A Quick Note...

Dear Mom,

The new companion isn't bad, he reminds me a lot of me. I finally have a companion that is taller than me, thich is cool, but at the same time he might beat me at basketball. He's doing alright with biking, but we haven't had to do anything too crazy yet. He reminds me a lot of the time like a deer in the headlights, he's just trying to soak everything up. I can't believe I drew out for the elk hunt, that is AWESOME!!! Make sure to tell dad that he knows that my gun needs a new scope on it, especially after the last adventure....We were actually supposed to have a baptism Saturday, but it got cancelled on friday morning. But, such is life. We've not had too much exciting going on this week other than lots of biking. I did get my bike fixed, without buying new pedals though....The last thing I want to do is spend any more money on that crazy thing. Anyway, I don't have lots of time so I'm going to have to cut todays letter short. Love you, talk to you again soon.

News Flash

Dear Family and Friends,
This week was a slow one, until the weekend. I got to help put some new toilets in, which was a refreshing change from the norm. We also are starting to prepare the Sister that just got baptized oldest son for baptism on the 30th. We also had one of our investigators tell us that she would love to be baptized, but wants to make sure she and her husband don't get spiritually separated. That was pretty exciting, and hopefully we'll have another one getting close soon. The work here is going great! We're getting very excited for next transfer when Elder Ballard is coming to do a mission tour. We found out today that my companion is getting transferred, and I'm getting a fresh off the plane new guy. I'm excited and scared all at the same time, and still trying to figure out in my head how I'm going to do everything that I'm supposed to. It'll be tough I'm sure, but I know the Lord will help us. I hope everyone takes the chance to check out my profile on mormon.org via the new button on the blog, I think it's pretty cool. We had a bit of an incident last Friday, we had to bike all the way around our area, and my companion wound up with some sort of heat sickness, and he's been goofier than a wooden watch for a couple days. I hope all is going well, thank you for your prayers in my behalf, and all your love and support. I miss you all, and I'll see you soon (too soon in my opinion).

Love,

Elder Hughes

News at LAST...

Dear Family and Friends,
I PROMISE I'M ALIVE!!! I haven't had any time this last week, I've been trying to be a missionary and a District Leader, and a Ward Mission Leader, and had so much going on that we never had time to email, but we had a BAPTISM!!! WHOO!!! Long story short, we were busy busy busy, and had no time to think. We had some neat experiences surrounding the baptism though. One of our investigators that we've been teaching for a couple months came to the baptism, and felt the Spirit very powerfully. Hopefully she, and maybe her husband (we're not sure he's a member(he says he is)), will be getting baptized soon. Then Sunday night, we went to visit a referral, and they turned out to be awesome. This lady and her son were referred to us by her father who is a bishop out in Utah that converted 30 years ago, and we had a short lesson, and are very excited to start teaching them. In addition, we're going to teach the Sister that just got baptizeds' son, and he should be baptized very soon as well. Needless to say it's very busy right now, and we're loving it. I hope all is well on the home front. I need you all to know that I love you, and miss you, and that I know that through the Savior we can return to the presence of God. I know our Father in Heaven loves us, and has a plan for us all in our lives, and we can be shown the way by the Spirit. I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

Elder Hughes

Message for the week

(I know he was at the meeting- so look hard)

Dear Mom,
We're at a crowded library, and I couldn't get a computer for more than 15 minutes, so I may have to email you back tomorrow, or find a new computer.....I got the message about the gatorade, milk, and cheesecake. Thanks! You really are the best mom ever you know. I'm really starting to get depressed....I'm so used to having companions that have been out forever that having a fresh one that is still very focused on back home is making me wish I could just get there already, but I don't want to think/feel that way so it's very frustrating, but such is life. I guess it's just something else I have to learn to deal with right? I sure hope all is well. I'll also have you know that I totaled all my bike repairs up thus far, and I'm about to pass the $300 mark. Which makes me very angry, because there are missionaries that never even ride a bike out here. I'm not sure I want to keep it for going home, because sending it home is another $85, and I could probably resell it for most of what I've put into maintenance of the crazy thing. The saga continues, it is trying to break again, but I'm doing all I can to stop it. I keep forgetting that I did get your package with the jelly in it, thank goodness cause I was out. I let my companion try some, and he agrees that it's the most delicious thing he's ever tasted. Anyway, I'm going to move computers hopefully.

Ok, computer switch...So yeah, I'm hating this having to start thinking about what I'm going to do before I get home stuff. The heat is here, and I think to stay this time, it's hot and humid. Unfortunately with humidity the you sweat just as much in the shade as you do regularly. Humidity is such a pain. We had our last meeting with President and Sister King Thursday, and it was a sad yet spiritual experience. I'm sure gonna miss them. It seems like there's an awful lot of depressing things going on right now, considering that on top of that one of our investigators that was so close to getting baptized is moving to California. Not my favorite week overall, but I'll manage. I'm kind of terrified right now, because I'm supposed to go on exchange with all the missionaries in my District every month, and I've been putting it off, but I'm supposed to go with Sisters and I'm terrified.....Not very high up on my list of things to do. Anyway, other than that things are pretty same old same old. Lots of bike riding, and sweating, and crazy people. Oh, I need the password to my blog, because I want to put a link to my mormon.org profile on there so y'all can check it out. I think I'm gonna break from the norm, and just let this be my email, I need to get some personality in them. besides being stressed, tired, and terrified things are going well we have 2 investigators that are getting very close to baptism which is super exciting, and hopefuuly things will continue to pick up. Like I said I'll be going on exchange for the next couple days so that ought to be interesting I think. We're enjoying the new apartment. We went on an excursion today to the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield which was pretty cool, but the hikes here are so short that you hit the top before you know what's going on. It was some good District bonding time, but was very hot and there was a lot of complaining. I've had some interesting experiences with things I've learned, and I'm excited to see where they take us. I hope that we can all strive to strengthen our testimonies, and I testify that we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Good News

Dear Family and Friends,
We had a very crazy week this week, we moved apartments. On top of that we had lots of appointments, and a miraculous experience with one of our investigators. She was commited to come to church, but ended not sleeping much the night before, and was in a lot of pain due to a rotator cuff injury. So she prayed about being able to come, and told the Lord that if this was what he wanted her to do, he'd have to make the pain bearable, and it disappeared completely and never came back. I've felt so grateful to have witnessed such a miracle, and am still astonished that it happened. We also met a new lady this week that we commited to be baptized July 2nd, so hopefully things go well there. She also had a neat story. She just moved here from Alabam, and was looking for a church so she typed in an address on her GPS, and the GPS mistakenly led her to our church, and she loved it. With all the stress of moving and things going on, I was very grateful that the Lord would be so gracious to us. We are teaching some amazing people, and so many good things are happening, they just keep hitting these roadblocks that are keeping them from getting baptized. We'll get through though, I know we will. Heavenly Father will prepare the way. I realize it's been a while since I bore my testimony, and I'd like to share it with you today: I know God lives, and is our loving Heavenly Father. He has a plan for us that is centered around the Atonement of his only begotten son Jesus Christ, and desires our Exaltation. I testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, our Savior and Redeemer, and the only way we can return to the presence of God. I bear Witness of his Atonement, and the power it contains to change lives and hearts, and purify us through the power of the Holy Ghost, whose presence in our lives I testify of. I know that Joseph Smith is the Prophet anointed by the Savior himself who opened this last dispensation, and that he translated the Book of Mormon by the Gift and Power of God. I Bear Witness that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God, and will lead us back to him. I testify that Thomas S. Monson is a Prophet of God, and that this is the true and living church of Jesus Christ on the earth today, in his sacred name, Amen.

Love,

Elder Hughes

Short and to the Point

Dear Family and Friends,
This week we had a scary experience, we lost the keys to our apartment, thankfully we were able to find them after some searching, and all turned out well. I must admit it scared me though. My bike has finally quit trying to fall apart (took some tlc), and is now doing very well. The weather is getting very warm, but overall isn't too bad yet. Our baptism has been moved, we're not sure when to yet, but hopefully not too far. We're getting ready for President and Sister King to leave, it's a sad time but I'm sure the new President will be great. We'll probably be moving apartments this week, so that will make things interesting, and hopefully help us be able to accomplish more. I know the Savior lives, and loves us, I know we can be a part of his great work, and I testify that this gospel is the key to Eternal happiness in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Late but....with a Reason

Dear Family and Friends,

We had transfers last Tuesday, and had a giant service project monday which is why my email is late this week. I got a new companion Elder Horne, from Kaysville. He has only been out for 3 months, and hasn't been on bike yet, so I've been hearing a lot of complaints, and had to spend a lot of time waiting. Apparently I've gotten pretty speedy in the last year. It's been fun to work with him so far. They also changed the District boundaries so now we have the Portugese Elders, which is super cool. I thought the District would shrink, but it actually grew. We're all getting excited for President Wolfert to come in next month, but saying goodbye to President and Sister King is going to be really difficult. Everything is working out for our investigator that is preparing to be baptized, and hopefully the 12th will still work. We've had a big push in the mission lately on planning and goal setting, and it's really helped us change the way we look at things. I'm getting nervous about coming home, but I try not to think about it. It's hard with all the reminders we get all day long. I don't have too much to write this week, so in closing I testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Book of Mormon is true, and this is his church on the earth in his holy name, Amen.