Happy Monday | Week 87

Hello Family!

I loved your letter as always mom. I am so happy that all is so well at home. That gives me so much peace and happiness to know that. There is nothing more that I want than my family to be happy. I bet we have you beat on the temperatures right now. It has been blazin here in the desert. I love your sunday picnic idea. We truly are so very blessed. Life is so so so good. It has been very good to me as well. Give the Voges my love. I miss them :)

It has been an exciting week here in Benson! We had a wonderful week. A week full of miracles. It has been great! We started off with transfers, which is always crazy. We are in charge of a transfer site here, so it is always crazy for us, but everything worked out well. Then we set to work. We saw many little miracles this week, of being in the right places at the right times. We have met some very prepared people to hear our message. Which is what we have been praying for!

We started teaching a family, they are really great. We just met them as we were walking to an appointment. The T family is their name. The husband C is a true seeker of truth, which is so exciting for us. One thing I love about our message is that it is all about a search for truth. They are a really nice family, with great kids, so we are excited to see them again this week and keep teaching them.

We started visiting a young inactive couple, who are really awesome. Teaching them has been really special. They have a hunger for more gospel knowledge, and to go to the temple. They have desires to go to the temple. They have some roomates that live with them, and we have started teaching them as well. One girl named A has been looking for help and spiritual strength. We taught her a lesson on prayer, and it had been years since she had prayed. She gave a beautiful heartfelt prayer at the end of the lesson. She has been looking for a job so that night she prayed again. Then the next morning she got a phone call saying that she had gotten the new job. It was amazing to see how excited she was. That answer alone has renewed her faith in a God who answers prayers.

We have received many other referrals, potentials, and opportunities in the last couple days so we have a full week ahead of us to tackle the work the Lord has placed before us. It has been very exciting for us. We feel like our prayers have been answered.

M is still doing very well. He is progressing, and absolutely loves church. He gets so excited to go.

Another miracle this week. We were walking across a crosswalk in town, and someone honked at us. It is pretty common for members to honk, so we turned around to see who it was... and it was RM and HR from Tucson! R is the lady Elder  and I helped reactivate. They started freaking out when they saw me. It was a very small world moment. They happened to be sitting at the light as I walked past. It was crazy. We chatted for a bit, and took a picture to prove that it happened.

We had another mini missionary with us this weekend. Missionary work must be really exhausting because this kid could not stay awake in lessons haha. He fell asleep in almost everyone. That made for some interesting moments :) We had fun.

A highlight of the week this week was MLC. It was the last one with President Killpack. It was very emotional for all of us. We had the meeting on top of Mt. Lemmon in Tucson. We drove all the way up to the highest peak, and we all hiked in to a look out point with a gorgeous view. It was awesome! (and 40 degrees cooler) We received training and instruction from the top of this mountain. It was really cool. The spirit was strong. President gave us alot of his final counsel and reflections. What a special man he is. No one put on sunscreen, so we all got REALLY sunburnt, but it was worth it. I have lots of great pictures, but I am mad at myself because I left my camera card reader at home, so you might have to wait until next week to see. It was a day I will not soon forget. I am grateful for the chance to be a missionary. I have loved every minute of it, and I am so glad that I still have more time.

It was a great week. We have been blessed so much.

We discussed a parable at a our training this week that has caused me to reflect alot.

"A merchant man seeking precious jewels found at last the perfect pearl. He had the finest craftsman carve a superb jewel box and line it with blue velvet. He put his pearl of great price on display so others could sharehis treasure. He watched as people came to see it. Soon he turned away in sorrow. It was the box they admired, not the pearl."

We related this story to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Church of Jesus Christ.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the pearl. It is the pearl of great price. It is precious. It is worth far more than the box. It is of more value than anything else. The box holds the pearl. It is like the church. It must contain and hold this pearl of great price.

Where is our faith? Where is our trust? Do we spend more time fussing about our box, and not enough time on the pearl? Have we forgotten about the pearl? Do we remember that the box was built only to give honor and place for this wonderful pearl?

The greatest joy of my whole life has come when I have become more concerned with the pearl. The box is VERY important, but it is not the MOST important. It is possible to be active in the church, and less active in the gospel. I know that we have a savior who lives and loves us. His gospel is what makes all the difference.

I love you all so very much. I think of you every day.

To close I will leave you with a baseball quote I heard yesterday. We are a baseball loving family, so it fits well.

"In baseball, as in life, the most important things happen at home"

How true that is. Thanks for making our home so wonderful.

love

Elder Hughes