Yahoo!! Mail..

Well, it's definitely cool that it rained, but I bet we got more yesterday than y'all did all week. We got like 2 inches, it was crazy. How bout them Colts eh, from what I hear they're rocking the house. I'm glad that everything is going well with you guys, things have been kind of crazy here. We were blessed with a bunch of new investigators this week, and things are really staring to look up as far as building our teaching pool. We've been using our area book, and finding a lot of people that still want to learn, the Elders before just couldn't get in with them so we've been blessed in that aspect. We have had some awesome lesson this week with 2 couples that are really close to being ready to be baptized, and we'll probably give them a date soon. This transfer has started out a lot better than the last one, and Elder Thacker and I are finally learning how to teach together, so everything seems to be picking up. We have been blessed with some really good people to teach, but are having a hard time getting some of them to church. We're trying to figure out how to fix that, but it's difficult. The ward is willing to help, we just have to figure out how to work things. We have seen some less actives that have started coming again, which is really cool. I really feel like we're finally starting to accomplish things in the area.Biking has been really enjoyable so far, our area isn't crazy difficult to bike, and to be honest me companion isn't the fastest biker in the world so he's not too hard to keep up with. We have had a rather interesting incident this week, as I'm sure you know we have 4 Elders in the ward now -if you didn't know that you do now- and so we sometimes have to meet up for dinners and things and they'll give us rides while we're biking and what not. Anyways Friday night, we had dinner with one of the families in the ward, and they had some non-member friends over so it was really cool. Afterwards, we loaded the bikes on the car and set out for home, and lo and behold, one of the other Elders tries to make a 3 point turn and backs into a mailbox. His companion immediately started trying to blame us (still is) by saying that it was our responsibility to back the driver up, when in truth it is the co-driver/companion of the driver/person in the passenger seat, and on top of that the rear windows were all fogged up, so we couldn't see anyways. Anyways we jumped out of the car, and found out that my bike had some scratches and the bike rack was bent anlong with the trunk of the car, but the funniest part was that the cast iron mailbox had snapped clean off. So Elder Christensen had to go tell the guy that he just demolished his mailbox, and it was a very interesting conversation. Needless to say, he is now in the category with Grandpa Ziegler, as far as making jokes about hitting things while driving, but his target couldn't move. My bike is fine, just a little traded paint so nothing to worry about there. Elder Thacker's bike however, has some more serious issues, which is weird since mine was the one that hit the box. But anyways, that's been interesting to deal with.Other than that, thing have been really good. I calculated my journal expectancy, and I should finish my first one by sometime in August - September area (yeah I know I'm a nerd, just deal with it) so that's when I'll publish that for y'all to check out. It's quite a bit more detailed than my emails, I just have limited time to write these.Hope all is going well there, you're in my prayers as well. Elder Hughes

Monday news...

Hello, Things have been kind of rainy in Georgia, but it hasn't been too bad. We've been riding the bikes, which is actually really fun. Besides the rain though the weather has been pretty nice. Things are pretty interesting with another set of Elders here in Lawrenceville, but everything is going well. Elder Thacker and I have noticed a substantial change in the amount of people we've been finding as we've tried to follow the council of our Mission President. We've found some good investigators rescently, and have begun teaching quite a few, and are still working on beginning the teaching on some of them. We're starting to get excited about the mission tour coming up from Elder Hafen, which is the reason we've been doing this Book of Mormon reading challenge. We're trying to prepare as a mission for him to come here and instruct us. We had an amazing Zone Conference this week where we discovered the importance of actually planning vs. scheduling. We went out and proselyted for 3 hours, and found 52 new investigators in the area which is more than the entire mission usually finds in a week. Crazy!!! but it was amazing, and Presdent King was very straightforward with us and told us we were basically not working hard enough, then he had us prove it with that activity. I think pretty much everyone walked away stunned needless to say. I thank you all for your birthday wishes/cards/letters, they were all very nice. I hope you all are doing well, ttys Elder Hughes

We got mail...

This week has been a really cool week, we've had some great experiences. Transfers were this week, and we got a little surprise. So now we have 2 sets of Elders here in our ward, so things have been a little crazy with trying to get them oriented to what's going on here. Some of the experiences we've had this week include: We had some random maintenance guy on a golf cart drive up to us and just start talking about Jesus, so we taught him about our church and the Restoration, and he agreed to learn more. It was really powerful to me to see how he was literally sent to us.We went to a call back, and got in to teach this lady we contacted at the Post Office, and came to find out she lives with like 8 members of her family. It was really cool because they all listened as we shared the first lesson. They all agreed that they would like us to come teach them more, and when we asked who would like a Book of Mormon they all raised their hands so we gave them the 5 that we had with us. Our team up even committed them to be baptized when they come to know the truthfulness of it. We went and checked on them Saturday night and found out that they had all been reading and praying about it, and we were super excited. We invited them to church, but due to health restrictions they were unable to make it. But we're confident they'll come in the future. This family is really amazing, because they're already spiritual and have tons of faith.We also went to try and teach an investigator that we had never been able to get in with, because he was always out of town. We knocked on the door, and ended up teaching his brother and his brothers' wife which was really cool. They don't speak very good english, so we had to teach them very simply, but it made the Spirit so much stronger. They even described what the Spirit felt like to them which was really cool. We went and taught them again last night, and they're really enjoying what we teach, and are very open. We're looking forward to getting to teach them more. So as you can see it's been a very interesting week. It's been extremely powerful to me to see how the Lord has prepared these people. We should always be looking for opportunities to share the gospel, because it really can bless lives. People need the happiness that comes from the gospel, and only we have the truth so we should always try to share it with those around us. I hope you're all doing well. Elder Hughes

Weekly News

Hello everyone, So first off this week has been freezing.... But on the bright side we have found a good number of new investigators. I found out last night that I'll be staying in Lawrenceville for another transfer so I'm happy about that, because I really enjoy it here, and there's a lot of good work to do. I hope you've all had a good holiday season and are getting ready to get back into the swing of things with school and all that fun stuff. As the new year begins, a lot of people make their resolutions about things they would like to do, and I would like to encourage all of you to set a goal to be better missionaries. There are a lot of little things that we can do that will help bring the light of Christ into people's lives. I know that it's hard sometimes to share the gospel and we don't always feel comfortable doing it, but I also know that the Lord will bless us for doing it, and we never know what the results of our actions may be. Plantings the seeds of the gospel is just as important as reaping the harvest, so never fail to plant a seed when an oportunity presents itself. As a missionary I can't tell you how grateful I am when members tell us about the missionary work they do, because it makes missionaries like us more effective, and helps us keep busy which is our ultimate desire, to always be busy. The church is really emphasizing the principles of the gospel, which I believe is to help us as members know how to share it better, so I exhort you all to study these things. The prophet wouldn't direct us to study something if it wasn't important. I also encourage to try to read the scriptures more, because the Lord will bless you as you do so. I find that my favorite thing to do these days is study the scriptures, because through them I learn how to be a better missionary, and I draw closer to the Savior. I also continue to encourage you all to strive to get to the Temple often. As I study my testimony of the importance of the work we do there continues to grow. For any of you that haven't been or don't go I would plead with you to make the necessary preparations to get your self there, because no other place on earth can help be as close to our Father in Heaven, and we need the guidance and council we receive from the blessings of the Temple Covenant. I hope you're all doing well, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Love, Elder Hughes
I would also like to bear you my testimony of these things... I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is back on the earth in its fullness, and I know that it was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that this gospel can bring our families together, and bring untold blessings into our lives. I know that our Heavenly Father lives and loves us all. I know that he has given us all the families we have, because we were meant to be with these people. I know that anyone who reads the Book of Mormon will be able to feel the Spirit of the Lord testifying to them of the truthfulness of the teachings within it. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and that he suffered and died so that we might live. I know that that the gospel will sound to every nation, kindred, and tongue, and that only through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and obedience to the laws and ordinances thereof can we be saved, and return to live with our father in heaven, and I also know that the day when Christ shall come to reign in his Eternal Glory shall soon come, and I pray that when it arrives we will all be ready for the coming of the Savior. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ... Amen