News from Georgia

Hello,
This week has been full of lawn and garden service, we've planted a ton of trees, and I've rather enjoyed it. I can't believe anyone in Georgia is crazy enough to plant (as if they don't already have millions), but to each his own. I had a cool experience talking to a rather nice lady this week, where I'm pretty sure she could feel the missionary spirit that we carry with us. It was really cool, because I've never really seen that before, and it truly helped me see just how much the Lord does for missionaries. I've decided that I'm giving up on the mail thing, because nobody in this world (besides my parents) seems to have time to do anything anymore, and I'd rather you spend the time it would take to write a letter doing Temple work or studying the gospel. I've been reading the conference Ensign quite a bit, and President Packers' talk about the necessary development of the Power of the Preisthood continues to draw my attention to the importance of living righteously. This week I also was pondering the blessings that we have in this dispensation that were not in the previous ones. We may not have the Savior himself, but we have the records of his dealings with two nations, and a complete record of his teachings at our fingertips simply waiting for its' mysteries to be uncovered. In this dispensation I feel we all take the gospel for granted, we have the sum total of thousands of years of sacrifice on the part of people that didn't ever see the blessings we've seen, and yet we can't find the time to learn about it. I would be willing to bet that in Moses' day, if people would've had the scriptures we do, there would have been no need for a Prophet to be constantly reminding them about their duty to God. I would hope that we can all focus on being more studious when it comes to the gospel. The mysteries of God will be unfolded to all those who deligently seek, that is a true statement, I have seen the fulfillment of it in my personal studies. I know that we all can, if we will but search. We should all remeber that these things are there to bless our lives, not be a burden. We should not look at studying as a task to be done everyday, we should look at it as our personal time with God. Where he can teach us the things we need to know to improve our lives, and the lives of our families. The greatest gift God can give us is knowledge, but we have to work for it! How blessed will we be to take as much knowledge as we can with us when we return to our Father in Heaven? I would ask that we all try to do a better at learning about the great and eternal sacrifice that our Savior has made for us.
Sincerely, Elder Hughes