A Fresh New Transfer | week 98

Hey there family!

Thank you mom for your wonderful message. I hope you got some more sleep :) I loved reading all the small and simple joys that come into your life. I have found that you can really tell alot about people by what small and simple joy's they see in life. I loved all the pictures. Rafting looks like it was a blast. And so was the first day of school. Riley and Zach man look SOOOOOOO old. What happened?!?!?!? How tall is Zach? We had our own 'first day of school' here at EAC yesteday. It was the first day of classes here. Boy, has it been quite a week for us here at EAC. Lots of exciting things are happening. It can be kind of overwhelming at times. A feeling I know each of you are acquainted with.

I am short on time today, so I will have to be brief. We had transfer calls this weekend. Unfortunately Elder H got transferred. I will miss him, he has been one of my favorite companions. Elder G is here with me now. He is really awesome as well. He is from upstate new york, and goes to BYU as well. He is a great guy. It is going to be a good one. They combined two zones so we are now over 30 missionaries. We have been running around like crazy today trying to get everyone situated. Between last transfer and this transfer there are 8 new missionaries in our zone, so we have been very busy.

School started this week! It was very exciting!! THERE ARE PEOPLE HERE NOW!!! YAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (That is how I feel about it) We cover 4 wards, of a total of 400+ YSA's here at the college. Sunday, all the ward were combined into a mega meeting to re-figure out the boundaries. It was quite a sight. We are excited to get to work! We have already received some referrals.

Last week we started teaching an amazing investigator named A. He is from Mexico, and he only speaks Spanish and French. He is 25, and is a dentist in Mexico. Through a series of miraculous events with members of the church, he immigrated here to the US to come here to study English. He has been very prepared by the Lord. He is hilarius as well. I have never laughed so hard in lessons. He is also very spiritually attune, and we have already had some wonderful experiences with him. He is one of those people who is not afraid to act in faith. He will do anythings we ask him to do. That is really what it is all about! Those are the kind of people we are looking for. Those who will act in faith. We asked him to pray about the Book of Mormon, and he got right down on his knees and prayed about it. We have been marveling. The spanish sisters in the branch here have been helping me teach him, so I don't have to do it by myself. He has a baptismal date for the 13th of September, which is very exciting. I am so excited for him.

This week I also had the chance to attend Hope's funeral in Duncan. Elder M, who is here in the Gila Valley (who served in Duncan as well) and I got permission to go to her services. It was very sad, because she died so young, but there was also so much joy in knowing the plan of salvation. We laughed alot during her funeral as people told stories from her life. She was a very entertaining and wild lady, so she had some pretty great stories. It was wonderful to remember her in that way. Everyone was smiling and crying at the same time. Funerals have a way of putting everything into perspective. One person who spoke said something that really touched me. They talked about how we forgot to tell the people we love how much we love them. We forget to put things into the right perspective. That it is sad, that sometimes it is only at times of someone's sudden death that we realize what is really important in life. It really shouldn't be that way. They spoke about the importance of telling the ones we love, how we really feel about them, while we still have the chance.

Those thoughts led me to each of you. I cannot every say enough how much I love you. I am so grateful for your sacrifice, love, help, guidance, and support that you have given to me throughout my life. I stand all amazed at how blessed I have been.

We have a very busy, and very exciting week ahead. A general authority is coming for an all day conference on monday, so P day will be on tue again next week. We have a new zone to get organized, practically a new area to begin, and lots of the Lord's work to do. I am so very excited. I love with all my heart the opportunity I have had to be a missionary.

Hurrah for Israel!!

love

Elder Hughes

Hola! | week 97

Hola Familia Marvillosa!!!

It is good to hear from you as always!  Thank you for your love and support. It sounds like all is normal, and well at home. All is well here in Arizona as well! We had a good week.

We are at the start of a very exciting week, all of the students move back this week!!!!! YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! I have never been so excited for school to start. We are gearing up and ready to go. We have spent alot of the last couple weeks getting ward mission plans made, working with our new ward mission leader, and working with the bishop. We have transfers next week, and they are probably going to be splitting our area with some sisters they will bring in. So we will probably by covering the one ward that is all on campus, and the sisters will cover the other three. They are also going to combine two zones, so we will be over one big zone of 32+ missionaries. Should be quite an adventure.

We had some really cool experiences this week. We have been led to some really cool experiences. I have truly come to see that God is so aware of every single one of us. He is aware of all of his children.

One day, our appointments had fallen through and we were just walking along the street. We walked up on a lady in the family ward we cover who was just leaving her work and getting in her car. We didn't know her very well from church, we had only said hi in passing. We stopped and talked to her for a bit, and she opened up to us about some huge struggles she has been having with her faith and testimony. She is a very active member with a beautiful family, but because of some things that have happened, she has recently been thinking about leaving the church. She opened up to us about all of this and we had a good conversation about it. We all talked together about the gospel, and our testimonies and the 'why' of our service in the church. After a bit, we all went our separate ways. As we walked on, Elder Hales and I both had the distinct impression that we had been led to that sister, at that time, for a special reason. I really know that we were led to her that day.

Another 'right place, right time' moment came this week as we walked down the street. We saw someone kneeling down on the sidewalk with their bike. As we approached we saw that she was hurt. We helped her up, and it turns out she is a YSA that just moved here, and she had just been hit by a car on her bike! It was crazy. It was a hit and run. Thankfully she was pretty much ok. She was banged up pretty good and bleeding, but mostly in shock. We carried her broken bike back home for her. She had just been hit when we walked up. 

The family that we have been working with are doing pretty good. Slowly but surely we are seeing progress in their lives. We had a surprise yesterday when one of the kids W came to church!!!! That makes our whole day when investigators come to church. I love it.

Also yesterday there were some cool experiences as an inactive member who we have worked with was recently reactivated. He served a mission and married in the temple, but over the years, he slipped away from activity. He taught the priesthood lesson on Sunday in his new calling, and it was so powerful. He was very personal about his journey, and his gratitude for his friends and neighbors for helping him come back. It was so powerful for me. It is amazing to see. The atonement is at work every day. I have come to love the challenge and joy of helping the lost sheep return to the fold. I have seen great joy in that aspect of the work.

We started teaching a YSA this week named J. He recently got out of jail, and he has a very pure heart. It has been really exciting to teach him. He can be really hit and miss with appointments, but every time we teach him things go so well.

We are looking forward to an exciting week. We are going to be spending alot of time helping people move in!!! YAY! That will be a good way for us to meet some potential investigators. It has already been fun contacting some people. Most of the people here right now are the football team. They are all from the south it seems like. Huge, intimidating black guys ;) They are pretty funny.

One of the days this week I was feeling a bit down. We went over to see Elder and Sister M, the senior couple we work with, because they had some things the needed to talk to us about. Just being with them made me so happy. I have learned alot about our influence as children of God. We have so much power to influence this world for good, if we will just let it. Elder and Sister Mathews have been that kind of influence for me. Along with countless others. When you are with them, you cannot help feeling happy, enlightened, full of the spirit, and full of hope. They inspire that in other people, by just being who they are. There is so much WE can all do to be just like that for others. More than just doing, it is actually about BEING. We can be a light to the world, to our friends, and family. There is enough despair, negativity, evil, hate, envy, lust, and sin in this world without our adding to it. I am so grateful for the lights in my life that have inspired me to keep going, and to be my best self. My family, you each have been those for me. For that I am so grateful. I love you so much for that.

I love you all!!!!!! Have a wonderful week. Serve someone!!!

love

Elder Hughes

Happy August to YOU! | week 96

Hey there family!

It is a beautiful morning here in Thatcher. Thank you for your letter mom! I always love to hear about your thoughts, and feelings and impressions. I know what you mean! I know how you feel. As a missionary it is inherent in our work that we are focused on things of great importance. There are still distractions for us as well though. Especially here in the United States. Sometimes I find myself asking the same questions as you. I have come to learn that when we evaluate and take life one day at a time, life tends to work out. We take all the good lessons we can from the past and we move forward in faith to create a future of joy and success.

You have done everything you have needed to and more. I have felt of your prayers and I have felt your love through all you have done. It is you and Dad's support that has made all of this possible in the first place.

I like the fall as well. Although here in Arizona it never really feels like fall. We always say there are 2 seasons in Arizona. Really hot, and less hot. I can't wait to do all the fall things that we always did.

Things are well here in Thatcher. We had a good week in the work. We are gearing up for the return of all the students! We are quite excited for that. We are starting to see people come back every day. We had some cool miracles to share.

One day this week, on Tue I believe, we were about to leave the apartment, and we always pray before we leave. We prayed especially to be placed in the path of those who have been prepared to receive the gospel. We walked out the door and there were some people right by our apartment. We started talking to them, and the guy pointed to his girlfriend and said "She wants to take the missionary lessons!". God answered our prayer about 10 seconds after we asked. It was so cool. I couldn't stop smiling for a while. We had to pass her off to the other elders here, but they are teaching her now and she has a baptismal date. Pretty awesome.

Another cool one we had this week. We were walking and we met a family that had recently moved in. We came to find out that they are both members, but are very inactive. We came back another night and we started talking to the wife. While we were talking with her, her husband came up really really drunk. He started cussing us out and yelling at us. He told us to leave and never come back. For some reason we felt like we should keep talking to him. He eventually calmed down, and we tried to answer some of his belligerent questions. As we talked, his heart softened. He started to break down, and he explained how he so badly wants to stop drinking. How he wants to be a better father. He explained that he knows the church is true, but that life is so hard. We ended up leaving with a return appointment and him begging us to come back at that time. We assured him we would. It was quite a change from beginning to end of the conversation. I have come to see that the latter end of that conversation is usually inside of people. Sometimes the tough and hardened exterior's block our view of who people truly are, and their true desires. I believe there is so much good in people. Sometimes it just takes further, careful, loving, and spirit-led conversations to find out their true heart.

I got some really awesome news this week! If you remember M L, our investigator in Deming who is so awesome, who was waiting for his parents permission to be baptized. He is getting baptized this week!!!!! It made me so happy to hear that.

We had dinner this week with Bishop B and his wife and President L who is in our mission Presidency. It was wonderful. I love each of those people so so so so much. Elder H and I afterward were talking and I said I believe heaven must be something like that night. Being with people you love, eating great food, and talking about the wonder and majesty of the gospel and of the Savior. That seems alot like heaven to me.

We had some non member single adults come to church yesterday. It was exciting. One guy we have to pass off, but another one we are going to try and start teaching. He is a big football player here.

We also had MLC again this week. It was wonderful as always! The spirit was strong, and I learned alot. Elder H and I had to give a training about integrity. In studying for it I thought alot about integrity and how important it should be to us. I am grateful to each of you for your examples of integrity to me. Integrity is captured in being true to who we really are. It is embodied in vigilant honesty and it is demonstrated in obedience. The world is in desperate need of men and women of integrity. It is a trait that is so rare in our government, our businesses and our communities. It is vital in the church as well. People of integrity are those that we can trust. Thank you for being people that I can trust so much. I love each of you and trust you.

I love you all!!! We are pressing forward in the work of the Lord here! I love this work, and I know it is true. Onward to another week!

Love

Elder Hughes

PS small world mormon stuff. I just met a very recently returned missionary here. Elder Goodman. He just got back from the Honolulu Hawaii mission. He knows Rachel Hodgson!!! He said she is an incredible missionary. No surprise there :)

Greetings from Arizona | week 95

Hey there family!

It sounds like the Hughes family summer adventures have continued unabated this week! Sounds like fun! Thank you Dad for your letter. I always love your enthusiasm and joy and questions. That is way cool about your go pro stuff Riley! That is so exciting. I am with you in not believing that Zach is old enough to start high school. How is that possible??!?! That is so true about what your lesson was about in Teachers quorum. There is not much gray area left in our world as for as standards and morality go. Sometimes we must stand alone for what is right. I wish I could have been there to hear the talk. There is nothing I love more to talk about than about missionary work. Good job Rilo!

Well as for us, it was another crazy week. I feel like every week I turn around and I am here at the computer emailing again. Our life is so busy. We were looking forward to a 'normal' proselyting week this week... and that didn't quite work out haha. We had lots of missionary issues to deal with this week with the missionaries in our zone. That took up much of our time, but thankfully everything got worked out. I am grateful for prayer and for the inspired direction and leadership of President Passey. Once all of that blew over, we got to focus back again on our work.

Here in our area we are really working to lay the foundation for a busy college semester that will start here. In about 2-3 weeks all of the ysa's will return and then the work really heats up here. I

I have really tried to focus on the small and simple ways that I have seen God's hand in my life this week. That exercise in my journal has opened up to my view many wonderful things throughout my mission. Try it sometime :)

Here are a few from this week:

-Attending a baptism of the Sisters here where the spirit was so powerful and wonderful

-Praying with someone for the first time

-Getting a card in the mail from a friend

-Hearing the testimony of someone who has just passed through the repentance process and feeling their joy

-Sharing the first vision

-Giving someone a blessing this week who really needed it, and feeling my words be guided by the Holy Ghost

-Eating homemade ice cream

-Teaching someone about their potential as a child of God.

-Driving past the Gila Valley temple all lit up at night

-Receiving a bunch of rain and a huge thunderstorm

-Being worn out int the work of the Lord

-Having a priest tell you that he has just decided to serve a mission

There are many many more.

We continue to teach and help our investigators. They are struggling to progress, but we are continuing onward. I have learned by experience that as we push onward everything tends to work out.

I am so grateful for everyday that I have been given to help in some small way in the work of the Lord. I have learned that there is always a need of help in this church, no matter where you are at. There is a great need for Christ like love. Elder Holland told us last conference that it is the greatest need that we have in this world. It truly is. I have learned that if we are willing God will use us to help him (to the extent that we are willing to help).

I love you all so very much. I know the work we are involved in is true. I know that without a doubt. Have a wonderful week!

all my love,

Elder Hughes

Happy Monday! | week 94

Hey there familia!!!

Happy P day to you all! We are coming to the close of a very busy week here. Lots has been going on. Elder H and I are looking forward to this week, a week of a normal missionary routine!! We have been very busy and very blessed here. Thatcher where we serve is pretty much like serving in Provo haha. I learned this week it is 90% members of the church, and that there are less than 600 non members living in our area. That is what is so fascinating about our mission, is that it is full of so many unique places. I have learned so many different things in so many different places.

This week we started off training our zone in a zone meeting. It went well. There are ALWAYS more opportunities to learn as a missionary. There is so much we can learn and apply in our work. I am grateful for those many chances, and the teachers always learn more than the students.

President Passey spent the night with us on Tue night. It was great to get to know him better. He is sooooo awesome. He is a very special man, and he has truly been called of God to be in our mission at this time. We had some great conversations with him, and he told us some hilarious stories from his adventures working for FEMA. He has seen some pretty intense things. Most importantly he is truly a man of God. We got to have interviews with him the next day, which were wonderful. I left feeling inspired, and excited. He gave me some wonderful counsel and insights.

As for this week, we have been spending lots of time trying to find new investigators. That is the huge challenge here. Especially once college starts here things really progress quickly, but for now we are pushing forward. We taught a girl this week named M. She is so 'pila' as Elder Hughes (Guatemala version) says it. She is golden. She has amazing questions and perspectives. We are passing her off to some other Elders, but it was amazing to teach her the first time. The spirit was strong, and it led the lesson well.

We have had some really cool experiences with inactive members this week as well. Many of them came to church on Sunday. In the young single adults there are many that fall away in that age period. It is truly the decade of decision, and so it is crucial that we reach out to rescue those of our age group who have stayed a bit. One sister named Q, got baptized this previous winter. She has a pretty amazing story. She is a native american, from the Apache reservation near here. She faces some very interesting challenges and family issues that are very unique to that culture. We have had some really good lessons with her this week, and she came to church on Sunday!!! It made my whole day to see her walk in. It has been amazing to teach her. The Book of Mormon was truly written for her people. It is pretty amazing to witness the gathering of the descendants of Lehi right in front of your eyes.

This weekend was the pioneer day celebration here in the Gila Valley. And oh boy do they go all out. They don't mess around with their pioneer day celebrations. The weekend was full of shows, pancake breakfasts, parades, fireworks, booths, food, and festivities. The entire community was there, so we all got to help out with some of the things and participate. Elder H and I were in the Parade, which was fun. It is quite rare to be treated like a disneyland character as you walk down the streets. We joked, that in Tucson it is quite the opposite, and yet Thatcher isn't like most places haha. We got some good pictures. We pulled a handcart for most of it, and sweated like real oxen. It has been very very hot this week.

I have been thinking this week alot about temples. First of all because we can almost see the temple from our apt complex, which is so awesome. I love everything about temples. They are so important. They bless our lives in every single way. One of the talks on Sunday was from a return missionary who reported on his mission, and he talked about setting a vision with the investigators of the temple. Oh how I love the temple. I hope each of us can make it a priority in our lives. It should be, as it is the house of the Lord.

I love you all so very much. I am happy and excited about the work that is before us here. I hope that this email finds you all happy and well!

all my love

Elder Hughes

Hello! | week 93

Hello there family!!!

I am coming you from the EAC campus today! It has been an exciting week, we have been very very busy, with lots to get done. Transfer weeks are always a bit crazy, so we are glad to be finally settling into our normal routine. It has been really fun getting to know the members here. It is strange to be back in a college environment again. It is so much fun. It is a bit slow on the missionary work side of things here, because almost all the students are gone for the summer. In a little over a month or so they will all be back, and the work should heat up quick. There are quite a few people students that almost got baptized at the end of the last semester who will be back to finish the deal when they get here. We have the most amazing bishop of the YSA ward here. He is so darn awesome. One of the best bishop's I have ever seen. He is a very inspired man of God and he is very focused on missionary work. Historically his ward has baptized the most in the stake by a long shot.

Elder H my companion is awesome. We get along great! That is so funny that grandpa and his dad know each other. They will have to take a pic and send it our way haha. We have been working hard to find new investigators this week. Thatcher is VERY mormon. Probably 70+ percent, so we have to get very creative, and it takes time, but we are excited.

There is an a great family we are teaching here. It is actually a grandma who is raising all her grandkids. We found them by just talking to them when we walked by. They have been through quite a bit of tough things in their lives, and the grandma (sis M) is a very inactive member. We have had some very powerful lessons with them. We had one this week on prayer, and it went really well. What was even sweeter was when we returned the next day, they had all prayed together as a family and had some very powerful spiritual experiences. That is music to our ears. It is amazing what happens when we have the faith to ACT. That is truly the key. We have seen small changes in them, and we are excited to keep working with them. The gospel truly blesses families. That is the 2nd principle we teach in the missionary lessons, because that is how important it is.

We are also working on reactivating a kid named A. He is going to be a Senior in high school, and he wants to change his life. He has struggled alot in high school, and he has some pretty bad family situations, but he is doing well. He is just soaking up all that we teach him. We had some powerful experiences with him this week.

Since our YSA area covers all the other missionaries' areas we end up finding lots of people for them to teach. We have found some really prepared people, which was pretty exciting.

We had the chance this week to participate in a youth conference from the Sahuarita stake, that came up here and stayed at the college. It was a blast. We taught some classes on missionary work to all the youth. It was great fun. They even had the chance to teach some 'investigators' like we do in the MTC. It was so fun. A bunch of the kids there were from Nogales! So it was a big family reunion! It was so fun to be with all of them. Some of the young men that we worked with there have received their mission calls. R's son M was there as well.

This week we had the chance to go to MLC again. It was the first one with President Passey, and it was wonderful. A spiritual feast. He and his wife are amazing people, with wonderful new ideas and insights for the work here. I learned much there. He is coming up here for interviews this week, and we found out that he is actually spending the night in our apt with us haha. A sleep over with the mission president :) Kind of funny, we are excited to get to know him better.

One thing that we talked alot about this week in our meetings was about Charity. Oh how important that gift is. Truly "Charity never faileth." In the words of Elder Holland "Christlike love is the greatest need we have on this planet in part because righteousness was always supposed to accompany it. So if love is to be our watchword, as it must be,then by the word of Him who is love personified, we must forsake transgression and any hint of advocacy for it in others. Jesus clearly understood what many in our modernculture seem to forget: that there is a crucial difference between the commandment to forgive sin (which He had an infinite capacity to do) and the warning against condoning it(which He never ever did even once). Friends, especially my young friends, take heart. Pure Christlike love flowing from true righteousness can change the world." Charity and obedience are connected attributes. We show our love for god by keeping his commandments. The world and our neighbors and family and friends all need charity. We need to be worthy of receiving the gift of Charity from God. We must pray for it. Thank you for the Charity and love that you have always showed me. I will be forever grateful for that example. It is through being "true followers of Jesus Christ" that we can become like him.

I truly do love each of you

Elder Hughes

PS On a scary/exciting/sad/happy note. My plane ticket was purchased today to arrive in Sacramento on Oct 16

Sister Greer & I

Elder George and I with our Nogales neighbors at youth conference

Me in front of President Kimball's house that he grew up in

Hey, I am going back to college early | week 92

Leaving Benson AZ & my Companion

My new Companion in Thatcher, AZ

Hey there family!

First of all your trip looks like it was a blast!!!!!!!!! How fun! You will have to take Tanner and I back for round two one day. I love all the pictures it looks so beautiful there. Goodness, it is so good to see green. Living in the desert for 2 years has made me so attracted to the color green haha. It sounds like you guys are busy as ever. Zach has probably started efy by now. He will love it! Rilo is getting in with the ladies :) Good work. Lifeguarding is a good place to do that :) Mom and Dad you all look great. It was great to see a pic of grandma and grandpa too.

I am coming to ya this week from the library of Easter Arizona College! It is in Thatcher Arizona in the Gila Valley. I am pretty close to the temple. I got transferred today to cover 4 YSA wards here in the college. It is going to be a blast! I am really excited. It is going to be a whole new adventure. My new companion is Elder H. He is wonderful. We have gotten to know each other a bit over our missions, and he is a great missionary. I am really excited for it. Elder H is also from LAYTON UT. A place I believe we are familiar with. He went to Layton High and his dad is an anesthesiologist at Davis hospital. So Grandpa Bill do you know him? Kind of a small world. Right now since it is the summer all of the college kids are home from college so we just have one ysa ward, but towards the end of this transfer school will start again. Right now we are also covering a family ward as well just for the summer.

It has been a crazy week with transfers and lots of other work and changes. Elder T and I saw alot of tender mercies from the Lord this last week. We spent alot of time teaching the members. We really felt that is how we were going to be able to help the work progress, right at the end we got some really solid referrals and one refferral was for a guy who was looking for us, he wants to join the church. We really like when that happens :)

We had a great 4th of July. We went to the Benson city parade and contacted some people and also to the Benson city 4th of july festival. We got roasted by the sun and spent most of the day there contacting people.

Monsoons have begun!!!! FINALLY. I was dying to see some rain. Some pretty crazy storms have moved through. Yesterday we watched a member's trampoline get demolished by the flood wash. I have never been so grateful for rain in my entire life.

Leaving Benson was a bit tough. I have loved that place. I love the members there. It was tough to say goodbye. Especially to the Garner's. I felt like I was leaving home all over again. I will cherish many good memories serving there.

We got to meet President and Sister Passey this week!!!! It was wonderful. They are amazing people. The spirit witnessed to me of the divine origin of their call. It just feels right. They are wonderful disciples of Christ, with so much energy and enthusiasm for the work of the Lord. It was fun to finally meet them. I look forward to getting to know them better in the future.

It has been a busy week. I am very very excited for one last area on my mission. It is going to be very good. I feel it. I am cherishing every day to be a missionary and be able to testify with authority of the divinity of our Savior Jesus Christ. As you pointed out I am in the double digits of days that I will be able to do that. I am grateful for that calling. I have never been so happy in my whole life as I have been in the mission field. That comes from a promise made by a prophet in Preach my gospel "The Lord will reward and richly bless you as you humblyand prayerfully serve Him. More happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you labor among His children." That promise is true for all of us as missionaries, and for YOU as member missionaries. I know that promise is true!

I love you guys so very much. Stay safe in your travels and adventures!

love

Elder Hughes

the monsoons have arrived.