LETTER TO MOM: Mom I love you! I feel great now that I finally got my visa! Transfers were crazy and now I am in a trio again haha! I really love the ward, our Bishop is the best guy ever. I understand Spanish a lot better now but my Tagalog has pretty much left me so that's awesome! I am grateful that I went through these weird times though because it taught me to really trust in the Lord and to be patient. I love being a missionary! I can't wait to get to the Philippines! It will be the best/craziest experience ever! Thank you for the love and support mom! I will talk to you soon :)
-Sister Hughes LETTER TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS: Hello everybody!! I hope that your weeks were all amazing! Mine was absolutely insane! Yesterday I found out from my District Leader that I got my visa! I will be leaving on Saturday. I honestly can't wait to get to the Philippines and get to work. I already have so much love for the people there and feel so blessed to finally have my visa. Saturday will be such an exciting day! Yesterday was such as amazing day. Not only because I found out about my visa, but because it was a pretty successful day. We got met two potential investigators and will be able to teach them really soon which is amazing. We have also been teaching this lady for about 3 weeks. She was a member referral and is really solid. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and committed her to be baptized. We set a date for March 3rd! She is amazing and has such a sweet spirit. She could honestly be baptized tomorrow but she just needs to come to church first - haha. We have also been teaching these two kids. They are as pure as can be. While we were teaching about the First Vision, the girl asked if that really happened. When we testified of the truthfulness of it you could tell that she believed it. We committed both of them to pray to know if Joseph Smith really saw Heavenly Father and Jesus and then the investigator actually asked during our closing prayer. I could feel the spirit so strong when she asked the question and I know Heavenly Father is SO proud of them both. So that is really all I have for now. I love you all and am so grateful for every one of you. The next time I will talk to you will be from the Philippines! -Sister Hughes Hey everybody! I hope your week went really well! Mine was pretty rough if I'm being honest. I'm not really sure what to say, but I'm just going to start typing and hopefully it is insightful, inspiring, and entertaining. HA, we will see!...
I have to start off with something that really hurt. I know that isn't what anyone wants to hear but I need to keep you updated on the work here. We needed to talk to J about who would be able to baptize her. She's certain she only wants her dad to baptize her and he isn't able to right now, so she won't be having her baptism on the 20th. She was DEVASTATED when we had to tell her the news. She was so excited to get baptized and doesn't fully understand why her dad can't do it. That honestly broke my heart. Watching my friend cry for 20 minutes and refuse to talk to me hurt. I felt like I had somehow failed her because I had convinced myself that I was in Spanish work for her and to help her get baptized... For a while I couldn't help but feel responsible. But that little girl is an amazing person who has a lot of faith and I know she will get baptized, I just don't think I will be around to see it. I have felt really down since then, but there have been a lot of tender mercies happening also. We added a man who seems fairly solid. He has read a little bit of the Book of Mormon and he prays. The only problem with him is that he lives in Mexico but comes to Spring Valley for his work. So we don't know if it is better for the missionaries in Mexico to teach him or us. Other than that, not a lot has happened. Spanish work is very interesting. Anyway, despite how slow the work here is and despite how hard it has been, I absolutely LOVE being a missionary. Heavenly Father blesses me everyday in little ways. He blesses me with safety, confidence, peace of mind, positivity, etc. God is good. I am so grateful I get to be a missionary :) BTW: Still no news on my visa. The majority of the districts above me and everyone in the district below me are in the Philippines so my district is just chilling in the middle waiting. I know of one sister from my district who has hers so my big question is: will they split us up, or does that mean the rest of us have ours and just haven't heard? At this point I have more questions than answers to be honest. I just hope that if I don't get to go that at least more people in my district can go with that Sister so she isn't in Olongapo without us. But whatever happens I have faith that it is what needs to happen and it is what is best for me. I am putting all of my trust in the Lord and allowing him to teach me through this experience. I am in San Diego for a reason and speaking Spanish for a reason. Who knows what that reason is? Heavenly Father does. Who has felt what I am going through? Jesus Christ has. I am so grateful for that. That brings me so much comfort. I don't know where I will be next week. I could be on a plane going to the Philippines, I could be in English work, I could be in Spanish work, or I could be speaking a different language if that is what my mission president feels inspired to do. At this point I wouldn't be surprised! HAHA! But I love this gospel and I love the comfort it brings me! I love you all. Thank you for praying for me and for my visa/my districts visas. If you don't here from me next week it means I am in Asia (hopefully haha) :) -Sister Hughes "If you want to punch Satan in the mouth, open your mouth and preach"
Kumusta! Hola! Hello! I hope everyone's week was amazing and that things went well. Some pretty interesting stuff has gone on this past week that I would like to share so here we go! On Friday we decided to go knock on the apartment door of a guy who was supposedly a potential investigator. They weren't interested so we decided to try the neighbor's house. Inside was an entire family from the Congo. In broken English the man talked to us about life. He seemed fairly interested but since he couldn't really speak English kept saying that we should bring someone who speaks Swahili with us next time. So we are going to figure something out. We showed him and about 5 kids the "Because of Him" video. I couldn't tell if he was into it but the kids definitely were. In my mission we have Swahili elders, so if they were able to teach this family I feel like there are 6 potential baptisms right there. They were amazing! Sunday was a crazy day! My branch, the Sweetwater 3rd branch, got combined with the La Mesa branch and we are now the Monte Vista ward! I don't really know what is going to happen now - haha. We also now have 6 missionaries over the ward. It is us, the elders, and some Mormon Battalion sisters. We also have been really working with J to get her excited for baptism. Each time we ask her if she is excited she has a different reason why she isn't, but right now she is just sad about the fact that her dad most likely won't be able to baptize her. We tried to get her excited about other members doing it but she doesn't want that. Her baptism is scheduled for next Saturday so we are working hard trying to figure out. Hindi ko alam what will happen! One last thing, I placed my first Book of Mormon this week! Since I am in Spanish work I can't really initiate that kind of stuff, but I got to talk to this really nice lady. Even though she wasn't interested in the church she seemed interested in reading and I think she will do it! I was super excited about it! Anyway, this week was pretty good! I have a feeling my visa is coming soon so maybe my next email I will have more information about that... maybe not! I still don't know anything, haha. But I am enjoying my time here. The members are the best and even though we can't really talk to each other I have so much love for them! I will really miss them when I leave. Have a good week everyone! The church is true! Till next week! :) -Sister Hughes I'm a missionary so I'm not going to lie... this week was rough. I want to be as optimistic as possible though so this email will mainly be full of the lessons I learned and funny things that happened.
I want to share the funny thing first and get it out of the way. I have been asked my multiple people here if I have a sister because apparently there was an Hermana that served here a few years back that looks just like me! How weird is that?? Anyway, now to the important stuff! 1st Lesson- Working hard is the best and frankly the only way to gain Heavenly Father's trust. The majority of our week was filled with a lot of rejection and everything seemed to be going wrong. There were plenty of times I could've given up. I had every opportunity in the world to show Heavenly Father that I just didn't care anymore, but the thing is I do care. I care so much that I am willing to keep walking, to keep sweating, to keep knocking, to keep talking, and to keep getting doors slammed in my face. We didn't add anyone this week, we didn't baptize anyone this week, we didn't have any investigators come to church this week, but I know that if I keep working He will lead me to the elect. And I will be able to lead them home. 2nd Lesson- Chistlike love and the power of prayer. Okay, this has been a BIG struggle for me this past week. Lately I have been having to plead with Heavenly Father for love for those around me. It has been working. The power of prayer is miraculous. The little things haven't been bugging me as bad. I was taught in the MTC that if what other people are doing isn't effecting your salvation or their salvation then it isn't important, so I just have to keep reminding myself of that. I love that whenever my brain feels like it is going to explode I can pray to Heavenly Father for help and he is always willing to help me, as long as I'm willing to do my part to. You all know how imperfect of a person I am. I'm trying my hardest to love everyone as much as possible. I feel like I get closer and closer to that goal everyday thanks to my Father in Heaven. So despite the fact that we didn't have a lot of luck with our investigators this week, I know Heavenly Father has great things in store for me. I know he is preparing people for Hermana Bunker and me to teach. I love the gospel. I know the church is true. I would encourage each of you for this new year to make a goal of loving those around you, especially the people who are the hardest to love. Alam ko po na totoo ang simbahan ni Jesucristo ng mga banal sa mga huling araw. Alam ko po na totoo ang Aklat ni Mormon. Kung magdasal po kayo araw araw lalapit kayo sa Diyos. Mahal kita. Kita Kits!! P.S. The picture of the fortune cookie I got is the most ironic thing ever because people here tell me I don't smile. HA! To answer your question about transfers, they are coming up on January 23rd. I personally think I will have my visa by then, but I am not getting my hopes up too much because I don’t want to be too disappointed if it doesn't come by then. On Thursday we have interviews with President Stubbs, so I am going to ask him if he knows where he will place me if I stay another transfer. I guess we will see. Also, I have exchanges with the STLs on Thursday and am super excited. They are Spanish speaking sisters though, so I guess there is no escaping the language barrier. To answer your holiday question, for New Year’s Eve President Stubbs gave us the option to either be in our apartment by six or stay with a member until 7:00 and then go home. Our night consisted of decorating our “ugly sweater” cookies you sent, cleaning our nasty apartment, and personal study. HOW FUN? Anyway, that is all! I have to go now. Bye and I love you all! |