Spring is here (I wish...)

Good morning everybody!
Well, from the weather the past week, it really does feel like Spring
is here. Upper 40's and lower 50's have had us cracking up the car
windows as we drive down the road and letting the cool air come in.
So nice. Valentine's Day was pretty nice this year - I was able to
put up all the decorations that Grandma Hughes gave me from last year
and this year. It was a lot of fun and my landlords loved it. Even
Elder Noll didn't mind it (he kept rearranging all the heart confetti
that we had on the table to make sure all the colors and sized looked
just perfect it was hilarious to watch him be OCD for once). We are
now driving a 2008 dark gray Chevy Malibu and it looks very nice.
Sadly, the steering, brakes, etc. are not that great and I had to
readjust entirely the way I drive to match. Also, we had an exciting
moment last week driving down the road and then seeing dark smoke
start billowing from underneath the hood. Plus the smell of smoke, so
we got to the next house as soon as we could and popped the hood.
Turns out the power steering fluid was leaking EVERYWHERE and it had
hit the hot engine which then started to burn through it and started
to smoke. Not good. So we took it into Big O and got a loaner
Corrolla for 2 days while it was in the shop. They finally got it
fixed and now it no longer smokes, but it still has other issues. Fun
times. Oh well.

Brian Viewheger is set to get baptized this Saturday and is so excited
for it. It is amazing to see the change that can take place in
people. Then Steve Wright is ready and excited for the next week.
Gavin Beckstead got baptized this past week and that was great.
Things have been really going well in this area, now we just need to
find more people so we can keep staying busy. Always the challenge.
Everyone we are working with has started to progress and is looking
forward to us coming over. It is such a joy to teach people that
actually want to be taught, haha, funny how that works.

We are working with quite a few less actives now too from tracting
into them. That is always fun. The one that is making the most
progress right now is Bobbie Noorda. She came to dinner one night
asking the people who were feeding us for a ride to the bank. She
then planned on taking the bus out west to visit some friends. But
her friend called and cancelled in the car and so Sister Cunningham
asked her to stay for dinner and to meet the missionaries. She
agreed. She walked in very apprehensive about what we would be like
but she just said she felt so comfortable and that everything just
felt so right. So she accpeted the challenge to start meeting with
us. Then she wanted to attend church, just sacrament meeting, but she
felt so comfortable and so loved that she stayed for the whole block.
Then she comes to every lesson we have with her and physically takes
notes of the things we talk about. She writes in the back all the
scriptures we studied together and what she felt and learned. She is
so excited. She is literally gobbling the gospel up and loving it.
What a miracle. She told us before she started to meet with us, she
kept praying for help and guidance and just had nowhere to go.
Nowhere to turn. She immediately took the dinner as an answer to her
prayers and quote a scripture from the Book of Mormon she had read
about how the Lord will answer us when we cry out in our afflictions,
another miracle to her. She is amazing and we love her so much and so
does the ward. Wards that welcome in and fellowship investigators or
less active people are so awesome!

Love and prayers!
Elder Hughes