It's Monday Again...

Hello, I hope everyone is doing well, none of you need to worry, the ice didn't make it this far. This week has been very interesting, we have found some good people to start teaching, and have had a lot of appointments stand us up. We had Stake Conference this week, and Elder L. Tom Perry, and President Eyring spoke to us. It was pretty awesome, they talked about a lot of subjects, but President Eyring focused on Faith and Families. He talked a lot about our responsibility to our family members that need the gospel, and that if we put forth the faith, the Lord will give us opportunites to share the gospel with them. It really was an amazing talk, and it I learned a lot from it, that I hope will help me in the future. Elder Perry focused mainly on standing for righteousness in these dark and dreary times. He counseled us to always be ready to stand fast, because the adversary is crafty and comes at us when we least expect it, and he knows our greatest weaknesses so we should always be ready.
There has been a lot of contention between the two companionships here in Lawrenceville, due to the lack of communication and quite a bit of pride, but luckily we were able to sit down with each other and the Zone Leaders (who are amazing btw) and work things out. We had an appartment inventory, and just opened the floor for discussion, and we worked everything out, and gave each other counsel and it was really helpful for getting everyone back on track.

Like I said we've had a lot of appointments cancel, so we didn't get to see some of our main people this week, but we know it was because we weren't ready to teach them. The contentious conditions really drove the spirit away and the Lord had to humble us to show us the error of our ways. We did get to see some of them though, and we were able to teach them, and extend some commitments that will hopefully continue to help them to progress. We're working with a couple Seventh Day Adventists that are really giving us a hard time about the whole sabbath thing, and I was really beginning to be frustrated with that until... One of our team ups this week provided us with the answer. So now I can't wait to show it to those people, and see what they have to say about it. However, I don't want to offend them or impede their progress in any way so I'm only going to do it if the Lord prompts me. We were blessed this week with a lot of new people, we found a total of 10 which makes 36 in the last 5 weeks. I'm super grateful that the Lord has seen fit to give us all these people, and we're trying to get them all going. There weren't any baptisms this month, but I believe there will be lots in the next couple months. Friday we had to take this bill to Lilburn, but luckily one of the ward members was willing to take us. The mission recently switched all of it's systems, so things have gotten really goofy lately. But everything is finally getting sorted out and getting back to normal. Saturday morning we got to help someone move, which was really cool, and it helped us get in contact with one of the people we're trying to start teaching.My favorite part of this week though was surprisingly during a lesson we had last night with a less active member. He has a lot of self esteem issues, but I was able to make him a promise that if he would truly study the scriptures he would become better, and I pointed out to him that there was no difference in what I was saying and what the Lord would say, and I closed the promise in the name of Jesus Christ. I could feel the Lord prompting and directing me about what to say, and sealing the promise to him. It was a powerful testimony to me of being a tool in his hands.Well I hope everyone is doing well, and that you're all trying to be like Christ, I know he's our one true example of how to return to the Father, and that only through him can we accomplish it.Know that I Love You All, and that you're in my prayers.

Love, Elder Hughes