Mail's Here

Dear Family and Friends,
This week we heard some exciting news, the church is going to start their multimedia mormon.org campaign next month, so everyone in the mission is super excited. With the new mission president there are some changes being worked on, so it's pretty exciting to get to see how different people do things. Things are getting better for our investigator that had to have shoulder surgery, and hopefully she'll be able to be baptized soon. We had a neat opportunity Saturday to help out with a 9/11 memorial project so hopefully you like the pics of me and my companion. I have learned something this week through experience that I'd like to share with you. When we harden our hearts against the Lord, which is done in numerous ways, he withdraws the sustaining influence of the Spirit which then leaves us to kick against the pricks, and it becomes very difficult to see his hand in our lives, but when we humble ourselves, and as they say "count our blessings" we see that he never leaves. I know that our Father in Heaven loves us, and is always there to guide bless and inspire us in our lives. I know the Savior lives, and I know that through the Spirit we too can know of these eternal truths. I know that we are children of God, and that he has a plan for us in our lives. I testify that the Book of Mormon is true, and I know that it contains everything we need to return to the presence of God. I love you, and miss you. Know that I remember you in my prayers, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

Elder Hughes

The Monday Holiday Slowed down Delivery

Dear Mom,
Tyler just needs to understand that he can't beat everyone, and besides that it's only a game...Until he beats my record of 3 point or bigger for 5 straight years he has no room to talk. (Craig is talking about Tyler beating his high score on the Cabela's xbox Dangerous Hunts game- then dad beating both records two hours later, and the fact that he has to win in real life "deer hunting" as well) Anyway, couldn't email yesterday because of the holiday, the libraries were all closed. The baptism didn't work out, the lady decided she wanted to wait for her daughter, but that's not a problem. The weather last week was straight up hot, but it's been raining for about 48 hours straight, but most of it has been a very light rain so there's not a ton of water but everything is soaked. Today it's almost cold enough for a jacket on the bike. Nothing too interesting to report here, keep an eye out for a package that I'm going to send tomorrow, hopefully I wont need to send more than one more after this one. I have acquired a lot of stuff it seems, but I think I might be able to fit back into my suitcases now. I'm hoping that I'll be able to fit everything into one suitcase so I wont have to pay anything at the airport, but that'll really be a stretch. I still haven't decided what to do with my bike because I want a bike when I get home, but shipping it home is sooooo expensive, so I'm still not sure there. Just fyi, I've known my release date since I got here. I don't know what time I get home and all that stuff, but I figure I'll know when I need to know. Things are going well, we learned in District Meeting today about Faith and murmuring, it was a really powerful lesson, and it made me realize that I complain too much so I'm working on not doing it anymore. We noticed an interesting thing the other day, everyone that we're teaching currently has some kind of physical ailment that is preventing them from coming to church or getting baptized, but it's alright, we know it'll work out. I know the Savior lives, and that he loves us, and I pray that we might be obedient to his commandments so that he can truly save us from death, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Love you all!

Love,

Weekly Good News

Dear Family and Friends,

I must say thanks to all of you who've sent me letters recently, I'm working on responding, it's just taking a minute due to a lack of stamps. We had a couple cool things happen this week, we had our first zone conference with President Wolfert (which brought the awful realization that it was my last), and it was great. I feel like I'm really getting a lot better at listening to the Spirit so it was very powerful. Another cool thing that happened was Saturday, my companion and I decided to stop by an investigator that we hadn't seen in a few weeks house, and she let us in. After a short discussion we found out that she had felt a very strong impression earlier in the week that she needed to be baptized, and it was super cool. So, we commited her to be baptized this Saturday. Hopefully it all works out. This week was a great testimony builder to me as I've pondered over a lot of things and reflected on things I've learned recently. It has been amazing to see how the Spirit works in our life when we let him. It has strengthened my faith in and testimony of the Atonement, and the power it can have in our lives to draw us ever closer to God. I know he loves us and wants to help us in our lives. I know the Holy Ghost can and will tell us all things that we should do if we humble ourselves and accept the will of God. I know our Father in heaven loves us, and he wants all of us back. I testify of these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. I love you all, and hope all is well.

Love,

Elder Hughes

No Transfers this week

Dear Family and Friends,
Thank Goodness the weather was a little cooler this week, and couple things happened....It's transfer week again, and I'm not getting transferred, and neither is my companion. This makes me believe that I'll be here in Roswell until the end of my mission. I went on exchange this last week, and for the 1st time in over 18 months drove a car. I was amazed that I remembered how, but having to deal with traffic (especially in Atlanta) made me grateful to be on a bike. Those were pretty much the highlights of the week. We did get to meet with M. Russell Ballard, but it wasn't anything special. JK, It was awesome!!!!!!!!! All the missionaries in the mission got to shake his hand, and we had a meeting with all the Bishops, Stake Presidencies, and Ward Mission Leaders. It was super cool. The work is going good, we met a bunch of new families that we'll hopefully start teaching soon, so we're pretty stoked about things right now. I appreciate all your letters, and prayers. I want to share one thought from Elder Ballard that really struck me. He talked about all those on the other side of the veil that are waiting and praying that one of their ancestors will accept the gospel and do their work, and it really helped me put in perspective just how urgent this work really is. I know that this is the Lords' work, and I love serving him. I know this is his true gospel. I love you all, hope all is well.
Love,
Elder Hughes

Letter for the Week

Dear Family and Friends,
This week was pretty regular. The weather gave us a break so we didn't absolultely die, but I'm not looking forward to this week. We're at the point where everyone keeps saying "oh about three to four more weeks, and it'll start cooling off." I'm really doubting it based on how late summer started this year, and how hot it has been. We had a really cool lesson with one of our investigators who should've finished the Book of Mormon by now, she told us she'd like to be baptized as soon as she can get her arm out of her sling(just had surgery), so we're just waiting on the doctor. I feel like it's been one of those patience building periods that I'm supposed to be learning from so I'm trying to be more positive about things. It's hard to believe that the Lord will let us suffer, but sometimes he does so we can grow. He does it because he loves, I know he does, and he wants us to return to him. I testify that this is true, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

Elder Hughes

Weekly Update

Dear Family and Friends,
Aside from the crazy hot weather, and gallons of sweat pouring off us as we ride, this week was not the most productive in missionary work. We had an investigator that had surgery, but she's doing well we hear. We're really depending a lot on the members for help right now. I've been learning some cool things, and have come up with a neat little equation. Will = Desire which dictates Priorities which shape Choices = Agency. So following with that, the only thing we really have in this life that doesn't already belong to God is Agency, and we must sacrifice that to him to become who we need to be. I'm also really starting to understand the difference between a testimony and conversion. A testimony is understanding things physically, and experiencing the Power of the Holy Ghost, and conversion means undestanding things spiritually, and experiencing the Gift of the Holy Ghost. As we strive to help people become converted, it requires that we act so that our understanding sinks deep into our hearts. We heard a quote in church Sunday that said, "we need to understand and apply these principles" (talking about honesty), but I thought to myself, that's not true, we need to apply these principles to really understand them. It never ceases to amaze me how perfect the gospel is, and how everything is designed to lead us back to God, drawing closer and closer along the way. I know this is the gospel of Jesus Christ, restored in these last days to prepare the world for his coming, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,
Elder Hughes

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.