Good afternoon everyone!
Can you believe it? January is almost over....and all the sisters that came out the transfer before I did are now going home. We are going to miss Sister Johnson in my district quite a lot, she was a great missionary and was a lot of fun to be around. The district that we have right now is AWESOME, completely awesome. All of us are so connected to each other and we all care and pray for each other and everyone loves each other. And it helps the work to move along and stay strong quite a bit. We all help to motivate each other and and are all concerned about each other's investigators and seeing them progress in the gospel. Even the senior couples seem really involved. It is the coolest feeling and the best.

I did get the box from the family and it has a lot of great stuff in it, so thanks so much! The grapefruit and oranges have also been a lifesaver because right now we all have this stupid cough/cold thing that none of us can get over. I think I have had it for a week and half now and there is no improvment, but we go into the doctor tomorrow and at least we are trying to get our vitamin C as much as we can. Funny thing is that no one else seems to be used to getting sick, I don't feel it is any big deal and that work can continue on as normal. My companions don't feel quite the same way and haven't been sick in years and never with a cough before. How does that work? I seem to get the same cough every year around January and it sticks around for awhile and I get sick fairly frequently throughout the year from various things, but then these people never get sick. Oh well, Heavenly Father has something for me to learn from it I guess.

You are getting a job Mom? Doing what? Playground aid? or crosswalk guard? or what? That is cool! I will be sure to pray for you on that and know the Lord will bless you.

Right now, Chance Johnson is progressing rapidly towards baptism on February 5 and we are so excited for that. Everyone else that seemed so solid for this upcoming weekend has now fallen off date thanks to no church attendance this past Sunday. I don't see how it can be such a struggle to get to church in this area, but it is. No matter how many times you invite or call or do whatever, the people just don't come. It is kind of frustrating sometimes, but we keep trying and the Lord grants us many sweet spiritual experiences for our efforts in trying to do what is right. We have been picking up a ton of new investigators lately, many of which seem very sincere and want to learn the gospel and we are so very excited.

We had interviews with president last week and he said something that was an answer to my prayers and that I really needed to hear. A lot of people in my district are struggling right now with various things and I have been trying my hardest and praying my heart out to help them, all to no avail is what it seems like at the time. But when we were in the interview President made me go through and report on everyone in my district and where thay are at right now and then he thanked me for all the hard work I had done. He said he really took a gamble when he called me as a district leader because he didn't know me at all or what I would do with it. But the Lord prompted Him to do it and so He did. He said he prayed often about that choice he made after that and that the Lord confirmed it every time and that my hard work and the changes that he had seen in people had also shown him that it was truly the Lord's will that I be a district leader at this time. If that wasn't enough, my training yesterday wasn't the best - I was losing my voice and coughing through most of it. But two missionaries ended up in tears by the end of it and said that from the things we had discussed they had received an answer to their prayers and that they now knew what the Lord wanted them to do. I had prayed so hard to know what to train on and where to go with it and I got some answers but nothing seemed to fit together, but thank goodness for the Spirit taking over and really helping missionaries with what they needed. It really touched my heart and made me grateful. I don't want to sound like I am boasting or anything, but as soon as I was praying for understanding about my calling, the Lord answered in so many wonderful ways that were what I needed. Plus He answered the prayers of the other missionaries in my district for their needs, He is amazing!

Well, I am running out of time because we are at a library and only get 30 minutes to do all the emailing we need to do, but I love you all and pray for you all!
Elder Hughes