspired me with to get her to agree to. Amazing miracle!!! After she got permission, we had to throw everything together as fast as possible. Trying to squeeze in planning out the program, getting the interveiw done, etc. Usually we have at least a week to prep, but this was about 2 days. Everything was supposed to happen though and many miracles happened to bring everything together and to help everything to work out. Now the family is excited to start attending church again and everything is going fantastic.
Well, I am almost out of time so I love you all and will talk to you later!!!
Elder Hughes
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
6 transfers down...
Good morning everybody!
This past week was really great! The weather has started to go bipolar and there have been really nice days followed by colder days followed by back up into the 90's days. It is raining today and was raining yesterday and so has been down in the 60's both days. I had to throw on a sweatshirt this morning while we were cleaning our apartment because I was chilly. It has been nice though, I don't think I miss the 110's that much to be honest. But I have decided I don't really like the snow being here for six months either. So I will stick with Mesa being my favorite place to live and say the heat isn't too bad as long as as you can get used to it. With the mornings being so chilly, I keep catching myself looking for the smell of the pine trees or the dampness of the soil around the cabin. Having a mountain view landscape doesn't help either...you think I would be used to it by now, but my mind keeps playing tricks and me and thinking it is at the cabin up in Pinetop and if I walk outside, a bunch of beautiful pine trees will be there to greet me. Not so. Oh well, maybe after my mission is over I will finally get used to it. Life has still been flying by and I can't believe this is the end of another transfer. Transfer calls are tomorrow and I have no idea where I might end up or if I will be moving at all. Most people seem to think so, I have been in one area almost the whole first half of my mission after all. So I have been busy trying to get all my stuff organized and packed back up in suitcases and boxes so that I can move around with them if need be. Also, working on finding some sheets and blankets today so that I can have some - my landlady supplied the ones at my current apartment, but that doesn't normally happen. Also working on starting to go bike shopping in case I end up in a biking area and need to have one. What else....well, I have grown to really love the people here and kind of consider it like home. I really don't want to move around and be transferred, but that choice is not up to me to make. It is up to the Lord and I will leave the choice and what happens in His capable and loving hands. I have been really bad lately at getting letters sent back, sorry! I have been so busy on P-days that there isn't time for much of anything, especially heartfelt letter writing. But I am making plans to get around to it, one of these weeks. Please be patient. Other than that, life has been great! Got drycleaning done, cleaning done, shopping done, getting a haircut today. Hopefully, picking a good place to go out to eat in case I get transferred this week. Like Kneaders, love that food. Anyway, on to all the amazing and wonderful things that have happened this week. Not to mention, spiritual!
Last Tuesday, was a great day! We taught lessons all day long and barely had time to do much else! We saw Noa Bowen on that day. He is set and excited and ready to be baptized. The only question is when because of them losing their home and trying to find another one, also trying to find babysitters to watch the newborn baby twins so that the less active parents can attend, feel the Spirit, and hopefully make a comeback. Noa is ready and committed though. He prays every night that his baptism will come soon and is excited to make that step. He wants it so bad. He has read through the Book of Mormon picture book 3 or 4 times now and has all the stories almost memorized. Not only that, but he applies them to the lessons that we are teaching. Smart 9 year old. We also taught Deylon Falkner on that day. He is doing great and progressing and excited for baptism. His 17 year old sister has really felt the Spirit and wants to be active with all her heart. Deylon wants to be baptized with all his heart. Sister Falkner has been changing a lot too, she was at church yesterday. She seemed to be enjoying herself and enjoyed attending all of church, she didn't even run away after sacrament meeting. I think she felt bad for having to get missionaries to teach her kids what she was supposed to teach them and so now is trying to get Kelly ready to be baptized when she turns 8 next March or April. The whole family is participating in the lessons though and coming to church and making great steps back to activity. The only questions is whether, Dad will be doing the same when he eventually gets back from Alaska or not. Bishop Smart is working on emailing with him and communicating with him to try to help him become active as well. We also taught Wendi that day. She is about half way active now, but has a testimony. We saw the Miler's that day as well.
Wednesday we had zone conference! It was an all day affair, a lot different from when President Laney did them. Had to sit in hard chairs all day at tables instead of move around all day to different stations and rooms. But it was still an amazing spiritual feast and well worth it. Most of zone conference was about the changes they are rolling out to Preach My Gospel. They say that everything is in there, but missionaries were not understanding how to teach. So all the changes are about how missionaries teach and how we can improve our teaching. It was a great experience. Lots of emphasis on changing up role plays to see and fill the needs of our investigators. Also, the need to be more open to and following the Spirit. Lots of stuff about needing to teach by the Spirit. No need to have memorized presentations or to follow a set pattern everytime we teach but to change it up and make it different to fit the needs and concerns of the people we are teaching. It was a good review of not falling into a set pattern, but allowing ourselves to follow the Spirit in everything that we do and say. We started to teach Tom Hansen as well on Wednesday night. His bishop asked him to take the missionary lessons as part of his reactivation process and the repentance process. But he has been an on again, off again member since he was born. Now he is about 18 years old and considering going on a mission and all that other good stuff. He already knows most the stuff we went over, but it was helpful to him to review.
Thursday we met with Kristina Davis finally again. She is set on date to be baptized this Sunday, provided her dad doesn't have to be out of town this week for work. He didn't know yet and won't know until Sunday comes a lot closer. She is excited and ready to be baptized though and looking forward to making those changes in her life. She absolutely adored girls' camp and bore her testimony there. She is also starting to attend church more regularly and we are praying this will become a habit that her parents will allow to continue. Hopefully, it does. We also met with Olivia Morley again. She is so excited to be baptized and wants to move forward with it as soon as possible. But because she is only turning 17 this year, we have to get her mother to sign the baptismal slip. And her mother is throwing up all sorts of obstacles after she said that she wouldn't. Sometimes less active parents really bother me - they had a testimony at one point but now that they have lost it, they don't think the church is true or anyone else can come to that knowledge either. We fasted with her yesterday though to receive revelation about the next step Olivia should take and what she should fight for or allow to happen. She is golden and ready to move forward, we are only waiting for a miracle to happen and doing all we can to make it happen.
Friday was a long day. We did get the chance to eat at Cafe Rio, which was delicious! I miss Mexican food so much, but Elder Holm hates it, so we don't get to visit those places very often. Bummer. Other than that, a lot of contacting and moving around. We did get to teach the Snell's on a regular basis all week long and that was good. Br. Snell just lost his mother and is starting to regain his testimony back I think. Whitney has an undying desire to be baptized and is praying with all her heart to get it to happen. With how often we are able to get in there, I don't think it will be too long before some of the family starts to attend church soon. As least we are praying for that.
Saturday was service day! We did a big breakfast with the Mountain Point 5th ward youth and then a short devotional about the restoration of the gospel. It made all the difference for some of them and was a lot of fun. We also helped the McGee family pull a bunch of weeds in their backyard so that their landlord wouldn't fine them. Also, we helped the Klinger's to tile their basement after it flooded after a heavy rainstorm on Thursday. It was really fun to tile. I learned how to do the whole process with the dry set, the tile, the spacers, the grout, etc. Their basement looks a whole lot better now and it was a lot of fun to do that. The Klinger's are such nice people, they are like my grandparents. Amazing in every way. They made us a big chocolate bunt cake because of our service and it was delicious!!!
Sunday is church day and Spirit day!!! We were able to get 10 or so of our investigators to church, it was sweet! They all had such a great experience and felt the Spirit and had some of their questions answered. It was amazing. I love Sundays! Being able to attend church all day is such a blessing. I learn so much and feel so much. Also, Steve Miler got baptized last night. It was such a spiritual experience! He has been prepared and ready to move forward. He and Nadine are now on their way to making it back to the temple. All the talks were tailored right to them and it was amazing! When I first met Steve, I must admit I judged him the wrong way. With tatoos up and down both arms, earrings, really crooked, yellow teeth. I didn't think we were going to get anywhere. Boy, did Heavenly Father humble and teach me. All of the people on this earth are His children and all have the divine potential to become like He is. He so wants that for all of us, whether we live in a mansion or in a trailer park. He loves us all and prepares each of us in His own time and way to accept His gospel and come unto Him. Steve has done that and did it a lot faster than I was planning on. I need to have greater faith and stop judging people based upon what they look like, because that doesn't matter at all. What does matter is that each and every person is a child of God and has the right to learn how to return to Him if they are willing to learn.
Well, that is about all that went on this week. I have attached a picture of Steve, Nadine, Jordann, Stephen, and us at Steve's baptism. I am so excited to see them head to the temple in about a year. They are excited to do so as well. Life is great! I will let you know next week if I got transferred or what all changed!!!
Love,
Elder Hughes
This past week was really great! The weather has started to go bipolar and there have been really nice days followed by colder days followed by back up into the 90's days. It is raining today and was raining yesterday and so has been down in the 60's both days. I had to throw on a sweatshirt this morning while we were cleaning our apartment because I was chilly. It has been nice though, I don't think I miss the 110's that much to be honest. But I have decided I don't really like the snow being here for six months either. So I will stick with Mesa being my favorite place to live and say the heat isn't too bad as long as as you can get used to it. With the mornings being so chilly, I keep catching myself looking for the smell of the pine trees or the dampness of the soil around the cabin. Having a mountain view landscape doesn't help either...you think I would be used to it by now, but my mind keeps playing tricks and me and thinking it is at the cabin up in Pinetop and if I walk outside, a bunch of beautiful pine trees will be there to greet me. Not so. Oh well, maybe after my mission is over I will finally get used to it. Life has still been flying by and I can't believe this is the end of another transfer. Transfer calls are tomorrow and I have no idea where I might end up or if I will be moving at all. Most people seem to think so, I have been in one area almost the whole first half of my mission after all. So I have been busy trying to get all my stuff organized and packed back up in suitcases and boxes so that I can move around with them if need be. Also, working on finding some sheets and blankets today so that I can have some - my landlady supplied the ones at my current apartment, but that doesn't normally happen. Also working on starting to go bike shopping in case I end up in a biking area and need to have one. What else....well, I have grown to really love the people here and kind of consider it like home. I really don't want to move around and be transferred, but that choice is not up to me to make. It is up to the Lord and I will leave the choice and what happens in His capable and loving hands. I have been really bad lately at getting letters sent back, sorry! I have been so busy on P-days that there isn't time for much of anything, especially heartfelt letter writing. But I am making plans to get around to it, one of these weeks. Please be patient. Other than that, life has been great! Got drycleaning done, cleaning done, shopping done, getting a haircut today. Hopefully, picking a good place to go out to eat in case I get transferred this week. Like Kneaders, love that food. Anyway, on to all the amazing and wonderful things that have happened this week. Not to mention, spiritual!
Last Tuesday, was a great day! We taught lessons all day long and barely had time to do much else! We saw Noa Bowen on that day. He is set and excited and ready to be baptized. The only question is when because of them losing their home and trying to find another one, also trying to find babysitters to watch the newborn baby twins so that the less active parents can attend, feel the Spirit, and hopefully make a comeback. Noa is ready and committed though. He prays every night that his baptism will come soon and is excited to make that step. He wants it so bad. He has read through the Book of Mormon picture book 3 or 4 times now and has all the stories almost memorized. Not only that, but he applies them to the lessons that we are teaching. Smart 9 year old. We also taught Deylon Falkner on that day. He is doing great and progressing and excited for baptism. His 17 year old sister has really felt the Spirit and wants to be active with all her heart. Deylon wants to be baptized with all his heart. Sister Falkner has been changing a lot too, she was at church yesterday. She seemed to be enjoying herself and enjoyed attending all of church, she didn't even run away after sacrament meeting. I think she felt bad for having to get missionaries to teach her kids what she was supposed to teach them and so now is trying to get Kelly ready to be baptized when she turns 8 next March or April. The whole family is participating in the lessons though and coming to church and making great steps back to activity. The only questions is whether, Dad will be doing the same when he eventually gets back from Alaska or not. Bishop Smart is working on emailing with him and communicating with him to try to help him become active as well. We also taught Wendi that day. She is about half way active now, but has a testimony. We saw the Miler's that day as well.
Wednesday we had zone conference! It was an all day affair, a lot different from when President Laney did them. Had to sit in hard chairs all day at tables instead of move around all day to different stations and rooms. But it was still an amazing spiritual feast and well worth it. Most of zone conference was about the changes they are rolling out to Preach My Gospel. They say that everything is in there, but missionaries were not understanding how to teach. So all the changes are about how missionaries teach and how we can improve our teaching. It was a great experience. Lots of emphasis on changing up role plays to see and fill the needs of our investigators. Also, the need to be more open to and following the Spirit. Lots of stuff about needing to teach by the Spirit. No need to have memorized presentations or to follow a set pattern everytime we teach but to change it up and make it different to fit the needs and concerns of the people we are teaching. It was a good review of not falling into a set pattern, but allowing ourselves to follow the Spirit in everything that we do and say. We started to teach Tom Hansen as well on Wednesday night. His bishop asked him to take the missionary lessons as part of his reactivation process and the repentance process. But he has been an on again, off again member since he was born. Now he is about 18 years old and considering going on a mission and all that other good stuff. He already knows most the stuff we went over, but it was helpful to him to review.
Thursday we met with Kristina Davis finally again. She is set on date to be baptized this Sunday, provided her dad doesn't have to be out of town this week for work. He didn't know yet and won't know until Sunday comes a lot closer. She is excited and ready to be baptized though and looking forward to making those changes in her life. She absolutely adored girls' camp and bore her testimony there. She is also starting to attend church more regularly and we are praying this will become a habit that her parents will allow to continue. Hopefully, it does. We also met with Olivia Morley again. She is so excited to be baptized and wants to move forward with it as soon as possible. But because she is only turning 17 this year, we have to get her mother to sign the baptismal slip. And her mother is throwing up all sorts of obstacles after she said that she wouldn't. Sometimes less active parents really bother me - they had a testimony at one point but now that they have lost it, they don't think the church is true or anyone else can come to that knowledge either. We fasted with her yesterday though to receive revelation about the next step Olivia should take and what she should fight for or allow to happen. She is golden and ready to move forward, we are only waiting for a miracle to happen and doing all we can to make it happen.
Friday was a long day. We did get the chance to eat at Cafe Rio, which was delicious! I miss Mexican food so much, but Elder Holm hates it, so we don't get to visit those places very often. Bummer. Other than that, a lot of contacting and moving around. We did get to teach the Snell's on a regular basis all week long and that was good. Br. Snell just lost his mother and is starting to regain his testimony back I think. Whitney has an undying desire to be baptized and is praying with all her heart to get it to happen. With how often we are able to get in there, I don't think it will be too long before some of the family starts to attend church soon. As least we are praying for that.
Saturday was service day! We did a big breakfast with the Mountain Point 5th ward youth and then a short devotional about the restoration of the gospel. It made all the difference for some of them and was a lot of fun. We also helped the McGee family pull a bunch of weeds in their backyard so that their landlord wouldn't fine them. Also, we helped the Klinger's to tile their basement after it flooded after a heavy rainstorm on Thursday. It was really fun to tile. I learned how to do the whole process with the dry set, the tile, the spacers, the grout, etc. Their basement looks a whole lot better now and it was a lot of fun to do that. The Klinger's are such nice people, they are like my grandparents. Amazing in every way. They made us a big chocolate bunt cake because of our service and it was delicious!!!
Sunday is church day and Spirit day!!! We were able to get 10 or so of our investigators to church, it was sweet! They all had such a great experience and felt the Spirit and had some of their questions answered. It was amazing. I love Sundays! Being able to attend church all day is such a blessing. I learn so much and feel so much. Also, Steve Miler got baptized last night. It was such a spiritual experience! He has been prepared and ready to move forward. He and Nadine are now on their way to making it back to the temple. All the talks were tailored right to them and it was amazing! When I first met Steve, I must admit I judged him the wrong way. With tatoos up and down both arms, earrings, really crooked, yellow teeth. I didn't think we were going to get anywhere. Boy, did Heavenly Father humble and teach me. All of the people on this earth are His children and all have the divine potential to become like He is. He so wants that for all of us, whether we live in a mansion or in a trailer park. He loves us all and prepares each of us in His own time and way to accept His gospel and come unto Him. Steve has done that and did it a lot faster than I was planning on. I need to have greater faith and stop judging people based upon what they look like, because that doesn't matter at all. What does matter is that each and every person is a child of God and has the right to learn how to return to Him if they are willing to learn.
Well, that is about all that went on this week. I have attached a picture of Steve, Nadine, Jordann, Stephen, and us at Steve's baptism. I am so excited to see them head to the temple in about a year. They are excited to do so as well. Life is great! I will let you know next week if I got transferred or what all changed!!!
Love,
Elder Hughes
Monday, August 16, 2010
Yay for Summer!
Good morning everyone!
Everything has been going really great lately. The weather has been perfect, the sunshine amazing, everything has been fantastic! We have been getting a lot of Italian and Mexican food lately, which is amazing and my favorite. Elder Holm even got his Chinese food the other day, so he was happy. Me, it was ok (still not a super huge fan at all). Yesterday we ate with an old mission president and his family - they had served in Mexico before and they had a Mexican casserole that was very similar to Mexican chicken, it was my favorite meal I have had in a long, long time. Not quite as good as our family recipe, but not too bad. We had tres leche cake as dessert, and that has fastly risen to one of my favorite desserts. After all the brownies and cookies and sweets we get, anything that is slightly out of the ordinary is amazing and makes my taste buds happy. Fact for Lora - they make tie-dye duct tape, thought you would like to know. So carrying around a cereal box for a scripture case has gotten me a lot of attention and I have had a lot of people offer to buy me a new one, I say thanks but no thanks, but I don't know if they will actually listen or not. I am decorating the box this week so that it will be more inducive to the Spirit, but we will see what happens. Now that we got the sprinklers fixed, the water pressure in the shower has gotten really bad. So we are working on getting that fixed up and redirected. Something on the apartment is always breaking down and being responsible to fix it all is not always the most fun I have ever had. But so far, nothing has been too terribly difficult and the members are always willing to help out and make things better and give what assistance they can. I think that is all the random news for this week or updates on how things have been going in my life. I have decided I miss making ice cream and smoothies though, that is something I am excited for when I get back from my mission because they taste so good. Anyway, here is the weekly day by day update.
Monday - President okayed board games for the mission on P-days, which means I was incredibly happy and excited. We went to a toy outlet shop that day and got the game of Curses! and played it for P-day - brilliant!!! Totally relaxing fun that I haven't had in a long time. I know that isn't really spiritual, but it made a big difference for me!
Tuesday - great day! We taught the Nay family on that day at the Medenhall's about the Atonement using one of my new all time favorite stories. Here it is:
" The Room.."
In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features except for the one wall covered with small index card files. They were like the ones in libraries that list titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endless in either direction, had very different headings.
As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one that read "Girls I have liked." I opened it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I recognized the names written on each one. And then without being told, I knew exactly where I was. This lifeless room with its small files was a crude catalog system for my life. Here were written the actions of my every moment, big and small, in a detail my memory couldn't match. A sense of wonder and curiosity, coupled with horror, stirred within me as I began randomly opening files and exploring their content. Some brought joy and sweet memories; others a sense of shame and regret so intense that I would look over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching.
A file named "Friends" was next to one marked "Friends I ha ve betrayed." The titles ranged from the mundane to the outright weird. "Books I Have Read," "Lies I Have Told," "Comfort I have Given," "Jokes I Have Laughed at."
Some were almost hilarious in their exactness: "Things I've yelled at my brothers." Others I couldn't laugh at: "Things I Have Done in My Anger", "Things I Have Muttered Under My Breath at My Parents." I never ceased to be surprised by the contents Often there were many more cards than expected. Sometimes fewer than I hoped. I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the life I had lived.
Could it be possible that I had the time in my years to fill each of these thousands or even millions of cards? But each card confirmed this truth. Each was written in my own handwriting. Each signed with my signature.
When I pulled out the file marked "TV Shows I have watched," I realized the files grew to contain their contents. The cards were packed tightly, and yet after two or three yards, I hadn't found th e end of the file. I shut it, shamed, not so much by the quality of shows but more by the vast time I knew that file represented.
When I came to a file marked "Lustful Thoughts," I felt a chill run through my body. I pulled the file out only an inch, not willing to test its size, and drew out a card. I shuddered at its detailed content. I felt sick to think that such a moment had been recorded. An almost animal rage broke on me.
One thought dominated my mind: No one must ever see these cards! No one must ever see this room! I have to destroy them!" In insane frenzy I yanked the file out. Its size didn't matter now. I had to empty it and burn the cards...
But as I took it at one end and began pounding it on the floor, I could not dislodge a single card. I became desperate and pulled out a card, only to find it as strong as steel when I tried to tear it. Defeated and utterly helpless, I returned the file to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the wall, I let out a long, self-pitying sigh.
And then I saw it. The title bore "People I Have Shared the Gospel With." The handle was brighter than those around it, newer, almost unused. I pulled on its handle and a small box not more than three inches long fell into my hands. I could count the cards it contained on one hand.
And then the tears came. I began to weep. Sobs so deep that they hurt. They started in my stomach and shook through me. I fell on my knees and cried. I cried out of shame, from the overwhelming shame of it all. The rows of file shelves swirled in my tear-filled eyes.. No one must ever, ever know of this room. I must lock it up and hide the key. But then as I pushed away the tears, I saw Him.
No, please not Him. Not here. Oh, anyone but Jesus. I watched helplessly as He began to open the files and read the cards. I couldn't bear to watch His response. And in the moments I could bring myself to look at His face, I saw a sorrow deeper than my own. He seemed to intuitively go to the worst boxes.
Why did He have to read every one? Finally He turned and looked at me from across the room. He looked at me with pity in His eyes. But this was a pity that didn't anger me. I dropped my head, covered my face with my hands and began to cry again. He walked over and put His arm around me. He could have said so many things. But He didn't say a word. He just cried with me.
Then He got up and walked back to the wall of files. Starting at one end of the room, He took out a file and, one by one, began to sign His name over mine on each card. "No!" I shouted rushing to Him. All I could find to say was "No, no," as I pulled the card from Him.. His name shouldn't be on these cards. But there it was, written in red so rich, so dark, and so alive.
The name of Jesus covered mine. It was written with His blood. He gently took the card back He smiled a sad smile and began to sign the cards. I don't think I'll ever understand how He did it so quickly, but the next instant it seemed I heard Him close the last file and walk back to my side. He placed His hand on my shoulder and said, "It is finished."
I stood up, and He led me out of the room. There was no lock on its door. There were still cards to be written.
"For God so loved the world that He gave Hi s only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
They Nay's loved it! We talked about how Christ can sign off His name on the bad index cards that we make and take them away from them if they will only do what He asks and follow His gospel. It made total sense to them and it clicked! They were excited to continue the repentance process to allow the Savior to take away their sins and are excited to receive the Aaronic priesthood soon for Sam so they he can baptize their daughter Kamomi in September. Elder Holm and I usually visit them a few times a week with a scripture or to check up on how everything is going and we absolutely love them! They are an amazing family and it is incredible to see how much the gospel has helped them and changed them and saved their marriage!
Wedensday - Temple Day! Love it! I love the Oquirrh Mountain temple so much now. I still think the Mesa temple is the prettiest, followed by San Diego, but the Oquirrh Mountain now takes a close third. Going there every week for the past 8 months has been one of the greatest experiences of my life! We taught Olivia on Wednesday and she is amazing. I have never seen anyone so prepared to accept the gospel. She loves to read the scriptures and to dig through them for greater knowledge and understanding. It blows me away - she makes marks and annotates about every other verse with how it applies to her and the difference it can make in her life. She is excited to be baptized at the beginning of September. We went over the plan of salvation with her and about 10 of her friends that came along and lots of parents of those friends that were there too. It was amazing! The Spirit was there so strongly and Elder Holm and I learned afterward that one of the girls that was there was having major family issues and after discussing the plan with them, she went home to her family and it was exactly what they needed to stick together and start working back towards the temple again. Heavenly Father truly performs countless miracles each and every day. We taught the Miler's also on that day and that was sweet! Br. Miler is so excited to be baptized and his wife Nandine is so grateful to be active again. They are a sweet family and we are excited for this Sunday evening when he will be baptized. Everything is set to go and we are super happy!
Thursday - We taught Deylon on that day and he is doing great. He and his whole family have been taking the steps to become active again and it has made a total difference in the feeling of their home and in the Spirit that they feel. We also taught the Reese's on that day and they are a great family! All of them are excited to learn about the church and all want to be baptized. We need to work on their smoking problem though - both the mother and the 14 year old daughter smoke. But both feel that the church is true and want to change so we are helping them out the best that we can. They were homeless a month ago and now are renting a very small townhome and it has made a difference in their lives. The ward members have been so nice to them and it has made all the difference and made them interested in the gospel and how it can bless people's lives.
Friday was a great day as well. Lots of contacting and lots of refusal. But lots of nice people as well. We watched Legacy with the Nay's on that day. Also, we stopped by the West's to encourage them on their missionary work, because their friend Patricia has no more interest to meet with us. Sister West shared one of the most spiritual experiences and stories that I have ever heard. It was just what I needed that day with things I had been struggling with and praying about and it put me right back on track. Heavenly Father sends many angels in our lives to help us out and to answer our prayers and that night, she was an angel who helped me out more than she will ever know.
Saturday was another long contacting day. Not much people home, everyone is out on vacation and other things.
Sunday is always one of my favorite days because we get to go to so many church meetings and learn so many new things!!!
Anyways I need to go now! Love you all and hope everyone is doing great!
Elder Hughes
Everything has been going really great lately. The weather has been perfect, the sunshine amazing, everything has been fantastic! We have been getting a lot of Italian and Mexican food lately, which is amazing and my favorite. Elder Holm even got his Chinese food the other day, so he was happy. Me, it was ok (still not a super huge fan at all). Yesterday we ate with an old mission president and his family - they had served in Mexico before and they had a Mexican casserole that was very similar to Mexican chicken, it was my favorite meal I have had in a long, long time. Not quite as good as our family recipe, but not too bad. We had tres leche cake as dessert, and that has fastly risen to one of my favorite desserts. After all the brownies and cookies and sweets we get, anything that is slightly out of the ordinary is amazing and makes my taste buds happy. Fact for Lora - they make tie-dye duct tape, thought you would like to know. So carrying around a cereal box for a scripture case has gotten me a lot of attention and I have had a lot of people offer to buy me a new one, I say thanks but no thanks, but I don't know if they will actually listen or not. I am decorating the box this week so that it will be more inducive to the Spirit, but we will see what happens. Now that we got the sprinklers fixed, the water pressure in the shower has gotten really bad. So we are working on getting that fixed up and redirected. Something on the apartment is always breaking down and being responsible to fix it all is not always the most fun I have ever had. But so far, nothing has been too terribly difficult and the members are always willing to help out and make things better and give what assistance they can. I think that is all the random news for this week or updates on how things have been going in my life. I have decided I miss making ice cream and smoothies though, that is something I am excited for when I get back from my mission because they taste so good. Anyway, here is the weekly day by day update.
Monday - President okayed board games for the mission on P-days, which means I was incredibly happy and excited. We went to a toy outlet shop that day and got the game of Curses! and played it for P-day - brilliant!!! Totally relaxing fun that I haven't had in a long time. I know that isn't really spiritual, but it made a big difference for me!
Tuesday - great day! We taught the Nay family on that day at the Medenhall's about the Atonement using one of my new all time favorite stories. Here it is:
" The Room.."
In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features except for the one wall covered with small index card files. They were like the ones in libraries that list titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endless in either direction, had very different headings.
As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one that read "Girls I have liked." I opened it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I recognized the names written on each one. And then without being told, I knew exactly where I was. This lifeless room with its small files was a crude catalog system for my life. Here were written the actions of my every moment, big and small, in a detail my memory couldn't match. A sense of wonder and curiosity, coupled with horror, stirred within me as I began randomly opening files and exploring their content. Some brought joy and sweet memories; others a sense of shame and regret so intense that I would look over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching.
A file named "Friends" was next to one marked "Friends I ha ve betrayed." The titles ranged from the mundane to the outright weird. "Books I Have Read," "Lies I Have Told," "Comfort I have Given," "Jokes I Have Laughed at."
Some were almost hilarious in their exactness: "Things I've yelled at my brothers." Others I couldn't laugh at: "Things I Have Done in My Anger", "Things I Have Muttered Under My Breath at My Parents." I never ceased to be surprised by the contents Often there were many more cards than expected. Sometimes fewer than I hoped. I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the life I had lived.
Could it be possible that I had the time in my years to fill each of these thousands or even millions of cards? But each card confirmed this truth. Each was written in my own handwriting. Each signed with my signature.
When I pulled out the file marked "TV Shows I have watched," I realized the files grew to contain their contents. The cards were packed tightly, and yet after two or three yards, I hadn't found th e end of the file. I shut it, shamed, not so much by the quality of shows but more by the vast time I knew that file represented.
When I came to a file marked "Lustful Thoughts," I felt a chill run through my body. I pulled the file out only an inch, not willing to test its size, and drew out a card. I shuddered at its detailed content. I felt sick to think that such a moment had been recorded. An almost animal rage broke on me.
One thought dominated my mind: No one must ever see these cards! No one must ever see this room! I have to destroy them!" In insane frenzy I yanked the file out. Its size didn't matter now. I had to empty it and burn the cards...
But as I took it at one end and began pounding it on the floor, I could not dislodge a single card. I became desperate and pulled out a card, only to find it as strong as steel when I tried to tear it. Defeated and utterly helpless, I returned the file to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the wall, I let out a long, self-pitying sigh.
And then I saw it. The title bore "People I Have Shared the Gospel With." The handle was brighter than those around it, newer, almost unused. I pulled on its handle and a small box not more than three inches long fell into my hands. I could count the cards it contained on one hand.
And then the tears came. I began to weep. Sobs so deep that they hurt. They started in my stomach and shook through me. I fell on my knees and cried. I cried out of shame, from the overwhelming shame of it all. The rows of file shelves swirled in my tear-filled eyes.. No one must ever, ever know of this room. I must lock it up and hide the key. But then as I pushed away the tears, I saw Him.
No, please not Him. Not here. Oh, anyone but Jesus. I watched helplessly as He began to open the files and read the cards. I couldn't bear to watch His response. And in the moments I could bring myself to look at His face, I saw a sorrow deeper than my own. He seemed to intuitively go to the worst boxes.
Why did He have to read every one? Finally He turned and looked at me from across the room. He looked at me with pity in His eyes. But this was a pity that didn't anger me. I dropped my head, covered my face with my hands and began to cry again. He walked over and put His arm around me. He could have said so many things. But He didn't say a word. He just cried with me.
Then He got up and walked back to the wall of files. Starting at one end of the room, He took out a file and, one by one, began to sign His name over mine on each card. "No!" I shouted rushing to Him. All I could find to say was "No, no," as I pulled the card from Him.. His name shouldn't be on these cards. But there it was, written in red so rich, so dark, and so alive.
The name of Jesus covered mine. It was written with His blood. He gently took the card back He smiled a sad smile and began to sign the cards. I don't think I'll ever understand how He did it so quickly, but the next instant it seemed I heard Him close the last file and walk back to my side. He placed His hand on my shoulder and said, "It is finished."
I stood up, and He led me out of the room. There was no lock on its door. There were still cards to be written.
"For God so loved the world that He gave Hi s only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
They Nay's loved it! We talked about how Christ can sign off His name on the bad index cards that we make and take them away from them if they will only do what He asks and follow His gospel. It made total sense to them and it clicked! They were excited to continue the repentance process to allow the Savior to take away their sins and are excited to receive the Aaronic priesthood soon for Sam so they he can baptize their daughter Kamomi in September. Elder Holm and I usually visit them a few times a week with a scripture or to check up on how everything is going and we absolutely love them! They are an amazing family and it is incredible to see how much the gospel has helped them and changed them and saved their marriage!
Wedensday - Temple Day! Love it! I love the Oquirrh Mountain temple so much now. I still think the Mesa temple is the prettiest, followed by San Diego, but the Oquirrh Mountain now takes a close third. Going there every week for the past 8 months has been one of the greatest experiences of my life! We taught Olivia on Wednesday and she is amazing. I have never seen anyone so prepared to accept the gospel. She loves to read the scriptures and to dig through them for greater knowledge and understanding. It blows me away - she makes marks and annotates about every other verse with how it applies to her and the difference it can make in her life. She is excited to be baptized at the beginning of September. We went over the plan of salvation with her and about 10 of her friends that came along and lots of parents of those friends that were there too. It was amazing! The Spirit was there so strongly and Elder Holm and I learned afterward that one of the girls that was there was having major family issues and after discussing the plan with them, she went home to her family and it was exactly what they needed to stick together and start working back towards the temple again. Heavenly Father truly performs countless miracles each and every day. We taught the Miler's also on that day and that was sweet! Br. Miler is so excited to be baptized and his wife Nandine is so grateful to be active again. They are a sweet family and we are excited for this Sunday evening when he will be baptized. Everything is set to go and we are super happy!
Thursday - We taught Deylon on that day and he is doing great. He and his whole family have been taking the steps to become active again and it has made a total difference in the feeling of their home and in the Spirit that they feel. We also taught the Reese's on that day and they are a great family! All of them are excited to learn about the church and all want to be baptized. We need to work on their smoking problem though - both the mother and the 14 year old daughter smoke. But both feel that the church is true and want to change so we are helping them out the best that we can. They were homeless a month ago and now are renting a very small townhome and it has made a difference in their lives. The ward members have been so nice to them and it has made all the difference and made them interested in the gospel and how it can bless people's lives.
Friday was a great day as well. Lots of contacting and lots of refusal. But lots of nice people as well. We watched Legacy with the Nay's on that day. Also, we stopped by the West's to encourage them on their missionary work, because their friend Patricia has no more interest to meet with us. Sister West shared one of the most spiritual experiences and stories that I have ever heard. It was just what I needed that day with things I had been struggling with and praying about and it put me right back on track. Heavenly Father sends many angels in our lives to help us out and to answer our prayers and that night, she was an angel who helped me out more than she will ever know.
Saturday was another long contacting day. Not much people home, everyone is out on vacation and other things.
Sunday is always one of my favorite days because we get to go to so many church meetings and learn so many new things!!!
Anyways I need to go now! Love you all and hope everyone is doing great!
Elder Hughes
Monday, August 9, 2010
8/9/10 - How cool is that for the date of today!?!
Good afternoon everybody!
Well, today is the day where all the numbers go in ascending order and I think that is really cool. Doesn't happen very often. Anyway, that was the random fact for today. Other random things. Elder Holm and I are now sprinkler pros, we had to install sprinklers in the front yard because our landlady has been asking us to water the yard (it is now completely dead) and the hose wasn't covering enough. So we bought a cheap one from Walmart that hooks right up to the hose and set the distanct, height, and everything else and managed not to get soaked too badly. Tons of fun! Also, I have succeeded in starting to make a new scripture case and fixing my scriptures. The binding on my scriptures completely came off about a week ago so I Elmer's glued it back together and it has made them brand new! After that I decided I needed a case to protect them and so started looking at cases - too expensive by a ton. Then I decided to make one using a cereal box and it works likea charm. Best part of all, it was free! Well, almost. I just got a bunch of small pictures of Jesus to post all over the box today to cover up the cereal information and to make it look better. Still $8 totally creams the minimum $30 I was going to have to spend. So whenever I get that project finished I will send home a picture to everyone and you can see what you think. I got the idea from another elder in my zone who has done the same thing to protect his scriptures. So that was my exciting day for today so far and guess what? It is 80 degrees and slightly cloudy and feels like perfection! I have decided I love Utah summers, the only thing I miss is not having the pine smell like the cabin does for such cooler summer weather. I do not miss the burning blacktop, the burning seatbelts and steering wheels, the burning sidewalks and all that from Mesa though. Everyone here still complains it is too hot though, so I guess you can't win. It is all in what you are use to. We had 2 new elder move in to our apartment this week because their housing contract expired. They are the Spanish elders for our zone named Elder Rose and Elder Flores. So far, they manage to break about half the rules and Elder Holm is getting pretty frustrated with them because I trained him to keep them all 100%. Can't say I'm not frustrated either, but it is their choice and it doesn't effect what we do, so everything will work out. They are both very nice and fun to be with and doubled the furniture in our apartment with great red recliners. Also, they helped us to get everything cleaned and moved around. It looks like they will probably be living with us for the forseeable next few months while the mission struggles to find more housing. A lot of missionaries are losing their housing right now and apparently not many members are willing to take them in, so a lot of doubling up has been going on and it finally got around to us. Thankfully, the transition has been fairly smooth though and our apartment is big enough to fit all of us in very comfortably and nicely. We also finally got the swamp cooler fixed, or I should say Elder Hom did - he ran a plastic pipe up from the water tap in the house to the unit on the rough and got all the kinks and leaks worked out. So now, since I have been there, we have successfully installed a new disposal, fixed the hot water heater, had a new furnance installed, got the sprinkler system set up, among other things. Whoever gets the apartment after the missionaries move out, will great enjoy it! Well, we now have an hour and a half to email with the new mission president so I have time to change how I usually write my emails so that I feel like I cover more and say what I want to say!
Tuesday - great day! We had district meeting about the new baptismal commitment wording that we are supposed to use ( right from the first presidency). The wording is right out of Preach My Gospel and is said "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God? We will be holding a baptismal service on (date). Will you prepare yourself to be baptized on that date?" Big change from what I had become used to with following the Spirit on giving different commits, but the Spirit has been there powerfully when we have practiced this one and so I know we are supposed to use it. Every time we teach a first lesson, we are supposed to fit that into the lesson and give the challenge when the Spirit directs that the timing is right. Kind of crazy, huh? Tuesday we also taught 5 lessons in one day! AWESOME! Deylon Falkner has been moving along, his mom's heart is finally softening and it is making a huge change! We went over keeping the Sabbath Day holy, tithing, and the word of wisdom last week. She committed to going to church, paying tithing, and came right out and apologized to Deylon that she neglected in her duty as a parent to teach him and felt true remorse for it. It was quite a miracle! She went from saying "I hate church" to that attitude. We are excited for that! Noa Bowen is doing awesome, can't wait to get baptized. If we filled up the font, he would just jump in. We were waiting for his mother to have the twins she was pregnant with and she finally did on Friday and so everything is a go ahead for the next week and a half. The Nay's are trying their best to stay strong and committed to the gospel. They are doing family scripture study, prayer, and are starting family home evening today. They have gone from almost divorce to happy marriage back to almost divorce and now back to happy, stronger marriage. Bishop Croshaw says he has learned from working with that family, never to leave the straight and narrow path because finding your way back through the "mists of darkness" to the iron rod is so hard. And you fall down a lot in order to get there and it destroys a lot of things. Just stay on the path. The Nay's are gradually feeling their way back to the path though and trying their best.
Wednesday - migraine day! That is all I have to say about that. I was knocked out in pain and nausea all day long and was not the most cheery person ever. I got Elder Holm set up exchanges to go cover our appointments and then wrapped a blanket around my head to block out light and sound and laid down. Miraculously, it only lasted one day and was gone.
Thursday was another awesome day! Because there was no more migraine, haha. We were disappointed that day because Lexi Crispin - who was so solid-is now off date thanks to her father. Dad told her that she has to prove that the church is true to him before she can get baptized/ watch a lot of scientology movies and information and investigate other religions before she can get baptized. Why do parents always do this? They got the chance to be baptized once and now they don't believe it and so they refuse to accept that their children could start believing or be able to understand that their children got a spiritual confirmation. Lexi is determined to convince her father though and so we are praying for her. Joe Heath is doing great. Loves meeting with us, like reading, has started to come around to praying. Working on commitment level.
Friday we got a baptism firmly set up and anticipated for! Steve Miler will be getting baptized on this Saturday at 3 PM and is excited for it! He has kind of the same experience as Aunt Tiff with tons of different missionaries and never moving forward. Then he and his wife had a miscarriage and were brought to the point of figuring out what exactly they believed in and so now he is ready to be baptized and has felt the Spirit. He and his wife both prayed for the opening and closing prayers at our appointment which is a huge change! The whole ward is excited about them and working with them. They are both excited to work towards the temple as well and get everything done that they need to!
Saturday we ran into a lot of people and got a lot of "errand" missionary work done with reporting to this or that bishop or whatever. We met up with a new investigator family - the Reese. Tina is about 37, Bailee is 14, Dylan is 11, with Cassidy (boy) is 9. They moved into the town homes and everyone was assuming they were members and were helping out and visiting like they were members. Then their records never came through and so the ward asked them what happened to the records or how they could be requested/found. Tina replied that they have never been baptized and weren't members. The ward got us over there fast and we started to teach and work with them. The whole family is really hyper active and has some Word of Wisdom issues, but all are excited to be baptized and become a member of the church. We are so happy to be working with them and the blessing it is from Heavenly Father that they moved into our area just when they did.
Sunday was another great day! The Spirit is alwasy so strong on Sunday because of all the church we got to. At least I think so. We had a lesson with Olivia Morley that day and she is excited and ready to be baptized! Bummer is that her grandma wants her to wait a month before she can make that decision, so we will working with her to keep her steady and solid for the next month to get that done. Olivia reads the scriptures unlike any other though. She took over 7 notecards full of notes on 5 chapters from the Book of Mormon, all with what applied to her in her life at this particular time. If we would all read scriptures that way, imagine the power it would bring into our lives! It has brought a huge amount of power into hers and gave her the answer she needed to move forward with it. Another miracle.
Missions are just full of miracles and everything going great and amazing. They are a lot of hard work, don't get me wrong. But I have never seen so many amazing miracles effect so many amazing people. Heavenly Father truly does love His children and watch out for them!
I love you all and thanks for all the birthday wishes and presents! Still can't believe that I am 20 now and that time is still flying by like none other!
Please keep me and my investigators in your prayers as I do for all of you! THANKS! It makes the biggest difference, it really does!
Elder Hughes
Well, today is the day where all the numbers go in ascending order and I think that is really cool. Doesn't happen very often. Anyway, that was the random fact for today. Other random things. Elder Holm and I are now sprinkler pros, we had to install sprinklers in the front yard because our landlady has been asking us to water the yard (it is now completely dead) and the hose wasn't covering enough. So we bought a cheap one from Walmart that hooks right up to the hose and set the distanct, height, and everything else and managed not to get soaked too badly. Tons of fun! Also, I have succeeded in starting to make a new scripture case and fixing my scriptures. The binding on my scriptures completely came off about a week ago so I Elmer's glued it back together and it has made them brand new! After that I decided I needed a case to protect them and so started looking at cases - too expensive by a ton. Then I decided to make one using a cereal box and it works likea charm. Best part of all, it was free! Well, almost. I just got a bunch of small pictures of Jesus to post all over the box today to cover up the cereal information and to make it look better. Still $8 totally creams the minimum $30 I was going to have to spend. So whenever I get that project finished I will send home a picture to everyone and you can see what you think. I got the idea from another elder in my zone who has done the same thing to protect his scriptures. So that was my exciting day for today so far and guess what? It is 80 degrees and slightly cloudy and feels like perfection! I have decided I love Utah summers, the only thing I miss is not having the pine smell like the cabin does for such cooler summer weather. I do not miss the burning blacktop, the burning seatbelts and steering wheels, the burning sidewalks and all that from Mesa though. Everyone here still complains it is too hot though, so I guess you can't win. It is all in what you are use to. We had 2 new elder move in to our apartment this week because their housing contract expired. They are the Spanish elders for our zone named Elder Rose and Elder Flores. So far, they manage to break about half the rules and Elder Holm is getting pretty frustrated with them because I trained him to keep them all 100%. Can't say I'm not frustrated either, but it is their choice and it doesn't effect what we do, so everything will work out. They are both very nice and fun to be with and doubled the furniture in our apartment with great red recliners. Also, they helped us to get everything cleaned and moved around. It looks like they will probably be living with us for the forseeable next few months while the mission struggles to find more housing. A lot of missionaries are losing their housing right now and apparently not many members are willing to take them in, so a lot of doubling up has been going on and it finally got around to us. Thankfully, the transition has been fairly smooth though and our apartment is big enough to fit all of us in very comfortably and nicely. We also finally got the swamp cooler fixed, or I should say Elder Hom did - he ran a plastic pipe up from the water tap in the house to the unit on the rough and got all the kinks and leaks worked out. So now, since I have been there, we have successfully installed a new disposal, fixed the hot water heater, had a new furnance installed, got the sprinkler system set up, among other things. Whoever gets the apartment after the missionaries move out, will great enjoy it! Well, we now have an hour and a half to email with the new mission president so I have time to change how I usually write my emails so that I feel like I cover more and say what I want to say!
Tuesday - great day! We had district meeting about the new baptismal commitment wording that we are supposed to use ( right from the first presidency). The wording is right out of Preach My Gospel and is said "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God? We will be holding a baptismal service on (date). Will you prepare yourself to be baptized on that date?" Big change from what I had become used to with following the Spirit on giving different commits, but the Spirit has been there powerfully when we have practiced this one and so I know we are supposed to use it. Every time we teach a first lesson, we are supposed to fit that into the lesson and give the challenge when the Spirit directs that the timing is right. Kind of crazy, huh? Tuesday we also taught 5 lessons in one day! AWESOME! Deylon Falkner has been moving along, his mom's heart is finally softening and it is making a huge change! We went over keeping the Sabbath Day holy, tithing, and the word of wisdom last week. She committed to going to church, paying tithing, and came right out and apologized to Deylon that she neglected in her duty as a parent to teach him and felt true remorse for it. It was quite a miracle! She went from saying "I hate church" to that attitude. We are excited for that! Noa Bowen is doing awesome, can't wait to get baptized. If we filled up the font, he would just jump in. We were waiting for his mother to have the twins she was pregnant with and she finally did on Friday and so everything is a go ahead for the next week and a half. The Nay's are trying their best to stay strong and committed to the gospel. They are doing family scripture study, prayer, and are starting family home evening today. They have gone from almost divorce to happy marriage back to almost divorce and now back to happy, stronger marriage. Bishop Croshaw says he has learned from working with that family, never to leave the straight and narrow path because finding your way back through the "mists of darkness" to the iron rod is so hard. And you fall down a lot in order to get there and it destroys a lot of things. Just stay on the path. The Nay's are gradually feeling their way back to the path though and trying their best.
Wednesday - migraine day! That is all I have to say about that. I was knocked out in pain and nausea all day long and was not the most cheery person ever. I got Elder Holm set up exchanges to go cover our appointments and then wrapped a blanket around my head to block out light and sound and laid down. Miraculously, it only lasted one day and was gone.
Thursday was another awesome day! Because there was no more migraine, haha. We were disappointed that day because Lexi Crispin - who was so solid-is now off date thanks to her father. Dad told her that she has to prove that the church is true to him before she can get baptized/ watch a lot of scientology movies and information and investigate other religions before she can get baptized. Why do parents always do this? They got the chance to be baptized once and now they don't believe it and so they refuse to accept that their children could start believing or be able to understand that their children got a spiritual confirmation. Lexi is determined to convince her father though and so we are praying for her. Joe Heath is doing great. Loves meeting with us, like reading, has started to come around to praying. Working on commitment level.
Friday we got a baptism firmly set up and anticipated for! Steve Miler will be getting baptized on this Saturday at 3 PM and is excited for it! He has kind of the same experience as Aunt Tiff with tons of different missionaries and never moving forward. Then he and his wife had a miscarriage and were brought to the point of figuring out what exactly they believed in and so now he is ready to be baptized and has felt the Spirit. He and his wife both prayed for the opening and closing prayers at our appointment which is a huge change! The whole ward is excited about them and working with them. They are both excited to work towards the temple as well and get everything done that they need to!
Saturday we ran into a lot of people and got a lot of "errand" missionary work done with reporting to this or that bishop or whatever. We met up with a new investigator family - the Reese. Tina is about 37, Bailee is 14, Dylan is 11, with Cassidy (boy) is 9. They moved into the town homes and everyone was assuming they were members and were helping out and visiting like they were members. Then their records never came through and so the ward asked them what happened to the records or how they could be requested/found. Tina replied that they have never been baptized and weren't members. The ward got us over there fast and we started to teach and work with them. The whole family is really hyper active and has some Word of Wisdom issues, but all are excited to be baptized and become a member of the church. We are so happy to be working with them and the blessing it is from Heavenly Father that they moved into our area just when they did.
Sunday was another great day! The Spirit is alwasy so strong on Sunday because of all the church we got to. At least I think so. We had a lesson with Olivia Morley that day and she is excited and ready to be baptized! Bummer is that her grandma wants her to wait a month before she can make that decision, so we will working with her to keep her steady and solid for the next month to get that done. Olivia reads the scriptures unlike any other though. She took over 7 notecards full of notes on 5 chapters from the Book of Mormon, all with what applied to her in her life at this particular time. If we would all read scriptures that way, imagine the power it would bring into our lives! It has brought a huge amount of power into hers and gave her the answer she needed to move forward with it. Another miracle.
Missions are just full of miracles and everything going great and amazing. They are a lot of hard work, don't get me wrong. But I have never seen so many amazing miracles effect so many amazing people. Heavenly Father truly does love His children and watch out for them!
I love you all and thanks for all the birthday wishes and presents! Still can't believe that I am 20 now and that time is still flying by like none other!
Please keep me and my investigators in your prayers as I do for all of you! THANKS! It makes the biggest difference, it really does!
Elder Hughes
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Elder Hughes
*This is not an email from Elder Ryan, but I want you all you Elder Ryan supporters to be able to read it. (personal posting choice of the sister...don't be offended THANKS!)
Dear friends and family of Elder Ryan Hughes,
I am a ward mission leader for a ward that is in the area that Elder Hughes currently serves. I am writing this email because of my deep and sincere gratitude for Elder Hughes. He obviously is a man of conviction and Christlike love and although we all can choose to be who we want to be, I know that surrounding a person like Elder Hughes, you normally find family and friends that have been supportive and an asset to him. He has been a real force for good and is helping people within my ward boundary to come unto Christ. He is a man of God. I thank everyone who has had a part in supporting him to become who he is and to be here at this time. I pray that God will bless you all for the good that you have done.
Thank you very much.
Brother Booth
Please pass this on to anyone who knows this great man and amazing scriptorian.
Dear friends and family of Elder Ryan Hughes,
I am a ward mission leader for a ward that is in the area that Elder Hughes currently serves. I am writing this email because of my deep and sincere gratitude for Elder Hughes. He obviously is a man of conviction and Christlike love and although we all can choose to be who we want to be, I know that surrounding a person like Elder Hughes, you normally find family and friends that have been supportive and an asset to him. He has been a real force for good and is helping people within my ward boundary to come unto Christ. He is a man of God. I thank everyone who has had a part in supporting him to become who he is and to be here at this time. I pray that God will bless you all for the good that you have done.
Thank you very much.
Brother Booth
Please pass this on to anyone who knows this great man and amazing scriptorian.
Monday, August 2, 2010
August!
Good morning everybody!
So things are going great over here. Lots of success and things happening. The Lord has blessed us beyond measure with the people we have been teaching and things that have been going on. The weather has been fairly great. Really humid and hot with almost no rain. I love the dry heat, not necessarily the humidity. Elder Holm has been in his element though and has been vastly enjoying the humidity saying that it is better for you skin. All I know is that I wasn't peeling until it started to get humid this week, and now I am peeling all over my arms and hands. I look kind of like a snake. Anyway, my birthday was great and I still can't believe I am 20 years old. It is kind of ridiculous. There were a lot of very nice people thought that took care of me - got several presents, a turtle sundae at A&W, and the day after got sung too and cupcakes with candles to blow out and homemade birthday cards from one of the girls that we are teaching. It was incredible. I loved it! The cupcakes were delicious and actually getting to blow out candles was a blast! I appreciate the box from home and from Aunt Tiff and Uncle Joe and their family. Had some of everything that I liked or needed at the time. Thanks for the shirts Grandma Hughes! I was needing some more because I have managed to almost ruin some of my other ones in doing service for others and now I have solid ones that should last a long time and look nice. I am amazed at how things keep moving along and how things can change in a manner of minutes because of people's experiences and what is happening in their lives. We were able to start teaching 2 new investigators last week. Both pretty much dropped right into our laps. None of the doors we knock on or people we talk to ever seem to be interested, but because we keep trying to work hard, Heavenly Father keeps having people call us wanting to be taught and baptized. It is incredible and something that I am so thankful for!
Noa Bowen turned 9 years old last week and we started to teach him. He has already read through the Book of Mormon Stories book twice and is now on his third go round. He loves going to church and loves to pray and loves to feel the Spirit. He has had the desire to be baptized for the past year but because of less active parents, it hasn't happened yet. He is now on date for August 14 and we are hoping and praying that everything will work out for that date. He is solid and is praying for his own baptism and has been waiting and waiting for this day. Heavenly Father truly answers the prayers of children according to their huge amounts of faith and miracles really do happen is what I have learned. We are excited to be working with him and towards helping him to reach his goal of baptism so that he can return to his Heavenly Father.
Olivia (don't know the last name) was at church a week ago and got the prompting to talk with the bishop and request to meet with the missionaries. She has attened seminary last year and has been attending church for quite the past while and believes all that she has been taught. She now is ready to move forward and meet with us and get her final questions answered in preparation for baptism. She feels very strongly that the church is true, but is looking forward to reading from the Book of Mormon like we challenged her to feel even more of that same spirit. She is on date for August 14 as well and is excited to be so. Sadly, she left out of town till next Sunday, so we can't teach her or answer any of her questions until that point. But she is confident that she will get back and be ready to move ahead with that Saturday and work towards baptism. Heavenly Father truly blessed us to be able to teach and work with her and so far it has been amazing! Her mom is extrememly less active and has been for years and because of past situations currently no longer has custody of her daughter. She lives with her aunt in Draper currently but has tons and tons of friends in the Riverton 1st ward and so has been actively attending there and is excited to be baptized there.
Prayers were answered again this week as we met with Steve Miler. Everyone has been telling us there supsicions of how he was a smoker or a drinker or whatever. He has a very rough image in that ward and not a lot of people look at him too kindly or hopefully. But we taught him about the Word of Wisdom and he doesn't partake of any of the substances that we are commanded not to. His only question was about if Mt. Dew was included, and so we are go to ahead with his baptism on this Saturday. He and his wife have been actively attending church since we met with them and are excited to move together as a family towards the temple. Both want the blessing of being reunited with their little baby girl who was stillborn and are praying that they can make it back to the Celestial kingdom to live with her and Heavenly Father again. Steve was truly prepared to receive the gospel this time around because of that experience and is looking forward toward it. It is amazing the different reactions to experineces that people have. Plenty of people would have gotten mad at God for taking away their child and everything and distances themselves from Him. Steve was humbled though and brought to a point where he was willing to listen and to change his life after meeting with over 8 or so sets of missionaries before. Heavenly Father does truly work in mysterious ways and will give everyone, every chance to come unto Him.
Lexi and her friends were the ones who made me cupcakes and the birthday cards and she is so excited to be baptized and everything. She is looking forward to the 14th as her day and everything that will happen on it. We only need to cover the commandments with her and set up a program and we can go ahead with it. She is excited for it and it has made the difference in her life. They are all now actively participating in the lessons and are looking forward to the times that we come over.
Deylon is doing great! He has been able to come to church once with his sister and enjoyed it a lot. He is looking forward to coming again next week and towards being baptized sometime after that. Another miracle happened in that Dad plans to come home sometime in the next month and so Deylon can move ahead and be baptized. His mother's main concern was about not baptizing Deylon while the dad was away and now that he is coming back, we can piece everything together so Deylon can be baptized. Deylon is excited for that and we have enjoyed doing a few service projects over there and working with the family on different things. Sister Falkner is warming more and more up to us each and every day and I think we will challenge her again soon to come to church with us and see what she says.
The Nay's had a bit of a setback this week with things popping up again from their past. Everytime people make the decisions to choose the right and to do their best, Satan makes the hardest temptations appear and makes them look so inviting. So I am not sure what is going to happen there anymore. The family still wants us to come over and keep teaching as much as we can and the things that are going on. They still want Kamomi to be baptized in the near future and for Sam to receive the Aaronic priesthood soon. We will see though what happens now that they have met with the bishop and straightened everything out. They have been receiving a lot of blessings lately though and have started to pay their tithing and fast offerings. Lots of debts they had have been erased and they have both been able to secure jobs to help them out and keep them progressing.
Rachael has gotten difficult to get ahold of, she has not been answering phone calls or calling us back at all. Neither has Jim. We are concerned about how they all are doing and are trying to get in recontact with them as soon as possible to keep working with them. As far as we know, Rachael still has strong desires to be baptized and would like to move forward. We just need to help her get out to church more and to meet with us a few more times to make it happen.
Joe Heath has been making some huge changes and been feeling some pretty big differences in his life. He is willing to accept everything that we have been teaching and working towards joining towards the church at some future date. He has been reading a little bit, the only thing he struggles to do is to pray. We are working with him on that one and he has agreed to be praying about the Book of Mormon before we meet again to see what happens. He was very excited to hear about how the Book of Mormon prophesies about the Revolutionary War and Colombus and things like that and he was excited to read about that part now as he continues his reading. We meet with him again tomorrow to see what happens and what we can do to help things work out.
Everyone else we teach is making strides and have many other miracles occurring as well. Things have been going good. I love you all and have kept praying for you guys and hope everything is going well!
Elder Hughes
So things are going great over here. Lots of success and things happening. The Lord has blessed us beyond measure with the people we have been teaching and things that have been going on. The weather has been fairly great. Really humid and hot with almost no rain. I love the dry heat, not necessarily the humidity. Elder Holm has been in his element though and has been vastly enjoying the humidity saying that it is better for you skin. All I know is that I wasn't peeling until it started to get humid this week, and now I am peeling all over my arms and hands. I look kind of like a snake. Anyway, my birthday was great and I still can't believe I am 20 years old. It is kind of ridiculous. There were a lot of very nice people thought that took care of me - got several presents, a turtle sundae at A&W, and the day after got sung too and cupcakes with candles to blow out and homemade birthday cards from one of the girls that we are teaching. It was incredible. I loved it! The cupcakes were delicious and actually getting to blow out candles was a blast! I appreciate the box from home and from Aunt Tiff and Uncle Joe and their family. Had some of everything that I liked or needed at the time. Thanks for the shirts Grandma Hughes! I was needing some more because I have managed to almost ruin some of my other ones in doing service for others and now I have solid ones that should last a long time and look nice. I am amazed at how things keep moving along and how things can change in a manner of minutes because of people's experiences and what is happening in their lives. We were able to start teaching 2 new investigators last week. Both pretty much dropped right into our laps. None of the doors we knock on or people we talk to ever seem to be interested, but because we keep trying to work hard, Heavenly Father keeps having people call us wanting to be taught and baptized. It is incredible and something that I am so thankful for!
Noa Bowen turned 9 years old last week and we started to teach him. He has already read through the Book of Mormon Stories book twice and is now on his third go round. He loves going to church and loves to pray and loves to feel the Spirit. He has had the desire to be baptized for the past year but because of less active parents, it hasn't happened yet. He is now on date for August 14 and we are hoping and praying that everything will work out for that date. He is solid and is praying for his own baptism and has been waiting and waiting for this day. Heavenly Father truly answers the prayers of children according to their huge amounts of faith and miracles really do happen is what I have learned. We are excited to be working with him and towards helping him to reach his goal of baptism so that he can return to his Heavenly Father.
Olivia (don't know the last name) was at church a week ago and got the prompting to talk with the bishop and request to meet with the missionaries. She has attened seminary last year and has been attending church for quite the past while and believes all that she has been taught. She now is ready to move forward and meet with us and get her final questions answered in preparation for baptism. She feels very strongly that the church is true, but is looking forward to reading from the Book of Mormon like we challenged her to feel even more of that same spirit. She is on date for August 14 as well and is excited to be so. Sadly, she left out of town till next Sunday, so we can't teach her or answer any of her questions until that point. But she is confident that she will get back and be ready to move ahead with that Saturday and work towards baptism. Heavenly Father truly blessed us to be able to teach and work with her and so far it has been amazing! Her mom is extrememly less active and has been for years and because of past situations currently no longer has custody of her daughter. She lives with her aunt in Draper currently but has tons and tons of friends in the Riverton 1st ward and so has been actively attending there and is excited to be baptized there.
Prayers were answered again this week as we met with Steve Miler. Everyone has been telling us there supsicions of how he was a smoker or a drinker or whatever. He has a very rough image in that ward and not a lot of people look at him too kindly or hopefully. But we taught him about the Word of Wisdom and he doesn't partake of any of the substances that we are commanded not to. His only question was about if Mt. Dew was included, and so we are go to ahead with his baptism on this Saturday. He and his wife have been actively attending church since we met with them and are excited to move together as a family towards the temple. Both want the blessing of being reunited with their little baby girl who was stillborn and are praying that they can make it back to the Celestial kingdom to live with her and Heavenly Father again. Steve was truly prepared to receive the gospel this time around because of that experience and is looking forward toward it. It is amazing the different reactions to experineces that people have. Plenty of people would have gotten mad at God for taking away their child and everything and distances themselves from Him. Steve was humbled though and brought to a point where he was willing to listen and to change his life after meeting with over 8 or so sets of missionaries before. Heavenly Father does truly work in mysterious ways and will give everyone, every chance to come unto Him.
Lexi and her friends were the ones who made me cupcakes and the birthday cards and she is so excited to be baptized and everything. She is looking forward to the 14th as her day and everything that will happen on it. We only need to cover the commandments with her and set up a program and we can go ahead with it. She is excited for it and it has made the difference in her life. They are all now actively participating in the lessons and are looking forward to the times that we come over.
Deylon is doing great! He has been able to come to church once with his sister and enjoyed it a lot. He is looking forward to coming again next week and towards being baptized sometime after that. Another miracle happened in that Dad plans to come home sometime in the next month and so Deylon can move ahead and be baptized. His mother's main concern was about not baptizing Deylon while the dad was away and now that he is coming back, we can piece everything together so Deylon can be baptized. Deylon is excited for that and we have enjoyed doing a few service projects over there and working with the family on different things. Sister Falkner is warming more and more up to us each and every day and I think we will challenge her again soon to come to church with us and see what she says.
The Nay's had a bit of a setback this week with things popping up again from their past. Everytime people make the decisions to choose the right and to do their best, Satan makes the hardest temptations appear and makes them look so inviting. So I am not sure what is going to happen there anymore. The family still wants us to come over and keep teaching as much as we can and the things that are going on. They still want Kamomi to be baptized in the near future and for Sam to receive the Aaronic priesthood soon. We will see though what happens now that they have met with the bishop and straightened everything out. They have been receiving a lot of blessings lately though and have started to pay their tithing and fast offerings. Lots of debts they had have been erased and they have both been able to secure jobs to help them out and keep them progressing.
Rachael has gotten difficult to get ahold of, she has not been answering phone calls or calling us back at all. Neither has Jim. We are concerned about how they all are doing and are trying to get in recontact with them as soon as possible to keep working with them. As far as we know, Rachael still has strong desires to be baptized and would like to move forward. We just need to help her get out to church more and to meet with us a few more times to make it happen.
Joe Heath has been making some huge changes and been feeling some pretty big differences in his life. He is willing to accept everything that we have been teaching and working towards joining towards the church at some future date. He has been reading a little bit, the only thing he struggles to do is to pray. We are working with him on that one and he has agreed to be praying about the Book of Mormon before we meet again to see what happens. He was very excited to hear about how the Book of Mormon prophesies about the Revolutionary War and Colombus and things like that and he was excited to read about that part now as he continues his reading. We meet with him again tomorrow to see what happens and what we can do to help things work out.
Everyone else we teach is making strides and have many other miracles occurring as well. Things have been going good. I love you all and have kept praying for you guys and hope everything is going well!
Elder Hughes
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
