Happy New Year Familia!!! | week 65

This is where I am going this week!

Hello Family!!!!!

Oh it was so wonderful to SEE you and TALK to you this week!!!!! I loved every moment of it! I had a wonderful Christmas! I loved seeing all of your pictures from the many Christmas festivities, you all look wonderful, I am so incredibly blessed with so many wonderful family members. You are all amazing. I don't know what I did to be blessed with such a wonderful family.

It was a wonderful week of Christmas. The mission Christmas conference was amazing. The spirit was so so so strong. It inspired me to keep pressing forward with all that I have. What a glorious gospel and a glorious message we have for the world. Christmas was wonderful. We ate a TON. Way to much. I got to talk to all of you, which was SO GREAT! And we ended the night going around and delivering cookies and singing to lots of the members of the branch. It was a wonderful Christmas. This Christmas had a great feeling to it. I really love every thing about Christmas. It has the power to bring to our hearts an even greater understanding and love for the Savior.

As for the time after Christmas, it has been a bit slow. Here close to the border, ALL of our Mexican friends head back across the border for the holidays. SO.... we have had a bit of a slow week, all of our investigators were gone, and lots of the members. BUT they are all coming back home here in the next couple days which we are really excited about.

I have to tell you guys about some of the people we are teaching! I feel like I haven't had a lot of time to do that yet :)

First is M. I don't even know if we can even classify this as teaching, because M is completely Mormon already. This kid is AWESOME! He has investigated the church for 5 months now, and hasn't missed church at all since he started. He is amazing. He is teaching us, really, by his amazing example. The big hang up, is his crazy parents that won't let him get baptized. It is really hard for him. We have been going over and teaching his parents as well, to try and see if we can make any progress. It is quite a challenge. His parents are very confused people. But we are praying for a miracle.

We are also teaching this really old lady named L. She is a really sweet lady that investigated the church a couple years ago.

We have lots and lots of people we found right before the holidays that sped out of town so we didn't get to see them much lately. BUT we are excited for the upcoming weeks to get the work rolling full speed here.

We have been teaching a lot of members and less active members lately about goals and repentance, and change, and a vision for a new year. It has caused me to reflect a lot about the last year, and about the coming year. That is one of my favorite parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ is it is full of opportunities to do better and become something. Truly this gospel is about change. The life of Jesus Christ and his atonement and sacrifice are all about change. I remember a while back giving a baptismal interview to some kids in a family. The little boys kept calling their baptism their "second chance." I loved that so much. I love second chances. I have truly learned that as we embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, second chances surround us on all sides. That is why it is so joyful. I love second chances, and third chances, and fourth. Those chances have changed my entire life. The gospel of Jesus Christ has changed me and my life forever. It has been a wonderful year. I can honestly say it has been the fastest year of my entire life, it has been the most challenging year of my entire life, and it has been the most joyful year of my entire life (so far). I love second chances.

My challenge to all of you is to ponder and pray about what the Lord's vision is for each of you. As we pray and ponder and learn, the spirit always teaches us more about who we truly are and who we can become. Then make goals and plans to make those things a reality into our lives. We have the power to become whatever we want to become. I love our mission's motto "choose to become" What are your vision's for yourselves? What are your goals and plans?

I want all of you to know how much I love each of you. I have a testimony of this gospel. I know the Savior lives. I know that he is real. His light and love and power is real. I have felt it personally and watched it touch the lives of others. I know that we are part of his church. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is truly the best book in the entire world! I wish everyone in the world would read it. I love you all so much! Discover the Lord's vision for you!

Love

Elder Hughes

Merry Christmas! | week 64

We did not get a letter from Taylor this week, instead we were able to TALK to him on SKYPE. It was so great to see and hear his voice. He is doing so well, having such amazing experiences. I am constantly amazed as his strength and his spirit. I am overwhelmed with Gratitude for the many great things they are doing and the sacrifices they are making. I am proud to be their mom!

Hola from New Mexico!!! Merry Christmas!!!!! | week 63

I asked both boys a series of questions about their missions. They both answered and what they had to say was amazing.

Hello there family!!!

It is so good to hear from you, I always love to hear your words and support! I love your Christmas idea. What an unconventional way to do Christmas! That is awesome. The Hughes family is always good at trying new things. That is one of my favorite parts of our family. I love your story about your new friend. One thing I have truly learned here on the mission is that the Lord truly leads us to those that he needs us to serve, especially as we open our hearts to it. I know that his hand is guiding each of our lives. It has guided mine. There are truly no coincidences :)

As for our week. It was a good one. We have been really busy. The nature of whitewashing an area is that it takes a while to get everything sorted out. We spent a lot of time meeting all the members, inactive members, and some of the investigators that were left for us to teach. Oh my goodness I love the branch that I am serving in SO much. It is really small, but the members are AMAZING. They are all so happy, supportive, and so excited to do missionary work. There is a really special spirit here. There is one big family the Q family that is famous in our mission, because of how awesome they are. I have quickly learned why. They are phenomenal. Almost the entire branch council consists of their whole family. We are so excited to be here.

Now for your questions.... :) There are lots so, I will try to answer as many as I can!! I love questions.

1. Where am I serving? I am serving in the small town of Deming New Mexico!!! It is 30 minutes from the mexico border, and right now it is freezing cold. It might snow this week! YAY!

2. My area... Is basically a run down old town. It is about the same as all of my areas as far as poorer goes. I have never been in a rich area. We work a lot in old trailer parks. It is a quiet little town, with quite a few Mormons here. There are 2 small English wards, and our teeny tiny little Spanish branch. I really like it though.

3. My apartment is great! It is a lot bigger and nicer than our apt in Los Reales. I have pictures of it that I will send to you.

4. Oh the food is wonderful! I love love love Mexican food. I do not ever get tired of it. It is every kind of Mexican food you can imagine. Honestly my favorite is Sonoran Dogs... which I am going through withdrawls right now. No one here even knows what they are :(

5. Do I eat things I never thought I would? Honestly no. It isn't anything insanely exciting or crazy :) but that's fine with me.

6. The craziest thing I have eaten? Um I guess probably Lengua, which is cow tongue. It is really good :)

7. The craziest thing that has happened to me? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm well. To be honest, I have been blessed and not that many crazy things have happened to me. I have a couple things that I will probably save to tell you mom :)  I have met some pretty crazy people. That is pretty common as we walk around and talk to lots of people. I have met some crazies, but they are always funny. I really find it quite funny to observe how people react to us missionaries. Many times people are very confused with how they should react to meeting missionaries.

8. The best thing about the mission? That is a wonderful question. I have pondered on that a lot. There is so much that I love about serving a mission, but I feel like the best part is how many opportunities I have to serve others. We always have so many opportunities to serve, but being a missionary is FULL of opportunities to serve. The happiest missionaries, are the ones that just love serving others. My other favorite part is watching the Holy Ghost come and touch the hearts of those we teach. Many people's hearts are hardened, through the hard things in their lives, and if they will just open their hearts up, the spirit always comes through and changes them. Just last night the Sister missionaries and us tag taught a family that has been investigating the church for almost a year. I got to witness the spirit touch their hearts. It is my one of my favorite things to see and be part of.

9. The hardest part of the mission? Another good question. I have thought a lot about that question. I can think of two things. I have come to understand that one of the hardest parts of the mission many times is self created. The 'hard times' come sometimes when I turn inward and think about what I want. It is the fastest way to be miserable in life. I have learned that truly life is so joyful for me when I am thinking of others. The other hard part I think would be when I feel like I have tried my very best, and there isn't tons of success. That hard thing has also taught me so much about what is really important. Small things are important to the Lord. The spirit has taught me that things are not always really how we think they are. The Lord uses his sons and daughters to help others. I have come to see that can be in many ways, even if the people don't get baptized now. So really the 'hardest parts' about being a missionary (and really just being a human being) are really some of the best things, because they teach us the most. Although seeing that is really frustrating sometimes :)

10. What makes me happiest right now? Another good question. Some I can think of: Feeling the spirit, being the answer to someone's prayers, laughing, good food, reading the scriptures, helping someone else, thinking about how much I love my friends and family, thinking about how blessed I am. Those are just a few.

11. Hard question. What have I learned most? Well the hard things about being a missionary that I spoke about above have sure helped me learn a lot. I have also learned that every single person is a beloved son or daughter of god. I have learned how real Christ and his atonement is. I have learned that truly losing yourself in the service of the Lord is the only way to true joy. I could probably write a couple huge books on the things that I have learned here. It really is impossible to express properly. I can't wait to sit down one day and talk to you all more about it, but meanwhile... there is still much more to learn!!

12. Yes and no. The Lord has an interesting way of waiting until we have enough faith, for him to give us what we need. So yes I have done things I have not thought possible, but they have only happened when I have actually believed they were possible. If that makes sense... haha

13. My Spanish is doing really well. It keeps getting better. I feel totally comfortable with it. No, sadly I do not think in Spanish. We talk in English too much for that to happen, but I can translate pretty well.

14. I am hoping to accomplish lots while I am still here. I am hoping to BAPTIZE lots more! And I am hoping to continue feeling the joy of serving!

15. Not yet on the Christmas tree! We are looking for one though :)

Ahhhhh Ok I don't have much more time left! I always run out of time! But I hope and pray that you all will have a great pre Christmas week! Our branch of missionaries have decided that we are going to make it the best Christmas ever, and try and serve as many people as we can. I am excited. I will miss all of you lots, as always, but I hope you feel of my love!

I love you all. You mean so much to me. I hope that you all remember Christ at this time!

LOVE

Elder Hughes

HELLO FAMILY!!!!!!!! I am coming to you from a new place...... can you guess where? | week 62

Hey there familia!

I am coming to you today from good ol Deming New Mexico!!! I got the transfer news on Sunday night, and it has been crazy ever since. I am serving as a zone leader out here over the new mexico zone! It is so crazy, I am coming full circle, because last year at this time I was out here in freezing cold New Mexico as well. Deming is the farthest out in the mission that there is. It is 3 1/2 hours away from Tucson. My companion is Elder P, he is awesome. We already know each other pretty well. He was in my MTC zone, and we have always been good friends. I took his place in Los Reales, and now we are the ZL's out here. We are whitewashing the area (which means neither of us has been here before) which is always a challenge, but definitely an adventure. I am really excited for this transfer. I have a really good feeling about it. We cover a tiny tiny tiny little Spanish branch here with another set of sisters. It is actually really fun, because I am serving with Sister S who I served with in Los Reales. Her companion is named Hermana Magnussen (I think that is how to spell it) and she is from Roseville CA!!!! It is crazy. We haven't had a lot of time to talk, but we know lots of the same people. One of the Elders in the English ward here Elder Gavin Murray, and he is from Anacordis WA which is kinda cool. He knows the Lamb family. It is a small Mormon world.

It sounds like all is well in Rocklin. If it makes you feel any better I am freezing my bootie off out here as well. It is COLD out here in New Mexico.

As for my last week in Los Reales. It was wonderful. I truly came to love that place a lot. The week was full of lots of work. It was a really good week for us. I always have lots of mixed emotions as I leave an area. It is exciting, sad, and scary all at the same time. That really is what all change in life is like. As a missionary change is such a constant thing, but it always makes things interesting. As the week wrapped up I reflected a lot about the many blessings the Lord has shown me there. As I went around to say goodbye to so many of the people that I have come to love so much, my heart was full. I didn't have tons and tons of baptisms. but I really felt the Lord's hand in my time there. I am so grateful for it. I am going to miss Elder P a lot. He is a powerful missionary and example to me. I have learned so so so much from him. I was honored to be his companion.

It was really hard to leave my district. The 6 of us grew to be so close friends. It was awesome. I learned so much from each of them. I love this gospel and how it unites us. It truly is the most unifying cause in the universe.

My dear friend R who I have worked with for months, who I love so much came back to church for the first time in many years on Sunday. It was priceless. I have loved teaching her. The spirit directed us so much as we did so. Saying goodbye to R was also hard. She is one of the people that I know for sure that I was sent to this mission to meet. She will always have a special place in my heart. She is continuing to face immense trials. I cannot even begin to describe the unrelenting forces of evil that surround her in her family. It is unbelievable. She has incredible faith. Faith that will always be an example to me.

There were many other wonderful experiences last week, and so little time to write.

Sister Uscharawadi who was in my district in Los Reales is one of my dear friends out here in the mission, and she is coming back home tomorrow. She lives in Granite Bay. She has a letter to deliver to you from me. She is a good friend and so you should take her out to eat. (hint: she likes sushi.) I gave her your phone number and email. She is awesome. One of the best missionaries in our mission, and one of my best friends out here as well.

I am excited for a new transfer and new opportunities to serve. I have only been in Deming for a few hours, but it sounds like the members are doing amazing, and that it is a really exciting time to serve here in Deming. I was trying to think of how to describe what kind of place Deming is, and Elko NV kept coming to my mind. It looks a lot like Elko. Out here in New Mexico it looks a lot like the drive from CA to Utah.

I have reflected a lot this week about the amazing grace of Jesus Christ. How amazing it is. I am so eternally grateful for the chances I have to get up and start again. That when I fall, the Savior is always waiting and willing to pick me back up. He love us with a love we cannot even begin to imagine. I hope we take a moment to reflect on that gift. It is real. I have felt it even more as I have tried to help others find it in their own lives. I know that the Savior lives. I know that he is waiting for us to "come boldly to the throne of grace" and be healed. That reservoir of power is waiting, he just need us to come and partake. I love Him and I love this work.

I love you all and my prayers are with you. Thank you for your love and support. I am excited for the packages ;) I love Christmas time! I cannot contain my excitement to talk to you all soon!

LOVE

your son/brother/friend/grandson/nephew/and anything else I forgot

Elder Hughes

PS send a prayer up that I can find my backpack. In true Taylor fashion I lost it somewhere between Tucson and here, and I always find things when I pray. So I will be praying with you :)

HAPPY POST THANKSGIVING!!! Bring on Christmas time :) | week 61

Hellooooooooooo Familia!!!!

 

Oh my goodness I love you guys and miss you all so much. First things first. Dad are you growing a mustache?!? hahaha I died laughing here in the library. Do you like it mom? Props to you dad. Tanner and I always were trying to get you to switch up your style sometimes haha. I love you guys so much. I love all of your thanksgiving pictures. What a fun day. I as well was thinking of you all the whole day. I love you guys so much. Next year we will all be together! That will be so awesome. Thank you for your words of wisdom dad. I always tell Elder P how wise you are. You truly are my hero and I hope to be even half the man they you are. I love you all. I was commenting this week that Riley and Z man look so grown up! When did that happen? They aren't supposed to grow up! That is awesome that you got to spend some time with Aaron. Give him my love.

 

I am so happy to hear about your job blessings!!!! The Lord is blessing you for your sacrifices. What a miracle!!

 

We had a wonderful week here in Los Reales. It was so busy as always, the Lord has blessed us immensely here. We started off the week on a P day adventure to this place called the Biosphere 2. It was a really interesting place. Our district has become best friends. We just love to be together. We have a blast wherever we go on P day. This place was really interesting. We had an insane tour guide lady. She was nuts. I have a good story to go along with a picture later.

 

The Lord has blessed us so much this week. We started off the week and as we were evaluating we were talking about how we really just need to find new investigators. Many of our old investigators were flaking out, and we really just needed more people to teach. We focused a lot on finding this week with the spirit. It really was a miracle. The Lord led us to so many people who are prepared to hear the gospel. We set a goal to talk with everyone we meet. It has been really good. We found 8 new investigators this week!!!! It was a miracle. I am so excited for the coming week, where we can go forward and help them all progress. Finding people is always the first hurdle, and then helping them progress is always the next step. We witnessed many miracles as the Lord put us in the path of those who he has been preparing to hear the gospel. Sometimes I stand in awe at how this is truly his work. He is directing it.

 

There are too many experiences to write about, but we have found many different kinds of people to teach this week. An awesome family with 6 adorable kids, a single mom, a new father, 2 old ladies. The gospel of Jesus Christ is truly for everyone. No matter what they are like or what they have been through.

 

We had a really powerful experience with talking to everyone this week. Elder P is really good at talking with everyone. He has no fear at all. He is such an example to me. We were riding our bikes and we rode up on this lady feeding some cats on the side of the road. Her name was D

. She was this little old lady, and we started talking to her and soon got to know her. She is a very lonely lady. No family, no friends. She has been coming to feed these feral cats every day for 2 years. She lives a solitary and lonely life. She feels unloved and unwanted. At first she was shy and didn't really want to talk, but as we talked she opened up. She doubts if god is really there or if he really loves her. We were able to testify to her of that one simple truth. That God loves her, and he love each of his children. It was so powerful. The spirit was so strong. I learned a much greater lesson that day than she did. Sometimes the Lord needs us to talk to a lonely lady feeding cats on the side of the road so that he can teach us about his love for all of his children. He truly loves each one of us. We left her with our testimonies, our love, and a book of Mormon.

 

Yay for the start of Christmas time. My favorite time of year. How is the decorating going mom? You will have to send me pictures when you are done. I love everything about Christmas time. There is so much to rejoice about!

 

We had a great thanksgiving. Lots of food, turkey, pie, and good company. We ate at two different members houses. It was a good day. Nothing compares to being with all of you for that day, but It was a good day. I am so grateful for so many things. The list is long. I am so grateful for this gospel. It has blessed me so very much, and it does every day. I am so grateful every day for each of you. I love you all so much.

 

Unfortunately, the transfer is coming to an end this week. I will most likely be in a new place when I come you all next week. I have learned so much here. Like all change in life, it is always a bit sad, and exciting. I have come to love our branch and the missionaries and people here so much. I am sad that it will probably be my last week here, but the future is always bright with new opportunities to serve. I will miss my companion a lot. We have become very good friends, and he has taught me so much. He is hilarious. You guys will have to meet him one day. I have never laughed so much. I love this work. The savior lives! What a wonderful truth that is. Lets all look for opportunities every day to serve him. They are all around us.

 

I love this scripture from DC 122 "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us ^acheerfully ^bdo all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the ^csalvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

 

That is my motto for the week.

 

I love you all so much. Merry Christmas!!

 

LOVE

Elder Hughes

Happy Early Thanksgiving! (or dia de accion de gracias) | week 60

Hola Familia!!!!

Como estan?! I hope your week was great this week. My thoughts were with you lots this week as I thought about all of you and about Grandpa Cahoons funeral. I hope that you could feel of my prayers for you. I love you all!

We had a good week here in Tucson. I feel like every week time flies by so fast that I can barely get a grasp on it!!! I have the sneaking suspicion that is kind of what the rest of my life will feel like haha. We had a busy week of lots work! Unfortunately we had some downer moments with our investigators this week. M who was doing wonderful and progressing a lot, is now unable to meet with us or come to church. Her husband who she was getting a divorce with came back to live with her and he really doesn't like Mormons at all. It is sad, but he has banned her from meeting with us and from coming to church. That was kind of a bummer, but we have to trust in the Lord and in his timing. Many times we as laborers in the vineyard are preparing the ground for future missionaries to harvest. It saddens us, but we move on. D as well is really struggling this week. We are hoping for a better week with him this coming week. Because of all that we have been focusing a TON this week on finding. We have been praying lots to find people that have been prepared by the Lord to receive the restored gospel. The Lord truly answers prayers. We have been blessed to find some really cool new investigators this week that we are excited to begin working with more. One guy is named J. We found him yesterday. He is going through a tough time in life and we had a really powerful lesson with him. The spirit was so strong and he recognized it. He commited to be baptized on the 21st of December. I have a really good feeling about him and am excited to teach him again tonight! We also are teaching his next door neighbor now as well! I love the opportunities and hope that finding new investigators can bring. Finding truly is all about faith. I have learned that lesson the hard way a lot as a missionary through failure, but truly the Lord leads us to his elect when we have faith.

I have talked with some of the most precious older catholic ladies here. I truly believe God loves these ladies so much, they are so awesome. What an example they are to us.

We have kept working a lot with R. She is an inactive woman that I have come to love so very much. I have always felt a special connection with her. We are working hard to build her faith and help her return to activity. The blessings of the gospel are truly always there waiting for us to come and claim them!

It surprisingly hasn't been to often that we have taught people that are very aggressive in trying to prove us wrong, but we taught one guy like that this week. We were out with some members that came with us to teach, and we decided to stop by this guy's house that we had contacted before. It was a very interesting, and tense lesson as the whole time he was trying to prove all of our doctrines wrong. This time like many others has increased my testimony and love for the Book of Mormon SO much. I have such a love for that book. It has saved me so many times as a missionary. All that we believe and all of the questions that others can bring up to us really all boil down to the question of if the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It truly is! I am so grateful for it.

We had a half mission conference this week that was wonderful!!! Elder Paul V. Johnson of the 70 came and taught us. It was amazing. He is the head of the Church Educational System, and is a powerful man of God. It was an inspiring and uplifting day. It never ceases to amaze me how the spirit is capable of teaching us so personally. I felt at times that he was speaking right to me. I have learned so much this week, and am excited to apply the things I have learned. We talked a lot about following the spirit, and about turning outward with charity towards others. Truly that is how we have true joy in life is when we forget ourselves and focus on how we can help others. I have felt that over and over again on my mission. I am the most happy and the most joyful when I forget about all of my little problems and focus on how I can reach out and help someone else. President and Sister Killpack gave wonderful talks as well. I love them so much, they are both powerful leaders.

IT RAINED IN TUCSON!!! It was a miracle. It was actually pretty weird. I had come to believe that it never rained here haha. It actually rained for two days straight, it was really nice. Everything feels so fresh and beautiful after a good rain. The last couple of days are the first days that have actually felt like fall. It finally came! I keep forgetting this week is Thanksgiving!!! It came so fast! What are your plans for thanksgiving this year?

We had stake conference this weekend in the Tucson Arizona stake. It was wonderful. The spirit was powerful and strong. What a glorious purpose we have as missionaries and members to bring souls unto the savior. This week I feel like I have finally come to understand what my purpose is as a missionary. I love this work. I love the joy it brings to my life and to everyone who will try it. 

You all have been in my thoughts this week a lot. As we approach the holidays I have been thinking lots of you. I miss you so much. I smile when I think about all the wonderful memories I have of Holidays with you. Thank you for those memories. Much more are ahead. I will miss you all dearly this week, but know that I am happy and well. I am so incredibly grateful for each of you. I am sooooooooooooooooo thankful to be part of such a wonderful family. I love you so much. Eat lots of stuffed mushrooms and pumpkin pie cheesecake for me!!! I will miss you this week like every week, but know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. Hurrah for Israel!

LOVE

Elder Hughes

Happy Fall from Elder Hughes (the Taylor version) | week 59

Hello there familia!

I am really sad to hear about grandpa Cahoon. I am sad that I didn't have the chance to say goodbye to him. I know that he is once again reunited with grandma Cahoon. What a wonderful reunion that will be. I had the feeling that he wouldn't make it before I returned from my mission. I will miss him, and all of our christmas day memories at their house. He always showed me so much love. I always knew that he cared. He was such a happy and calm man. I am sad that I won't be able to be with all of you this week at the funeral. Please give everyone my love. Give grandma and grandpa a big hug just for me. I love them so so so so very much. Give everyone my love. I will write them an email as well. I am so glad that it all happened calmly at home with his family. I have gained and understood better than ever how beautiful the plan of our heavenly father truly is. Death is just one step in that plan. It is one necessary piece of the puzzle. It makes me realize how incredibly grateful I am for the savior. He truly overcame death for us. It is funny because my companion and I were talking this week about death and how there truly are things much worse than death. Death is just a new step, it is a moving on, and one day we will all pass through it. I love grandpa rolly and I know he is in a good place. Reading the scriptures always fills me with hope and with the spirit. It really doesn't matter where we read, it always blesses us the same. Read them when things are hard this week. That's what I do.

Your trip to Oregon looks like it was a blast!!!! It looks really cold and wet there. I haven't felt cold or wet in a long time haha. It is finally actually feeling a little bit like fall this week haha. It makes me laugh that it comes around mid november that it actually cools down a bit. What a good time. I miss our family vacations. I always tell people that we didn't even leave our state for most of our favorite vacations. That is why I love cali.

How awesome the pictures of Spencer coming home!!! Those make me so happy to see! Mark and Jamie and Spencer all look so happy and wonderful. That day will come fast for us, so don't worry about it :) I am SOOOO excited as well to talk to you all soon for Christmas! It should be wonderful.

As for this week. We had a pretty good week. As always we had not enough hours in the day to accomplish all that we needed to do. I am so grateful for the immense opportunities that we have as a missionary to serve. Really we are always missionaries and we should always be serving, but as a full time missionary we have so many opportunities to serve. I am so grateful for your sacrifices to make that possible for me.

We had a full week of lots of teaching. D is progressing well. M is also doing great. We had some really good lessons with her. We found an awesome new investigator named S. It really is a miracle that we found her and started teaching her. We have a bus stop that we seem to always find people at. We call it the magic bus stop. We have found quite a few referrals and investigators there. We were walking past it, and now we ALWAYS talk to everyone there when we go to the bus stop, because it is so magical. We met S there and she kind of laughed as we went up to her and talked to her. It turns out she laughed because she says that mormons seem to find her everywhere. She had a really good mormon friend who influenced her alot, and then in jail she went to the LDS worship services, and then we 'happened' to find her at this bus stop. We have started teaching her and it is going really good. She is really pregnant. The pregnancy has been making her really sick, so our lessons have been getting interrupted alot for her to go throw up in the bathroom. It has been an adventure haha. We laugh about it alot. She is doing really well, and I can really feel like the Lord has led us to her.

This week the Sisters had an eventful baptism. I interviewed the family that got baptized this week. I love baptismal interviews. They are so awesome to see. It is like seeing a mini conversion story every single time. It was a mom and her 3 awesome kids that got baptized. The kids by far had the best interviews. Truly children are the closest to the savior. They said some of the most hilarius and amazing things. They call their baptism their "second chance." I love that. It truly is a second chance, and we get that second chance every single week as we take the sacrament, and every single day that we repent. I love second chances. This truly is a gospel about second chances and third chances and fourth chances on and on until the day where we wont need any more chances, we will be perfectly clean and happy. Their baptism was crazy. They actually got pulled over on their way there and got their car taken away. So one of the members had to go pick them up on the side of the road so that they could get to their baptism!! Meanwhile Elder P and I entertained the awaiting audience for an hour haha. With lots of singing and messages. The baptism went great in the end, and the spirit was really strong. Yay for second chances.

We had the primary program this weekend. The missionaries were honorary members of the primary this weekend haha. There was only 6 kids in the program so they called us in. It's ok we still feel like we should be in primary anyway. :) I have been thinking alot about small and simple things. In life really the small and simple joys and acts of love matter most. As a missionary I have learned so much about how the gospel really is so simple and beautiful. We sometimes complicate things for ourselves. As things were really hectic and crazy before church, because sometimes our branch is just barely holding it together haha, I was NOT thinking alot about the small and simple things. I am grateful as we sang with the primary that the spirit reminded me about how important the small and simple things are.

I am really excited for a new and exciting week here. We have lots of good things happening in our area. We are having a mission conference this week, a member of the 70 is coming Elder Paul V. Johnson. It should be great. I am really excited.

My thoughts and prayers are with you always but especially with you this week as you have the funeral for great grandpa cahoon. I love you guys so much. I wish I could be there to give you a big hug. Just send a prayer up and I know that the Lord will be able to give you the hug I can't give. I love you all. I am so incredibly grateful for the plan of salvation, and for this gospel of second chances. I love you. Give all of my extended family my love and hugs. I truly love all of them.

LOVE

Elder Hughes

PS read this amazing article. What an honor it is to be a missionary. The Lord always protects us.http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865590735/Surviving-the-typhoon-A-story-of-fear-faith-and-what-it-means-to-be-prepared.html