Hellooooo there family!
As always I love hearing from you all. Every time I get on the computer on p day, I just smile because I love you guys so much and your words always make me smile and feel of your love. Even though we are far apart I really do feel of your love. I always have my whole life. I can honestly say that there has not been one moment of my life where I ever doubted that love. Thank you for that. It has taught me how to love people, and I get to do that everyday here!
It sounds like you guys are all doing awesome. Your adventures seriously crack me up. haha. I love it. You are so right, good friends make life so wonderful. Here in the mission I have found many wonderful friends to help me through the tough days. Tanner and I were able to grow up with one of the most amazing group of friends ever assembled. Now we are all serving the Lord or getting hitched haha. I am so grateful for all of them. BUT the one think I love about our family is that we are all friends. Mom, Dad, Rilo, and Z man you guys are all MY best friends. I love you all. Tanner does take the cake for being my BESTEST BEST friend, but that fact is well known haha. How amazing it is that we are an eternal family of best friends.
Mom, that quote you remembered me saying. Wow. That surprised me. I had no idea, I had never heard that. The Spirit is real. I have learned more about following the spirit as a missionary than my whole life combined. It is the best feeling in the world.
Awesome, well it sounds like the adventures continue forward for all of you guys in the summer. Rilo going on trek. DUDE enjoy it. make the best of it. I had a blast on trek when I went. Listen to the spirit. It will teach you things you could never have possibly imagined. Attitude is everything in life, and it is everything as a missionary. Believe me.
Z man!!!! going to good ol wente. I love that place. I had so many good memories there. He will love it.
As for the work here this week. It was a great week for missionary work. One of the best I have had on my mission so far. The Lord is truly blessing us so much. I have learned that the Lord pours out his miracles according to our faith and diligence and obedience.
Elder H came up to North Nogales with me for an exchange this week. Him and I have become great friends. He is a great guy, he is from Kaysville UT and went to Davis high. We had a great day and were able to teach alot. I gave my first blessing in Spanish on Tue. I have no idea how I have made it this far into my mission without giving one in spanish. It was to this new investigator that we found. Her name is M and she has really really bad spinal cancer. It breaks my heart to see. She is one of those people that when you look in her eyes you can just tell how wonderful of a person she is. It was one of the most powerful blessings I have ever been able to give. The holy ghost truly gives us words to say. I felt our heavenly father's love for her so strong.
This week we were able to teach a ton. I love it. That is my all time favorite part about being a missionary is when we get to teach. I got to teach more lessons this week than I ever have before. We are teaching many different people.
J, the guy I have told you about a bit is doing awesome. This guy is THIRSTY for the gospel. He cannot stop asking us questions. He calls us his angels, and says that god sent us to him. I am SO excited to keep teaching him this coming week. We had an amazing lesson on prayer with him. He told us that he didn't know how to pray and that he had never prayed before. Of course we taught him how to pray and explained some different things about prayer. He then immediately wanted to pray right away. He wanted to try out right away what he had just learned. He then offered the most beautiful prayer. There is something so special about hearing someone pray for the first time. The spirit was strong. This man has so much faith and I am excited to keep helping him learn more. He has a baptismal date for the 10th of August.
R this week, we had quite a rollercoaster ride. We had moments of fear, joy, peace, spirit, and doubt. He is pressing forward. On Saturday he really broke down and opened up about some of the things he is facing. They don't really have to deal directly with the gospel, but he is really struggling. Sometimes I cannot believe that the Lord trusts us with these people. I cannot go into the details of the things he is facing, but they are intense. I am truly truly grateful for the spirit. The promise that words will be put into our mouth is real. I am a witness of it. There were many moments this week where I was speechless. (which is rare, usually my problem is that I don't shut up haha) The Holy Ghost ALWAYS gives me words to speak. Even in the most complicated moments.
Sunday was a crazy day. They always are for us. R left church early. His heart was really not open at all. That was a bit hard to see, but we were able to teach him last night and it went really well. He is doing alot better. The other miracle of Sunday is that Ig came to church!!! He is a changed kid. We had sort of stopped teaching him because he was not progressing at all, and he never showed up to appointments for weeks. He went on the High Adventure trip that the priests had last week, and it was life changing for him. He felt the spirit. He is so ready to be baptized. He has his testimony. Since we have taught him most of the lessons already he will be able to be baptized soon!!!! I am so excited!!! Sometimes we just have to trust in the Lord's timing. What a miracle!
There are many other people we have been teaching and have found this week. It was a great week, and I am SO pumped to keep it going. Nogales is going to baptize here in the next few weeks. I love this work so much.
I got the flu for one day this week. It was mega lame. The bad thing about being a missionary is that it is really hard to just take a day off because of appts. It reminded me of what you always said about getting sick as a parent haha. But it was just a one day bug.
I have been reflecting alot this week on my purpose. It is a great purpose. I agree with Tanner when he said that I am just beginning to understand my purpose as a missionary for this church. It has changed me forever to understand that. Every week I learn more and more. I love you all. If you want to read my new favorite talk. Read Pres. Uchdorf's talk "The Hope of God's Light" I love it. here is a sneak peek.
"There may be some among you who feel darkness encroaching upon you. You may feel burdened by worry, fear, or doubt. To you and to all of us, I repeat a wonderful and certain truth: God’s light is real. It is available to all! It gives life to all things.1 It has the power to soften the sting of the deepest wound. It can be a healing balm for the loneliness and sickness of our souls. In the furrows of despair, it can plant the seeds of a brighter hope. It can enlighten the deepest valleys of sorrow. It can illuminate the path before us and lead us through the darkest night into the promise of a new dawn."
I love you all. Keep pressing forward feasting on the words of Christ. Not nibbling, or trying, or tasting, FEASTING! That is how we endure with joy. If you don't believe me read 2 nephi 31.
All my love
Elder Hughes
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