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
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