Good morning everybody!
Well, life has been going fairly good up here in Utah. I did manage to catch a pretty bad cold this past week but my landlords, the Smith's have actually been able to help out a lot. They showed me how to take grounded cayene pepper shots. They are really hot and spicy but they clean you out fast and make you feel a ton better in not very much time at all. They even gave me so more today so I can take some to stay strong and relatively healthy. You mix about a tablespoon of cayene pepper with just enough water to have to dissolve - about 2 or 3 gulps worth. Then you just chug and follow it down with milk or bread to keep your mouth from burning too bad. Works like a charm. A lot of other people are getting sick too though, just that time of year I guess. Elder Fordham in my district has been out about the past week with the flu - body aches, headache, chills, fever, vomiting, etc, you name it - he had all the symptoms. So far no one else has got it yet, thank goodness. Ironically, all the rules just changed again. No more going out to meals with family or friends, so there goes that plan with Grandma and Lora and Ashley. I guess I will just have to wait until this fall in order to see anyone when I come home. Also, no more early morning temple trips! AHHHHH! I don't know how I am going to survive without those, but we will find a way somehow I guess. We can still go later in the day on p-day, but my companion is extremely opposed to even the thought of that idea. We will see what happens. Transfers are next Wednesday and you just never know what might change. I'm still shooting for only two areas my whole mission, haha. That means another 4 transfers in this area to go if the Lord allows me to pull that off.
Speaking 3 times this past Sunday was so much fun! I forgot how much fun it is to get up there and share stories and experiences and such. Also, I managed to make all 3 of my talks different (that took some careful planning). The hardest one was speaking about 12 minutes on the great apostasy and not being able to speak about Christ's church in former times or the restoration at all. That took lots of good scritpures and ideas. The other two were just on member missionary work and both were fairly easy thanks to much prayer and pondering. We will see if anything actually happens now that we did speak. The members here in this area just can't be fired up to do missionary work and speaking was about the last option we had left. If that doesn't work, I don't have any more ideas left. Back to tracting all the time I guess. Which I don't mind, but doesn't get very much actual work done at all. We do have a stake youth fireside tonight and another one next week. We are hoping to get a lot of referrals from that and to be able to keep busy the next few weeks checking up on those. Also, President Miller should be training both our stakes on the ward mission process and the ward mission plan in the next month to every single auxiliary,quorum, and ward mission leadership. As well as all the bishopbrics and the stake leadership. We are banking on that helping out as well. We keep praying hard seeking for more guidance, but right now that is all we have received, so we will move forward in faith.
The adversary strikes again. Steve, who was just baptized, had his power turned off on him last week. He had overdue power bills that his wife had been collecting and hiding from him. When Steve finally found out, it was two days before the power kill date. He got nervous about talking to the bishop because he didn't want to put his church membership in jeopardy or his priesthood. That took quite a bit of explaining. It was awe-inspiring though to hear him speak. He was set on living off of canned foods the next 2 weeks with using flashlights to study the scriptures and taking much time to ponder and reflect. He said nothing was worth hurting his standing in the church or with God. Thankfully, he accepted what we taught about the church welfare system and called the bishop who immediately got the power turned back on. It was a miracle. It was so touching though to hear him bear his testimony! I don't know if I would have the faith to sacrifice like he has for the gospel. But he cannot wait to be able to get his endowments from the temple now, his goal is to become the most active Mormon anyone has ever met, haha. So he has now watched the past 3 years worth of every session of general conference or so and took notebooks worth of questions and notes that he enjoyed. Then he has hit the Book of Mormon hard and is determined to read it all very soon from start to finish. That and the Bible, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Plus the Gospel Principles manual. He is dedicated and an inspiration to me. He really has the fire of the Spirit and is sharing the gospel with all that he knows. Many of our new investigators that we find will probably come from him. He had found the truth and is trying to share it with any and all that will listen.
Thomas is doing well. He is excited to be baptized on March 26 and is looking forward to it. Everything is going forward there. The ward is getting excited about another baptism and about another strong convert to the church. It is great to teach and work with people who are honestly searching for the truth. Makes the work so much easier and the Spirit so much stronger.
Other than that, not much else is new. Still trying to work as hard as my companion will allow me by knocking on doors, talking to people in the streets, speaking to all the members,etc. He just has lost all energy though and President and I don't know what to do for him anymore. He can finally agree that he has a testimony and that he agrees and believes in the gospel and in the church. But he has no desire to share it with others or to work. So much more thought and prayer. There has to be some way to get him more excited and engaged.
The weather has been beautiful. Some rain and cloudy days, but no snow or freezing weather. Life is good, but moving much too fast for my liking or enjoyment, lol. But I don't think it ever really slows down. I am still good on contacts, I have plenty left. Also, I was sent to a dermatologist a few weeks ago (thanks to President) and so have new acne medicine that I am trying so I won't be needing any more of that for awhile.
Love and prayers for you all!
Elder Hughes
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Good afternoon everybody!
Well, things have been going fairly good and at least we are getting our faces and our names out there as much as possible. The members are finally starting to trust us and to come around, it just took a long time of being obedient and tracting and bringing our own investigators to church and showing them we really do try in order to get there. But we got there. We finally are speaking in church! You don't know how excited I am for that, it means bishops are trusting us enough now. We are giving three talks each this Sunday - one at 9, one at 11, and one at 1. The latter two are both about missionary work (easy enough) but the first one I have to talk about the Great Apostasy and Elder Noll is speaking before me about Christ's original church. Then someone else will follow after us about the restoration of the gospel. Kind of a cool set up, huh? I'll let you know how those go next week when I write, but I am so excited! I love to speak in sacrament meetings now, it's a passion. Plus now I have all the stories and experiences to share from my mission so far and there are so many so talking is easy. Also, we are doing two youth firesides in the next two weeks. Both to about 100 kids each from both stakes' entire young men and young women groups. Then President Miller is going to come train our two stakes soon on doing missionary work, Elder Packer's missionary process, and ward mission plans. So the area is being innudated by missionary fire right now and it is really starting to catch on. We have a few families who are so excited about doing the 21 day challenge and who are loving it! I have never seen someone so excited to share the gospel with others and to invite people to meet with the missionaries as these few families that have really caught the spirit of it. The work has stopped being work now and has started to be a lot of fun! These are the best times and reminds me of my old area and how the work was going there. Elder Noll is somewhat less than excited about all our various speaking opportunities these next few weeks but he has agreed to give it a try and see what happens. Gotta love him for that. He has been doing a lot better recently and I have found him to be quite a bold missionary - no qualms about extending people a baptismal date and helping them to accept and work for that date. He just goes out and does it. Now if I could only help him to enjoy tracting as much as he does putting people on date, we would be set and nothing could stop us. But that hasn't happened quite yet so we will keep working hard and see what happens.
Last Friday, we received an all day training from Br. Allen who is the managing director of missionary work for the entire church. I love being in Utah because we get to have all these amazing speakers and the people who wrote Preach My Gospel come train us and teach us and help us to improve. Nothing better than that. Needless to say, as there always is, we were called to repentance on quite a few things - some I have never even thought about. But I am trying to be much better and to become the missionary God wants me to be and the First Presidency expects me to be. Lots of good stuff. I think the I thing that I liked the most that he said was about that people who "mostly" keep the commandments, who "mostly" do the right thing, who "mostly" do what they can aren't going to cut it. We call that the Terrestrial kingdom people. We cannot afford to be a "mostly" person. We need to be and "all the way" person, for that is who God expects us to be and that is who we must be to enter into the Celestial kingdom. That is what we promised at baptism and each week as we take the sacrament and we need to live up to these commitments. There can be no exceptions. I wasn't doing things terribly wrong by any stretch of the imagination, but I wasn't giving it all my "heart, might, mind, and strength" as the scriptures say. So I am going to stop being a "mostly" person now and just be an "all the way" person. I can do that or at least give it my best shot.
What else has happened? Let's see...another major snowstorm came through. Made walking and biking SO much fun again, haha. But the weather calls for sunshine and 50 degrees for the next little while and we are so excited for the heat wave. Never thought I would think of 50 degrees as a heat wave, but there you have it. Steve was confirmed this past week in sacrament meeting and it is amazing to see that expereince and its effect. Not only on Steve individually, but on the whole ward. Now the whole ward wants to do missionary work, they want to be involved more, they want to go out with us and partcipate in misisonary work, it's great! The miracle of a convert baptism has really changed the entire ward and their perspective and the work is really sailing in that ward now. We have 3 different investigators there now and all are progressing nicely towards baptism within the next month. Things are just going so awesome! I am loving it!
Also, I got the news that Grandma is going to come help pick up Lora and I started thinking about it. If they (Grandma and Lora) were at all interested, they could come up and meet me for lunch. Dad couldn't and I don't know what he would do, but they could. Just a thought, let me know if they are interested at all or if that is even a possibility.
I will also have you know I am finally living up to the cleaning expectations you raised me with Mom. My apartment is now vacummed, swept, washed, clutter free every week and many times throughout the week. I think you would be proud and it has made life so much better not to be messy even a little bit. So all those hours you spent making me mop and sweep that kitchen or my dish day or vacuuming the family room for the 10th time that day are worth it and I thank you. Cherish that thought because I probably will not have the same sentiment again, hahahaha.
That is about I think everything that has been going on this week. I love you all and pray for you!
Elder Hughes
Well, things have been going fairly good and at least we are getting our faces and our names out there as much as possible. The members are finally starting to trust us and to come around, it just took a long time of being obedient and tracting and bringing our own investigators to church and showing them we really do try in order to get there. But we got there. We finally are speaking in church! You don't know how excited I am for that, it means bishops are trusting us enough now. We are giving three talks each this Sunday - one at 9, one at 11, and one at 1. The latter two are both about missionary work (easy enough) but the first one I have to talk about the Great Apostasy and Elder Noll is speaking before me about Christ's original church. Then someone else will follow after us about the restoration of the gospel. Kind of a cool set up, huh? I'll let you know how those go next week when I write, but I am so excited! I love to speak in sacrament meetings now, it's a passion. Plus now I have all the stories and experiences to share from my mission so far and there are so many so talking is easy. Also, we are doing two youth firesides in the next two weeks. Both to about 100 kids each from both stakes' entire young men and young women groups. Then President Miller is going to come train our two stakes soon on doing missionary work, Elder Packer's missionary process, and ward mission plans. So the area is being innudated by missionary fire right now and it is really starting to catch on. We have a few families who are so excited about doing the 21 day challenge and who are loving it! I have never seen someone so excited to share the gospel with others and to invite people to meet with the missionaries as these few families that have really caught the spirit of it. The work has stopped being work now and has started to be a lot of fun! These are the best times and reminds me of my old area and how the work was going there. Elder Noll is somewhat less than excited about all our various speaking opportunities these next few weeks but he has agreed to give it a try and see what happens. Gotta love him for that. He has been doing a lot better recently and I have found him to be quite a bold missionary - no qualms about extending people a baptismal date and helping them to accept and work for that date. He just goes out and does it. Now if I could only help him to enjoy tracting as much as he does putting people on date, we would be set and nothing could stop us. But that hasn't happened quite yet so we will keep working hard and see what happens.
Last Friday, we received an all day training from Br. Allen who is the managing director of missionary work for the entire church. I love being in Utah because we get to have all these amazing speakers and the people who wrote Preach My Gospel come train us and teach us and help us to improve. Nothing better than that. Needless to say, as there always is, we were called to repentance on quite a few things - some I have never even thought about. But I am trying to be much better and to become the missionary God wants me to be and the First Presidency expects me to be. Lots of good stuff. I think the I thing that I liked the most that he said was about that people who "mostly" keep the commandments, who "mostly" do the right thing, who "mostly" do what they can aren't going to cut it. We call that the Terrestrial kingdom people. We cannot afford to be a "mostly" person. We need to be and "all the way" person, for that is who God expects us to be and that is who we must be to enter into the Celestial kingdom. That is what we promised at baptism and each week as we take the sacrament and we need to live up to these commitments. There can be no exceptions. I wasn't doing things terribly wrong by any stretch of the imagination, but I wasn't giving it all my "heart, might, mind, and strength" as the scriptures say. So I am going to stop being a "mostly" person now and just be an "all the way" person. I can do that or at least give it my best shot.
What else has happened? Let's see...another major snowstorm came through. Made walking and biking SO much fun again, haha. But the weather calls for sunshine and 50 degrees for the next little while and we are so excited for the heat wave. Never thought I would think of 50 degrees as a heat wave, but there you have it. Steve was confirmed this past week in sacrament meeting and it is amazing to see that expereince and its effect. Not only on Steve individually, but on the whole ward. Now the whole ward wants to do missionary work, they want to be involved more, they want to go out with us and partcipate in misisonary work, it's great! The miracle of a convert baptism has really changed the entire ward and their perspective and the work is really sailing in that ward now. We have 3 different investigators there now and all are progressing nicely towards baptism within the next month. Things are just going so awesome! I am loving it!
Also, I got the news that Grandma is going to come help pick up Lora and I started thinking about it. If they (Grandma and Lora) were at all interested, they could come up and meet me for lunch. Dad couldn't and I don't know what he would do, but they could. Just a thought, let me know if they are interested at all or if that is even a possibility.
I will also have you know I am finally living up to the cleaning expectations you raised me with Mom. My apartment is now vacummed, swept, washed, clutter free every week and many times throughout the week. I think you would be proud and it has made life so much better not to be messy even a little bit. So all those hours you spent making me mop and sweep that kitchen or my dish day or vacuuming the family room for the 10th time that day are worth it and I thank you. Cherish that thought because I probably will not have the same sentiment again, hahahaha.
That is about I think everything that has been going on this week. I love you all and pray for you!
Elder Hughes
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Hello everybody!
Well, this week has been a lot of fun! We just got back from going to the Sandy Fun Center and that was a blast. There are great perks to serving in Utah sometimes because we can get in free to certain places on P-day. So today we played laser tag and I won as the Dark Knight. That was tons of fun. Plus we got to use the skating rink (I just chose to use a scooter to go around on because it is VERY hard to biff hard on that compared to roller blades or skates). And all the inflatable toys - giant slides and obstacle courses. It was quite a work out and the time went by fast, much too fast. I also found out I am now a champion at the whac-a-mole style games. You know the ones where the things pop up and you hit them with a little foam hammer. I set the record and so got to get a disco ball necklace with my tickets that came out from the game. Don't know when I will really get to wear it, but it was awesome. Oh, I also managed to roll my ankle earlier in the week, so I had to wrap it up all week long but it is now almost all the way healed so no worries about that. It did get fairly big for a while, about 2 to 3 times as big as normal. Had a hard time fitting on a dress shoe, that is for sure. But life goes on. Not nearly as bad as having to ride a horse out of Havasupai
because my ankle was mega-huge at the time. Another crazy things happened too! I got another wedding announcement, good to know people are keeping those temple sealers busy, haha. Melissa Crandall is happily engaged and set to get married this month. That blows my mind! I will have to find a completely new group of friends when I get home because there will be no one left, but I don't mind it. I find it amusing to see all these things start to happen. I still haven't really gotten over the fact that Drew and Samuel are back home now too. How did that happen. I swear that they just barely left the other day, turns out two years went by. Go figure.
Steve Wright got baptized this week and that was an AMAZING experience. I don't think he has stopped smiling since that time or that he plans on doing that anytime soon. Also, he has sets on his sights on getting everyone else in the whole world baptized now, particularly his family. He hopes to baptize his son in about 2 to 3 weeks and already has a countdown going in his head for it. When his son voiced the concern that he wanted to learn a lot more first, Steve just told him that all he needs to know is that the church is true, he can learn everything the church teaches for years after he is baptized, haha. We didn't even have to do everything, Steve pretty much taught him the doctrine perfectly and then bore his powerful testimony. He is already such a good missionary, the members in his ward could learn a thing or two from him, lol. Thomas John attended the baptism for Steve. He is another investigator that we tracted into in that ward. He is from Sudan and is pretty excited to get baptized now himself. He loved all the people that he met and was excited to come back to church again this next Sunday. We plan on giving him a date on Friday when we go teach him again. Also, we plan on giving our Native American investigator Walter a date. He finally is back in town and we were finally able to get an appointment. Missionary work, I feel, is about 90% chasing these people down, 9% teaching, and then 1% baptizing. But it makes it all the hard work and frustration worth it when someone does get baptized. Everything just feels so much better and goes so much better after that.
I sent out letters yesterday that I wrote a week ago. I forgot I still had them, sorry. But hopefully you will all get one in the next few days. I am trying to write better now, at least a little bit. Writing is so much harder now though than it used to be, I don't know why. My thoughts don't flow as easy and it doesn't sound nearly as good as it used to. Probably because I have only been reading the scriptures the past year and a half and haven't read my good ol' classics books so my vocabularly and grammar usuage have gone down. But oh well, I am sure they will come back after the mission.
We had an amazing stake conference this past week. The theme was on Proverbs 3:5-6 : "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct they paths." The adult session was the most powerful church meeting I have ever attended in my life. They had people speak who have had truly difficult lives and how those trials have helped them to get to know the Lord better and to put all their trust in Him. There was a lady in her 20's who was a cancer survivor, then a lady in her 40's who has 10 kids and had to go through a rough divorce and then suffered a stroke and a heart condition right after that, then a quadraplegic elder's quorum president, and the list could go on. I was so touched by these people who had every reason to hate life, be miserable, give up, etc. But they pressed on and they came out of their trials happier, stronger, and more successful people than before. Each and everyone of them testified to that. The Lord truly knew them and knew exactly what they needed and made sure it happened and then when they put their trust in Him, the blessings just flowed. It was incredible! I don't think I can ever complain about anything in my life now, nothing has ever been that bad or ever been that hard. Some of my favorite quotes: "If we trust in the Lord, we can know that our INDIVIDUAL sorrows can be for our INDIVIDUAL good." "Without meekness and childlike faith we risk being broken by our trials, rather than strengthened." ""How can we trust someone that we don't know? We can't. If we are to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, we must love the Lord with all our hearts." "As a potter knows what technique to use in pottery, the Lord knows what technique to use on us." "No matter what our situations are in life, Heavenly Father will give us ALL the blessings of eternity if we follow Him and keep His commandments." It was spiritually overwhelming to listen to these people's testimonies and stories and to also look back at my own life and how the Lord has guided my footsteps as I put my trust in Him. Man, it was just so powerful. I don't even know how to describe it.
Well, I think that pretty much sums up this week. The weather has been great, spring is on the way! Some of the buds have started to shoot forth little greens leaves and the blossoms of the flowers cannot be too far behind! Soon, all the pretty tulips will be up and all the trees will be covered in the most gorgeous blossoms and I won't mind being in Utah again. Not one bit. Can't wait for that. I have been using the bike quite a bit recently, but it is still so cold. It will be nice to bike without gloves and scarf and hat sometimes. And to be wearing no suit coat but a short sleeve shirt.
Much love and prayers!
Elder Hughes
PS Thanks for the box! and thanks for the letter Grandma Hughes, I enjoyed it! And you too Great Grandma Anna! If you get the chance to go to Melissa's reception anyone, tell her congratulations from me!
Well, this week has been a lot of fun! We just got back from going to the Sandy Fun Center and that was a blast. There are great perks to serving in Utah sometimes because we can get in free to certain places on P-day. So today we played laser tag and I won as the Dark Knight. That was tons of fun. Plus we got to use the skating rink (I just chose to use a scooter to go around on because it is VERY hard to biff hard on that compared to roller blades or skates). And all the inflatable toys - giant slides and obstacle courses. It was quite a work out and the time went by fast, much too fast. I also found out I am now a champion at the whac-a-mole style games. You know the ones where the things pop up and you hit them with a little foam hammer. I set the record and so got to get a disco ball necklace with my tickets that came out from the game. Don't know when I will really get to wear it, but it was awesome. Oh, I also managed to roll my ankle earlier in the week, so I had to wrap it up all week long but it is now almost all the way healed so no worries about that. It did get fairly big for a while, about 2 to 3 times as big as normal. Had a hard time fitting on a dress shoe, that is for sure. But life goes on. Not nearly as bad as having to ride a horse out of Havasupai
because my ankle was mega-huge at the time. Another crazy things happened too! I got another wedding announcement, good to know people are keeping those temple sealers busy, haha. Melissa Crandall is happily engaged and set to get married this month. That blows my mind! I will have to find a completely new group of friends when I get home because there will be no one left, but I don't mind it. I find it amusing to see all these things start to happen. I still haven't really gotten over the fact that Drew and Samuel are back home now too. How did that happen. I swear that they just barely left the other day, turns out two years went by. Go figure.
Steve Wright got baptized this week and that was an AMAZING experience. I don't think he has stopped smiling since that time or that he plans on doing that anytime soon. Also, he has sets on his sights on getting everyone else in the whole world baptized now, particularly his family. He hopes to baptize his son in about 2 to 3 weeks and already has a countdown going in his head for it. When his son voiced the concern that he wanted to learn a lot more first, Steve just told him that all he needs to know is that the church is true, he can learn everything the church teaches for years after he is baptized, haha. We didn't even have to do everything, Steve pretty much taught him the doctrine perfectly and then bore his powerful testimony. He is already such a good missionary, the members in his ward could learn a thing or two from him, lol. Thomas John attended the baptism for Steve. He is another investigator that we tracted into in that ward. He is from Sudan and is pretty excited to get baptized now himself. He loved all the people that he met and was excited to come back to church again this next Sunday. We plan on giving him a date on Friday when we go teach him again. Also, we plan on giving our Native American investigator Walter a date. He finally is back in town and we were finally able to get an appointment. Missionary work, I feel, is about 90% chasing these people down, 9% teaching, and then 1% baptizing. But it makes it all the hard work and frustration worth it when someone does get baptized. Everything just feels so much better and goes so much better after that.
I sent out letters yesterday that I wrote a week ago. I forgot I still had them, sorry. But hopefully you will all get one in the next few days. I am trying to write better now, at least a little bit. Writing is so much harder now though than it used to be, I don't know why. My thoughts don't flow as easy and it doesn't sound nearly as good as it used to. Probably because I have only been reading the scriptures the past year and a half and haven't read my good ol' classics books so my vocabularly and grammar usuage have gone down. But oh well, I am sure they will come back after the mission.
We had an amazing stake conference this past week. The theme was on Proverbs 3:5-6 : "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct they paths." The adult session was the most powerful church meeting I have ever attended in my life. They had people speak who have had truly difficult lives and how those trials have helped them to get to know the Lord better and to put all their trust in Him. There was a lady in her 20's who was a cancer survivor, then a lady in her 40's who has 10 kids and had to go through a rough divorce and then suffered a stroke and a heart condition right after that, then a quadraplegic elder's quorum president, and the list could go on. I was so touched by these people who had every reason to hate life, be miserable, give up, etc. But they pressed on and they came out of their trials happier, stronger, and more successful people than before. Each and everyone of them testified to that. The Lord truly knew them and knew exactly what they needed and made sure it happened and then when they put their trust in Him, the blessings just flowed. It was incredible! I don't think I can ever complain about anything in my life now, nothing has ever been that bad or ever been that hard. Some of my favorite quotes: "If we trust in the Lord, we can know that our INDIVIDUAL sorrows can be for our INDIVIDUAL good." "Without meekness and childlike faith we risk being broken by our trials, rather than strengthened." ""How can we trust someone that we don't know? We can't. If we are to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, we must love the Lord with all our hearts." "As a potter knows what technique to use in pottery, the Lord knows what technique to use on us." "No matter what our situations are in life, Heavenly Father will give us ALL the blessings of eternity if we follow Him and keep His commandments." It was spiritually overwhelming to listen to these people's testimonies and stories and to also look back at my own life and how the Lord has guided my footsteps as I put my trust in Him. Man, it was just so powerful. I don't even know how to describe it.
Well, I think that pretty much sums up this week. The weather has been great, spring is on the way! Some of the buds have started to shoot forth little greens leaves and the blossoms of the flowers cannot be too far behind! Soon, all the pretty tulips will be up and all the trees will be covered in the most gorgeous blossoms and I won't mind being in Utah again. Not one bit. Can't wait for that. I have been using the bike quite a bit recently, but it is still so cold. It will be nice to bike without gloves and scarf and hat sometimes. And to be wearing no suit coat but a short sleeve shirt.
Much love and prayers!
Elder Hughes
PS Thanks for the box! and thanks for the letter Grandma Hughes, I enjoyed it! And you too Great Grandma Anna! If you get the chance to go to Melissa's reception anyone, tell her congratulations from me!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Hello everybody!
Well time is running out fast today. But this week has been really great. We had a snow storm a few days ago after a decent rain storm (so weird that it warms up enough to rain and then cools off enough again to snow, I don't get that). We have been walking/riding bikes for the past week because we are now back to sharing the car and the person that we share the car with now we don't see very often. Only on Thursdays, so that has been good for us. My legs are really burning from biking up the hills and around town, but it has been fun. So much faster and better than walking everywhere, that is for sure. We are finally getting around to taking down the Valentine's decorations and it is kind of sad to see them go. We have a few Saint Patrick's Day ones though so that will be good and we are excited about that. Also for Easter, there are lots of decorations for that. I have come to enjoy sweet potatoes a lot these past few transfers becuase that is what Elder Noll can eat, that plus every other kind of vegetable and fruit. It has been quite interesting to eat the way a vegan would eat and I have to say it isn't too bad. But I do miss meat and bread and something that isn't sherbert or oreos for dessert. I have been making eggs at home though for lunch or breakfast and lots of sandwiches for meals too so I am trying to get the protien that I need. We have also been doing a lot better at working out in the morning. I get in about 100 sit ups, 500 crunchies, 10 minutes of jumping rope (that is hard), some jogging and maybe some basketball shooting. I cannot make a basketball go in the hoop to save my life so I don't play with anyone but sometimes it is fun just to shoot around for a few minutes.
We found a new person to start teaching this week. His name is Thomas John and he comes from Sudan. His wife is not a big fan of us because she doesn't like the church but this guy has been very prepared. We shared the message of the Restoration with him a few days ago and he ate it all up. He said that it "resonated" with him and that he felt everything was true. He was so excited to read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and go to church. Also, when we asked him about baptism, he said "of course!". Now we just have to set a date. We are excited about him and to start working with him fairly frequently. Also, he can only meet with us in the mornings which is just perfect because that is the hardest time to fill and to stay busy. Now we won't have to worry about that for a few weeks at least.
Steve is progressing towards baptism for this Sunday at 7 PM. He is so excited and we are so excited for him. He calls us his family and I think if we didn't teach him every day we would miss him just as much as he would miss us. We went out today and bought him a Dallas Cowboy tie to give him at the baptism. He only has one tie to wear and wanted to get him something special, his whole life revolves around the Dallas Cowboys so we thought that would be perfect. Now that his whole life revolves around the Cowboys and the church, might as well bring the two together. He takes everything that we teach and immediately applies it to his own life and gives up his bad habits without any backward glances at all. It is amazing to watch and a miracle. We have been calling everyone in the ward and trying to get them to come out to his baptism. They really kind of fail at fellowshipping and I don't even think they notice that they don't talk to Steve at church or smile or wave at him. We are working on changing that but it is so hard! How do you change an entire ward's mentality and course of action? There are so many potentials that we have in that ward but without and fellowship they are getting nowhere and it is frustrating! We are hoping and praying that the baptism will soften their hearts a little bit and help them to catch the missionary spirit.
Other than that, I don't think I have much to report. Life is going great and fantastic and all that jazz. We go out and teach and tract and work and we have been blessed with a baptism every week this month as a result. Plus friendships that will last a lifetime. Missionary work is amazing and I truly love and enjoy doing it. I am going to miss doing this everyday and seeing people's lives change so much for the better and their faces lighting up, etc. Good that I still have quite a while left is all I got to say.
I love and pray for you all! Hope everything is going well!
Elder Hughes
Well time is running out fast today. But this week has been really great. We had a snow storm a few days ago after a decent rain storm (so weird that it warms up enough to rain and then cools off enough again to snow, I don't get that). We have been walking/riding bikes for the past week because we are now back to sharing the car and the person that we share the car with now we don't see very often. Only on Thursdays, so that has been good for us. My legs are really burning from biking up the hills and around town, but it has been fun. So much faster and better than walking everywhere, that is for sure. We are finally getting around to taking down the Valentine's decorations and it is kind of sad to see them go. We have a few Saint Patrick's Day ones though so that will be good and we are excited about that. Also for Easter, there are lots of decorations for that. I have come to enjoy sweet potatoes a lot these past few transfers becuase that is what Elder Noll can eat, that plus every other kind of vegetable and fruit. It has been quite interesting to eat the way a vegan would eat and I have to say it isn't too bad. But I do miss meat and bread and something that isn't sherbert or oreos for dessert. I have been making eggs at home though for lunch or breakfast and lots of sandwiches for meals too so I am trying to get the protien that I need. We have also been doing a lot better at working out in the morning. I get in about 100 sit ups, 500 crunchies, 10 minutes of jumping rope (that is hard), some jogging and maybe some basketball shooting. I cannot make a basketball go in the hoop to save my life so I don't play with anyone but sometimes it is fun just to shoot around for a few minutes.
We found a new person to start teaching this week. His name is Thomas John and he comes from Sudan. His wife is not a big fan of us because she doesn't like the church but this guy has been very prepared. We shared the message of the Restoration with him a few days ago and he ate it all up. He said that it "resonated" with him and that he felt everything was true. He was so excited to read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and go to church. Also, when we asked him about baptism, he said "of course!". Now we just have to set a date. We are excited about him and to start working with him fairly frequently. Also, he can only meet with us in the mornings which is just perfect because that is the hardest time to fill and to stay busy. Now we won't have to worry about that for a few weeks at least.
Steve is progressing towards baptism for this Sunday at 7 PM. He is so excited and we are so excited for him. He calls us his family and I think if we didn't teach him every day we would miss him just as much as he would miss us. We went out today and bought him a Dallas Cowboy tie to give him at the baptism. He only has one tie to wear and wanted to get him something special, his whole life revolves around the Dallas Cowboys so we thought that would be perfect. Now that his whole life revolves around the Cowboys and the church, might as well bring the two together. He takes everything that we teach and immediately applies it to his own life and gives up his bad habits without any backward glances at all. It is amazing to watch and a miracle. We have been calling everyone in the ward and trying to get them to come out to his baptism. They really kind of fail at fellowshipping and I don't even think they notice that they don't talk to Steve at church or smile or wave at him. We are working on changing that but it is so hard! How do you change an entire ward's mentality and course of action? There are so many potentials that we have in that ward but without and fellowship they are getting nowhere and it is frustrating! We are hoping and praying that the baptism will soften their hearts a little bit and help them to catch the missionary spirit.
Other than that, I don't think I have much to report. Life is going great and fantastic and all that jazz. We go out and teach and tract and work and we have been blessed with a baptism every week this month as a result. Plus friendships that will last a lifetime. Missionary work is amazing and I truly love and enjoy doing it. I am going to miss doing this everyday and seeing people's lives change so much for the better and their faces lighting up, etc. Good that I still have quite a while left is all I got to say.
I love and pray for you all! Hope everything is going well!
Elder Hughes
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Another transfer...come and gone
Happy Valentine's Day! (well almost)
This past week has been really great. Another transfer is now over and a new one just started today. I am still with Elder Noll in Taylorsville, which is great because we finally have a lot of good work going and a lot of amazing people we are teaching! I love being a missionary! My district has changed a lot though. We lost the sisters to another district and picked up another set of Spanish elders instead. Elder Hernadez is now back in my district again with his companion Elder Parra. Elder Parra went to Mountain View High School with me and wrestled there. Cool, huh? The only problem is that Elder Hernadez and Elder Jolly do not get along and I am afraid that they might be back at each other's throats again as soon as we have district meeting tomorrow. We will see though, there has to be some reason the Lord made such a big change. Elder Hernadez's area is about 3 miles west of Elder Fordham and Elder Jolly which is about 3 miles south of us. None of us are close to each other or touch each other. I think we are the only district in the mission that does that. Go figure. I am still district leader and I have to say that I am excited to do it again and to keep giving trainings and really learning to love the missionaries in my district.
The Lord has blessed us with many miracles this past week and we are so excited that He has done so! Steve Wright is excited more than ever to be baptized and to start coming to church. We are trying to help him to get clothes lined up so he feels comfortable in going and that is all he needs. We feel the Spirit so strong everytime we visit with him, it is marvelous. I love teaching people that WANT to be taught, haha. Humility is a major requirement for gospel progression is something that I have really learned. Here is a quote that I wrote to President Miller but I wanted to share with you because of the limited time: "Then we have the baptism of a man named Steve Wright and his son Austin (hopefully). That is the one that I am most excited for of all. The gospel has really helped Steve to change and find purpose again in life. When we tracted into him, he was just separated from his wife of 10 years after they had both hit each other. Then he found out that she had cheated on him for the whole duration of thier marriage with various other men. To make matters more interesting, he tore his rotator cuff and his ACL as well that week and lost his job. Talk about a huge wallop. He was heavily contemplating suicide when we knocked on his door and he let us in. After meeting with us a few times, things started to change. He started to smile again, then came true laughter, then he shaved (for the first time in months) and now he is getting nice clothes again so to come to church with us. What a miracle. He has read the entire first half of the Book of Mormon already as well as a lot of the Bible again (he has been Southern Baptist his whole life). He said if all those things hadn't happened to him, he would never have let us in the house but would have just argued with us. Instead he was humbled and open, and the Lord has really changed his heart and brought him true peace and happiness again. This makes everything that we do in the mission field worth it and I love Steve so much and I know the Lord loves him too!"
That is Steve's story and it rocks! The Lord is truly amazing - He put us there (tracting of all things) and we got to his door on exactly the right day at exactly the right time with exactly the right message and words. Only He could orchestrate such an event and I am so grateful we have been living worthy of the Spirit to be able to take part in it.
All the other people we are teaching are doing really well and progressing, we are excited about it. Elder Noll might actually start liking missionary work for the first time in his mission! Sad news: my old camera finally and completely died. No way I can save it anymore, but I still have that other one that Mom sent up a few months ago, so no worries. I am still taking pictures and everything, just not on the camera that I have grown to love and enjoy.
The weather has gotten cold again! Bah! Oh well, we have a half car still, so I can't complain to much. Better to be driving half the time than not to be driving at all. Especially when it doesn't get much above freezing all day long. I am going to live another 6 weeks on a diet of potatoes and salad, wish me luck, haha. At least people try to make it differently and creatively every night so it isn't too bad. Plus we get fresh fruit a lot more often than I ever have on my mission before, that is a huge plus. Especially when they have raspberries, yum!
Well, here is a challenge that our mission president has asked us to give at every dinner appointment we have from now on and I figured I should probably give it to all of you as well. "The 21 day challenge: take the next 21 days to find someone for the missionaries to teach! At every individual and family prayer pray to be led to someone who needs the gospel right now in their life or pray for them to be led to you. Pray to be able to recognize them and to be given the words you need to say. Write down everyone your family can think of that might be interested in meeting with missionaries, then pray over the list by name and pick one to invite. Then invite them to meet with the missionaries in your home on the 21st day of the challenge. To truly show the Lord your faith, set an appointment with the missionaries far in advance and do all you can to have someone to be there to meet with them. The Lord will bless and guide you to those who are prepared for the truth. Your family will come closer together and there will be a spirit of love and closeness in your home that you have not felt before." There it is. I highly encourage everyone to do it, because it will work. I know the Lord answers our prayers and it really does bring the Spirit into homes and lives and families to do missionary work than anything else I have ever experienced. Please write me back if anyone decides to do this and what the results were. Also, ask Sister Moilon in the 18th ward about her experiences or Bishop Louden - they have enough stories to share about this principle and how it has blessed their lives.
I love you all and pray for you all constantly!
Elder Hughes
This past week has been really great. Another transfer is now over and a new one just started today. I am still with Elder Noll in Taylorsville, which is great because we finally have a lot of good work going and a lot of amazing people we are teaching! I love being a missionary! My district has changed a lot though. We lost the sisters to another district and picked up another set of Spanish elders instead. Elder Hernadez is now back in my district again with his companion Elder Parra. Elder Parra went to Mountain View High School with me and wrestled there. Cool, huh? The only problem is that Elder Hernadez and Elder Jolly do not get along and I am afraid that they might be back at each other's throats again as soon as we have district meeting tomorrow. We will see though, there has to be some reason the Lord made such a big change. Elder Hernadez's area is about 3 miles west of Elder Fordham and Elder Jolly which is about 3 miles south of us. None of us are close to each other or touch each other. I think we are the only district in the mission that does that. Go figure. I am still district leader and I have to say that I am excited to do it again and to keep giving trainings and really learning to love the missionaries in my district.
The Lord has blessed us with many miracles this past week and we are so excited that He has done so! Steve Wright is excited more than ever to be baptized and to start coming to church. We are trying to help him to get clothes lined up so he feels comfortable in going and that is all he needs. We feel the Spirit so strong everytime we visit with him, it is marvelous. I love teaching people that WANT to be taught, haha. Humility is a major requirement for gospel progression is something that I have really learned. Here is a quote that I wrote to President Miller but I wanted to share with you because of the limited time: "Then we have the baptism of a man named Steve Wright and his son Austin (hopefully). That is the one that I am most excited for of all. The gospel has really helped Steve to change and find purpose again in life. When we tracted into him, he was just separated from his wife of 10 years after they had both hit each other. Then he found out that she had cheated on him for the whole duration of thier marriage with various other men. To make matters more interesting, he tore his rotator cuff and his ACL as well that week and lost his job. Talk about a huge wallop. He was heavily contemplating suicide when we knocked on his door and he let us in. After meeting with us a few times, things started to change. He started to smile again, then came true laughter, then he shaved (for the first time in months) and now he is getting nice clothes again so to come to church with us. What a miracle. He has read the entire first half of the Book of Mormon already as well as a lot of the Bible again (he has been Southern Baptist his whole life). He said if all those things hadn't happened to him, he would never have let us in the house but would have just argued with us. Instead he was humbled and open, and the Lord has really changed his heart and brought him true peace and happiness again. This makes everything that we do in the mission field worth it and I love Steve so much and I know the Lord loves him too!"
That is Steve's story and it rocks! The Lord is truly amazing - He put us there (tracting of all things) and we got to his door on exactly the right day at exactly the right time with exactly the right message and words. Only He could orchestrate such an event and I am so grateful we have been living worthy of the Spirit to be able to take part in it.
All the other people we are teaching are doing really well and progressing, we are excited about it. Elder Noll might actually start liking missionary work for the first time in his mission! Sad news: my old camera finally and completely died. No way I can save it anymore, but I still have that other one that Mom sent up a few months ago, so no worries. I am still taking pictures and everything, just not on the camera that I have grown to love and enjoy.
The weather has gotten cold again! Bah! Oh well, we have a half car still, so I can't complain to much. Better to be driving half the time than not to be driving at all. Especially when it doesn't get much above freezing all day long. I am going to live another 6 weeks on a diet of potatoes and salad, wish me luck, haha. At least people try to make it differently and creatively every night so it isn't too bad. Plus we get fresh fruit a lot more often than I ever have on my mission before, that is a huge plus. Especially when they have raspberries, yum!
Well, here is a challenge that our mission president has asked us to give at every dinner appointment we have from now on and I figured I should probably give it to all of you as well. "The 21 day challenge: take the next 21 days to find someone for the missionaries to teach! At every individual and family prayer pray to be led to someone who needs the gospel right now in their life or pray for them to be led to you. Pray to be able to recognize them and to be given the words you need to say. Write down everyone your family can think of that might be interested in meeting with missionaries, then pray over the list by name and pick one to invite. Then invite them to meet with the missionaries in your home on the 21st day of the challenge. To truly show the Lord your faith, set an appointment with the missionaries far in advance and do all you can to have someone to be there to meet with them. The Lord will bless and guide you to those who are prepared for the truth. Your family will come closer together and there will be a spirit of love and closeness in your home that you have not felt before." There it is. I highly encourage everyone to do it, because it will work. I know the Lord answers our prayers and it really does bring the Spirit into homes and lives and families to do missionary work than anything else I have ever experienced. Please write me back if anyone decides to do this and what the results were. Also, ask Sister Moilon in the 18th ward about her experiences or Bishop Louden - they have enough stories to share about this principle and how it has blessed their lives.
I love you all and pray for you all constantly!
Elder Hughes
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Happy Groundhog Day!!
Good morning everyone!
Well, the weather up here in Utah is dead cold! Yesterday we were walking and I don't think I have ever been so cold my whole life - even with thermals, wool socks, jackets, sweaters, you name it. My face was definitely the coldest part of me and I think my nose would have fallen off eventually, haha. But we survived and were able to get rides for most of the night so that we were not out during the coldest part of the day. The weird part is that it was so bright and sunny yesterday, it looked like it could have been in the 80's because there was no snow or any real sign of winter. But go outside and it was like getting smacked by an ice wall. Utah can be so deceiving. I hope that if it stays this cold, it will snow! Cold without the snow is so pointless to me. Defeats the whole point of winter, lol.
Another transfer is almost over, that also blows my mind. It feels like I just got to this area yesterday and now I have been here for almost 3 months. We are finally having a baptism this Saturday! It is for a 9 year old kid named Chance and we are hoping to get a baptism for every weekend after that throughout February. We have people on date for baptism and they are sincere in their desires to work towards baptism so we are praying everything works out and that nothing monumental gets in the way. Something always does though, without fail Satan always has to rear his ugly head at some point in the battle. No baptism has ever been easy yet and I don't expect it ever will be in the future. Too much is at stake that we constantly fight against everyday.
Last week I had a baptism in my old area! It was the Reese family - Tina (45), Bailee (14), Dylan (11), and Cassidy (9) and it was probably the most powerful baptism I have ever been to. The family has been taught since July of last year and has been on date and off date for baptism since then. They have always attended church though and have always had a testimony of the gospel, they were just all waiting for each other to get there. It finally happened and it was amazing! Most of the Draper Mountain Point 4th ward showed up and the talks and the prayers and everything was perfect for the family. Everyone there had a great love for this family and had been praying for them to succeed on their various problems and it was a miracle for finally see it happen! It was nice to see them again and Tina tried to give me a hug afterward, which I had to refuse. Sometimes being a missionary is really hard that way. I had to give the talk on the Holy Ghost and I could barely make it through the Spirit was so strong. I an not normally ever a crier, trust me, but I was crying at this baptism. The whole family was just radiant and smiling and everything was perfect. It blew me away.
We got to give talks at church in Sunday too and I forgot how much I love speaking about missionary work. We are going to have to talk more often! I didn't get very much time either - they had a youth speaker, our visa waiter, then a rest hymn, then Elder Noll, then I was last. Turned out I had about 5 minutes and I took about 7 and only got through about 1 1/2 of the5 points I wanted to make. Everyone was laughing though and I was quoted in the closing prayer that the whole ward would become those "crazy smiley" people that bring others into the gospel. That was fun!
It never ceases to amaze me how much the Lord loves people or how many miracles we see everyday. We were visiting with Steve Wright last night and he is now on date to be baptized on February 26 and he told us the whole story of why we were let in the house. He and his wife had just had a bitter separation from each other after 10 years of marriage because of a domestic violence charge against both of them. Before they ever got into that fight though, he found out that his wife had been cheating on him throughout the entire marriage with various other guys. So he felt down in the dumps and he was contemplating suicide. The only thing that was holding him on was his two sons. Then he tore his rotator cuff and ACL and had to quit his job. So he felt even more worthless. That was when the Lord brought us back to his door and he allowed us in to share the message of the Restoration. Everyday since then about a week and half ago, his smile gets bigger and bigger, he has started laugh again, he has found new purpose for life and he loves the Book of Mormon and is so excited for baptism. Talk about a change! I am so glad that we have this gospel and church that gives us so much hope and optimism and can even light up the darkest lives at the darkest times! He plans on going to church this Sunday for the first time (the only time in his life he will have set foot in another church besides a Baptist one) and he is looking forward to it. He said if we would have come before all the pain started, he never would have opened the door or at least would have slammed it in our faces. But the Lord knew him and he said that the Lord gave him what was needed so that he would join our church. His entire outlook on his life and his trials has changed and it amazes me. I don't think I could do what he is doing and put it all behind me, but he is and he is being so blessed for it. I am so thankful we have a loving Heavenly Father and a loving Savior who atoned not only for our sins but for every heartache and depression and desertion we have to go through in this life. Steve has clearly shown me that the Atonement covers everything and he has allowed it to change his life.
We started to teach the Garcia family as well and I don't think I have ever had a more powerful first lesson. It was short, about 30 minutes. But the Spirit was so strong and spoke to both Br. and Sis. Garcia in such powerful and moving ways. They too have been very prepared because of their circumstances to hear the gospel and were so excited to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Br. Garcia gave one of the most humble, moving closing prayers ever - and the first he has ever offered out loud that wasn't a rote thing from the Catholic church! We are so excited for them, they are also on date for February 26 and are excited for that. They are struggling to get church clothes, we think, but are going to try the best that they can.
Another miracle happened as well, we got Brian Veiwheger on date for February 19 and all the supplies that he needs to quite smoking about a week before then! He originally only wanted to get baptized in May and wasn't williing to move it up. But we were praying really hard that the Lord would soften his heart and help his faith to grow and it did! When we extended the date, he at first denied it. But then he thought about it, prayed about it and accepted it with all of his heart. Then his mother told us that it would be the perfect day because it was her older son's birthday and he had past away many years ago. It would be a fitting tribute to him and the only way to bind the family together forever to have Brian get baptized so she was all for it and then Brian got even more excited about it and everything moved forward! AMAZING!
Well time is short and I actually wrote people letters today so something should be coming in the mail later this week! I love you all and pray for you everyday, I hope for all the greatest happiness for you!
Elder Hughes
Well, the weather up here in Utah is dead cold! Yesterday we were walking and I don't think I have ever been so cold my whole life - even with thermals, wool socks, jackets, sweaters, you name it. My face was definitely the coldest part of me and I think my nose would have fallen off eventually, haha. But we survived and were able to get rides for most of the night so that we were not out during the coldest part of the day. The weird part is that it was so bright and sunny yesterday, it looked like it could have been in the 80's because there was no snow or any real sign of winter. But go outside and it was like getting smacked by an ice wall. Utah can be so deceiving. I hope that if it stays this cold, it will snow! Cold without the snow is so pointless to me. Defeats the whole point of winter, lol.
Another transfer is almost over, that also blows my mind. It feels like I just got to this area yesterday and now I have been here for almost 3 months. We are finally having a baptism this Saturday! It is for a 9 year old kid named Chance and we are hoping to get a baptism for every weekend after that throughout February. We have people on date for baptism and they are sincere in their desires to work towards baptism so we are praying everything works out and that nothing monumental gets in the way. Something always does though, without fail Satan always has to rear his ugly head at some point in the battle. No baptism has ever been easy yet and I don't expect it ever will be in the future. Too much is at stake that we constantly fight against everyday.
Last week I had a baptism in my old area! It was the Reese family - Tina (45), Bailee (14), Dylan (11), and Cassidy (9) and it was probably the most powerful baptism I have ever been to. The family has been taught since July of last year and has been on date and off date for baptism since then. They have always attended church though and have always had a testimony of the gospel, they were just all waiting for each other to get there. It finally happened and it was amazing! Most of the Draper Mountain Point 4th ward showed up and the talks and the prayers and everything was perfect for the family. Everyone there had a great love for this family and had been praying for them to succeed on their various problems and it was a miracle for finally see it happen! It was nice to see them again and Tina tried to give me a hug afterward, which I had to refuse. Sometimes being a missionary is really hard that way. I had to give the talk on the Holy Ghost and I could barely make it through the Spirit was so strong. I an not normally ever a crier, trust me, but I was crying at this baptism. The whole family was just radiant and smiling and everything was perfect. It blew me away.
We got to give talks at church in Sunday too and I forgot how much I love speaking about missionary work. We are going to have to talk more often! I didn't get very much time either - they had a youth speaker, our visa waiter, then a rest hymn, then Elder Noll, then I was last. Turned out I had about 5 minutes and I took about 7 and only got through about 1 1/2 of the5 points I wanted to make. Everyone was laughing though and I was quoted in the closing prayer that the whole ward would become those "crazy smiley" people that bring others into the gospel. That was fun!
It never ceases to amaze me how much the Lord loves people or how many miracles we see everyday. We were visiting with Steve Wright last night and he is now on date to be baptized on February 26 and he told us the whole story of why we were let in the house. He and his wife had just had a bitter separation from each other after 10 years of marriage because of a domestic violence charge against both of them. Before they ever got into that fight though, he found out that his wife had been cheating on him throughout the entire marriage with various other guys. So he felt down in the dumps and he was contemplating suicide. The only thing that was holding him on was his two sons. Then he tore his rotator cuff and ACL and had to quit his job. So he felt even more worthless. That was when the Lord brought us back to his door and he allowed us in to share the message of the Restoration. Everyday since then about a week and half ago, his smile gets bigger and bigger, he has started laugh again, he has found new purpose for life and he loves the Book of Mormon and is so excited for baptism. Talk about a change! I am so glad that we have this gospel and church that gives us so much hope and optimism and can even light up the darkest lives at the darkest times! He plans on going to church this Sunday for the first time (the only time in his life he will have set foot in another church besides a Baptist one) and he is looking forward to it. He said if we would have come before all the pain started, he never would have opened the door or at least would have slammed it in our faces. But the Lord knew him and he said that the Lord gave him what was needed so that he would join our church. His entire outlook on his life and his trials has changed and it amazes me. I don't think I could do what he is doing and put it all behind me, but he is and he is being so blessed for it. I am so thankful we have a loving Heavenly Father and a loving Savior who atoned not only for our sins but for every heartache and depression and desertion we have to go through in this life. Steve has clearly shown me that the Atonement covers everything and he has allowed it to change his life.
We started to teach the Garcia family as well and I don't think I have ever had a more powerful first lesson. It was short, about 30 minutes. But the Spirit was so strong and spoke to both Br. and Sis. Garcia in such powerful and moving ways. They too have been very prepared because of their circumstances to hear the gospel and were so excited to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Br. Garcia gave one of the most humble, moving closing prayers ever - and the first he has ever offered out loud that wasn't a rote thing from the Catholic church! We are so excited for them, they are also on date for February 26 and are excited for that. They are struggling to get church clothes, we think, but are going to try the best that they can.
Another miracle happened as well, we got Brian Veiwheger on date for February 19 and all the supplies that he needs to quite smoking about a week before then! He originally only wanted to get baptized in May and wasn't williing to move it up. But we were praying really hard that the Lord would soften his heart and help his faith to grow and it did! When we extended the date, he at first denied it. But then he thought about it, prayed about it and accepted it with all of his heart. Then his mother told us that it would be the perfect day because it was her older son's birthday and he had past away many years ago. It would be a fitting tribute to him and the only way to bind the family together forever to have Brian get baptized so she was all for it and then Brian got even more excited about it and everything moved forward! AMAZING!
Well time is short and I actually wrote people letters today so something should be coming in the mail later this week! I love you all and pray for you everyday, I hope for all the greatest happiness for you!
Elder Hughes
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