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

I love Mail..

Hello, In case you haven't heard there was recently a plane crash in Jamaica, and I would like to tell you a little bit about it. The plane apparently overshot the runway, due to the terrible rain storm that occurred that night. The plane broke into 3 pieces, and lost an engine. Most of the passengers were covered in jet fuel, but luckily nothing exploded. On top of that the plane stopped only a few feet from a cliff that dropped into the ocean. This past week we had a number of missionaries fly home so they could spend Christmas with their families and be home on time to get to school this spring. One of those missionaries was on that flight, and it is currently believed that she is the reason that the passengers on that plane aren't all charred remains at the bottom of the ocean. So if any of you ever worry about me, you shouldn't because this just goes to show you that the Lord watches out for his missionaries.In happier news, Chrsitmas was this week, and I would like to thank those of you that sent me cards, and presents, and what not. It really helped me to feel the love and support of all of guys. Christmas eve we spent the night with a family that loves missionaries, and it was a lot of fun. Christmas day we spent the day at members' houses and got to call home which was really fun. Thank you again for all your love and support.So one of the Elders that went homes' companion is now with me and Elder Thacker, so we're covering 2 wards which is making things really interesting. On the bright side we have met some new people in the other ward. But it makes things really tight with miles. We finally got back in with out investigator that dropped off the face of the earth, and we found out what his problem is. Apparently he believes that Adams' fall couldn't possibly be part of Gods' plan, and that we should all have been born into the Garden of Eden. His problem is that he thinks the Book of Mormon is trying to contradict the Bible in this situation. Our problem is that the Bible doesn't even support his beliefs, and we know that his belief comes from the Jehovah's witnesses. So it's really tense right now, but we're going to try and fix it Wednesday night. So if you could pray for us that'd be great. We currently have some new people that we're trying to get in with, but we're not having much luck. On the bright side though we're making a lot of headway with the less actives we're working with and the part member families we're working on. We had like 6 less actives come to church yesterday which was great. So for the next 2 weeks while we have the extra missionary with us, we get to go to 2 churches which was really crazy yesterday. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long, but I can't say I didn't like it because it was cool to get to see all the different stuff that happens in different wards.Today we're taking some pictures so I should be sending some home very soon.Love you all, Ttys
Elder Hughes

Christmas in Georgia

Some of the members in Craig's new ward invited the missionaries over for breakfast on Christmas morning. They were nice enough to send me this picture. It looks like they had a great time.

Christmas email

Hey guys,
I hope this holiday season is going well, and you're all enjoying the special spirit that is felt during this time of year. As we continue to learn about the Savior and the things he's done for us, the Spirit will continue to testify of his love for us. I continue to urge all of you that can to take this wonderful opportunity to get to the temple as often as possible. Things are going well here, it was a bit of a rough week this work, but the work here continues to move forward at an ever increasing rate. We did have a baptism Saturday, which was my first official investigator to be baptized :) it was awesome. The best part though was that I got to confirm her yesterday, and I've been told I did good, so I'm super excited about that. We have another investigator Paul that is so golden it's ridiculous, he'll probably be baptized around the end of January or the beginning of February. The members here are taking really good care of us so don't worry about me, i've got plenty of sweets, and a stack of presents surprisingly. Surprisingly I haven't gained any weight yet, so i'm pretty happy about that especially since i'm in a car. One of the Elders in the Lawrenceville 1st ward is going home tomorrow so we get to have his companion until transfers, so we have to cover two wards which is going to be interesting with our severely limited miles. A missionary got home two days ago here, and it was really cool to get to see what it's like (even though I doubt it'll be anything like it was here in Utah). Christmas will be awesome. The ward is really staring to like me and Elder Thacker so it's cool to see them getting really involved with the work. Thank you to everyone that is supporting me, you guys don't know how much it means that you're behind me. I love you all, and hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
Elder Hughes

Emails are GREAT too

The pictures were cute, thank you. That's crazy that it's been snowing there, it's been raining like non-stop here (it doesn't usually snow) but overall it hasn't been too bad. So the mail thing is pretty much retarded, the mission home has my mail address correct, the mail man just wouldn't put my mail in the box. So I got my christmas card and a letter from Jaimie which i think was written before I left the MTC so yeah i'm kinda mad about that. If you could tell her that i'll write as soon as I can that'd be great. But yeah Georgia is pretty awesome, and we are meeting a lot of people, which is good for me because it helps me get over being shy. Thanks for the christmas presents, I haven't opened them yet but i'm sure they're awesome. So we had interviews this week, and it was pretty cool to get to meet with President King and have all of ours leaders teach us. This morning me and my companion had our first doctrinal disagreement, which was totally not related to anything we teach, but it was just funny because he grew up in the church and I proved him wrong. So we were talking about the plan of Salvation, then we started talking about sons of perdition and the war in heaven, and he thought that when Satan and all his spirits were cast out they just went to earth, but i showed him that that happened before the earth was created, then we started talking about the Millenium and he thought that Satan being sealed up just meant that people would be so righteous that Satan wouldn't be able to tempt them, but I proved that Christ would actually seal up Satan and his spirits in a prison just like it says in chapter 20 of Revelation so yeah it was sweet. We have a baptism coming up this saturday which i'm excited about, but pretty much after that we don't really have anyone that's too close, but we do have a lot of new people to teach so that's good. The bishop here is pretty cool, and he's really missionary minded which really helps. The ward loves me and Elder Thacker so yeah things are going great and we have lots of good stuff going on. How's it going with getting to the Temple? I wish we could go, but the temple wont be open until like next november. Well I hope everything is going good, and I'm sorry you miss me but there's not much I can do about that. Ttyl
Elder Hughes

Weekly Note...

Hey guys, as you know it's december, and that means we need to work out a time for me to call on Christmas, I think it'll be sometime in the afternoon so fyi. I'm still not sure how it all works. This week was awesome, we had my first zone conference, which was awesome, because President King is an amazing leader. We committed 2 of our investigators to be baptised on the 19th, which was awesome, but we're still not sure about one so we'll see how it goes. Did you see the Christmas devotional? it was awesome, because of course it was about the Savior and his love for us. I encourage you to be going to the temple, because the spirit there allows us to feel Christs' love for us even stronger. Georgia has like the weirdest weather ever, when they say it's going to snow it's sunny, and when it's supposed to be sunny it downpours. We had the cooloest rainstorm ever, you could literally see the different sheets of rain coming and going. It makes it so much easier to see why it's flooded here, because it doesn't just rain it like drowns you. I'm going on my first exchange this week, so that'll be interesting, but i'm sure it'll be great. I found my first new investigator this week which was totaly awesome, and I got to go to a baptism (not for an investigator or anything it was an 8 year old) and they let me and Elder Thacker be the witnesses which was awesome. We're supposed to start teaching a less active familys' son so that he can be baptised soon, so we'll hopefully get them re-activated and get him baptised. Another family we're teaching wants us to baptise their daughter, but they don't want to come to church so we just teach them, but we don't really plan on baptising her because it would just be pointless. I also got to give 3 blessings this week which was cool, I did the annointing on 2 of them and sealed the other which was totally awesome. We're doing this scripture study as a mission that President King challenged us to, because Elder Hafen of the seventy is coming in a few months to do a mission tour, and we finish right before he gets here. I'm trying to learn to play the piano (which i'm terrible at by the way) and it's going ok, I can play half of the right hand stuff but i'm not coordinated to do both hands. This week we also started tracting, which is super scary, but super fun at the same time. We haven't gotten any new investigators out of it yet, but we've talked to a lot of people. Last night we tracted into a guy that looked like he could rip me in half, it was like "yikes." But I'm loving it here, it's really fun. I hope everything is going well back home, sounds like it is but ya never know. Ttyl Elder Hughes