LETTER TO MOM: How are you? Everything is good here. I'm still sweaty, still dirty, and still trying my best! This Tuesday we did a finding activity with the Brother and Sister Leftwich, a senior couple in my mission. We went on splits so I was with Sister Palayar and Sister Sanchez was with the Leftwiches. We taught a very nice family (2 sisters and their mom) first. We first walked past them but then decided to go back. When we started talking to them they were super excited and immediately let us in to teach them.. I'm not used to such excitement - haha! But as we taught, they asked questions. They were super engaged in the lesson which made me happy. The whole time we were teaching I thought about having them baptized right then and there... obviously that can't happen though. After teaching them we invited to them to church and asked one of the sisters to pray. Her prayer was awesome! We had a lot of luck while finding and the people were just surprisingly open and interested. All of our investigators are doing okay, the only problem is actually coming to church. It is always church attendance that is the hard part! Either they forget or aren't interested in the meetings, but my thought is "give it a shot! if you don't like it then that is okay." People are flaky... gotta love them though!!
The rest of the week went really well. It showed in our stats and our exhausted state how hard work is better than no work. I miss really hard work because it has been a while. Also, there haven't been any big storms. I feel like this typhoon thing is kind of a hoax to keep me worried, but I have also seen the effects of it in other places and I am grateful it hasn't affected us. I hope the typhoons stay away. Rain would be nice though to cool me off every once in a while. It sounds like lots of exciting stuff is happening at home. Any wedding updates? I am excited for conference but I will have to wait a week longer to watch it! I am sure that my grandparents will tell me everything that happens - haha! It sounds like more things will be announced, the church is really changing, but for the better of course! Can't wait though! Christmas has come to the Philippines already but not as much as I expected. They supposedly celebrate from September-December but nothing has happened yet... soon though! I can't wait for Thanksgiving. Filipinos don't celebrate it but I am hoping for a companion that I can introduce to Thanksgiving life. I have no idea what this next transfer will bring but I am excited to see! That is all from me! I am super hungry right now because my breakfast was apple juice and a muffin.. it doesn't really feel me up! I love you though mom! Have a good week! Love Sister Hughes LETTER TO DAD: Hey there dad! Sorry about the outer darkness joke. After I sent the email I decided that I probably shouldn't have said that... #everybodymakesmistakes. Anyways! There were no typhoons, just lots and lots of heat. The heat here is honestly unreal and the sweat that comes off of my face is like a waterfall. It is still worth it though!! Earlier this week we had a return appointment with a new investigator. Her husband is Jehovah's Witness and she would classify herself as that, at least when he is around. She is super open to all religions though. At the beginning of the lesson she told us that this will probably be the first and last time we can teach. I think she is kind of afraid of what her husband will think. We taught about the Restoration and then the Book of Mormon. The lesson went so well! She has a lot of knowledge and it kind of felt like as we taught she was starting to remember that she already knew it was true. She asked inspired questions and we testified our little hearts out. When we asked her to start reading the Book of Mormon, she promised to do so and even said if she feels something is different about the book she will let us come back! We were super happy! I am hopeful that she will know it is true and the missionaries will be able to help her enter the waters of baptism. It was a really cool experience. It sounds like your week was as exciting as it could be! How are the children? Loco crazy? Probably. I am sure the majority of them are ready for summer again, or at least that's how I was. School is important though! I am excited and terrified to go back next year. Also, I promise that I put pictures in the folder every week. Even if it is just one or two. I honestly don't know why it doesn't work. I still don't have a camera but I plan on buying one today. Sorry about that! Anyway, that is my update! It was a good week and super tiring at the same time. Next Tuesday I will find out about what will happen to me #transfers so I will let you know the week after. I can't make any assumptions because they are usually wrong. I have heard everything from training, STL, whitewashing the area, etc. Everything gets thrown around so I have no idea. Maybe it will be all of the above... just kidding! But that is all! Thank you for everything pops. Love you! Love Sister Hughes
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Hello everyone! So this week was good, stressful, wonderful, and everything in between. My companionship was able to get back out to work this week, but then we had the challenge of actually trying to find people to teach. We had a really good lesson with one of our new people. While teaching her Lesson 1 she was willing to give input and contribute a lot to the lesson. She a solid referral from members in the branch and I am excited to continue to teach her. She is super bright and understands what we teach. The good thing about serving in the Philippines is that almost everyone believes in God and Jesus Christ, so it is easier to remind them what they already know to be true. I love it!
Anyways, this keyboard is broken or something and I am momentarily struggling to type. So I will end this! Just know I am alive and happy and most importantly... THE CHURCH IS TRUE! I love you all!! "I think we can all agree that we are bombarded by what President Dallin H. Oaks refers to as alternate voices—those voices that try to persuade us toward an identity contrary to what we know as Latter-day Saints to be. Those voices try to persuade us into a false reality that we are not good enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not spiritual enough, or just ordinary. Some of those voices try to coax us into blending in with the rest of the world when we were born to “stand out. Be different. Be a light.” When we better understand our divine identity, that light from within, and couple that with carefully living our covenants, like living God’s commandments and serving others like our Savior Jesus Christ, we can count on some wonderful blessings. Understanding our divine identity doesn’t necessarily increase our confidence in ourselves, but it establishes confidence that the Lord will help us do more and become more than we possibly could on our own." Love Sister Hughes Before I get into this at all I will inform you- I DON'T HAVE DENGUE & I'M SAFE!
Typhoon Ompong decided to hit my favorite island this week but luckily all of the missionaries in the Olongapo mission are safe and sound! It was super rainy and super windy, but that's about it! My companion, Sister Sanchez, got dengue about a week and a half ago so this whole week we weren't able to work. The first couple of days it was fun, but after a while I started losing my mind - haha! I am mostly sane now though so don't worry. I just had to find odd ways to entertain myself, such as kicking around a roll of tape, throwing bouncy balls at the walls, laying on the floor and pondering life, singing a lot, dancing a lot, eating a lot... yeah that is missionary life! Not really but for this week it was. Since we couldn't go out I don't have any stories to tell! SORRY! Next week should be more entertaining. Here is a random thing that my dad sent me :) "I know the Philippines is resilient. Sister Grace Teh told me ‘We are used to typhoons. We know what to do.’ I want to have that kind of confidence before the Lord when the storms of my own life come. I want to be able to say like Sister Teh: I am used to storms and I know what to do. I know Jesus Christ is the master of ocean and earth and sky. Storms obey Him. He showed us with His own life what to do – prepare spiritually before the wind starts to blow, keep communication lines open through prayer, shelter others who need support. Jesus Christ has the power to turn the storms away but most often He strengthens us to weather them instead. In His strength we can prepare, find shelter, rebuild, replant, and help others.” Anyways! That is all because I don't have much time! I love you all and hope you are all doing well! Email me sometime :) Love Sister Hughes ![]() RECEIVED SEPTEMBER 13 AT 3:19AM: Dear Parents, Families, and Priesthood Leaders of our missionaries, As you may be aware, Typhoon Mangkhut (local name Ompong) is heading towards the Philippines. Your missionary has been alerted to prepare for a typhoon. Their preparations will include but are not limited to preparing for possible flooding, checking their 72 hour kits, having emergency cash in small bills, having drinking water and non-perishable food and charging their cell phones. Every apartment has an evacuation plan, which is usually to move to the nearby chapel. Because typhoons always come from east to west, and because we are on the west coast, we do not experience the kind of coastal storm surges that hit Tacloban in 2013. Nevertheless, severe flooding from overflowing streams and rivers does occur in some areas. We choose apartments that are not known to flood as identified by the local members. The missionaries will stay close to their apartments in the next few days, and stay indoors depending on conditions in their area. You can email me at [email protected] if you have questions about your missionary. Warmly, President Ruel Lacanienta Philippines Olongapo Mission RECEIVED SEPTEMBER 14 AT 7:30AM: Dear Parents and Priesthood Leaders of our Missionaries, This is just a quick note as our internet and cell phone service are going in and out this morning. Power is out in some areas. Typhoon Mangkhut/Ompong made landfall this morning. We are experiencing strong wind and rain and a little flooding in some areas. ALL MISSIONARIES ARE SAFE AND ACCOUNTED FOR. They have been advised to stay indoors this morning. It is expected that this typhoon will exit later this evening but we will still be hit by the outer bands. I will keep you updated later in the day to let you know of the situation. President Ruel Lacanienta RECEIVED SEPTEMBER 15 AT 8:20AM: Dear Parents and Priesthood Leaders of our Missionaries, TYPHOON MANGKHUT/OMPONG UPDATE: The tempest is no longer raging! Typhoon Ompong has exited out. The rains and winds have died down. ALL OUR MISSIONARIES ARE SAFE AND ACCOUNTED FOR. Except for a few leaks, no apartments were flooded. Some missionaries even worked this afternoon and we even had a baptism. Nothing can stop these valiant missionaries! Thank you for your prayers and continued support. Warm Regards, President Ruel Lacanienta Philippines Olongapo Mission Hey dad! Hopefully someone is still awake at home to see this. My companions and I have spent the past two hours at the doctor so our P-day is kind of shot. Sister Sanchez dengue fever. Ugg. Yep, not fun! Here are your answers!
Q1) Describe your new apartment. Our apartment is pretty nice. It is up and down and is big enough for 4 sisters but obviously it is just us there. It has a weird spiral staircase that I have to be careful on because the likely hood of me falling down the stairs is 95%. The apartment is back in a corner by other apartments so it is pretty safe. It is supposedly haunted too, like every other apartment in the mission. Q2) We saw you in some pictures of the mission tour with Elder Wakolo. Give us all the deets on that experience meeting a General Authority. Being able to meet Elder Wakolo was both amazing and intimidating. He is really nice and has a really deep voice, it reminds me of the voice of Simba's dad on The Lion King. Our main topic was "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts". We talked about how it all begins with baptism, but obviously you can't skip the important aspects of helping them develop faith and then repent. I feel like far too often missionaries forget how important the investigators faith and repentance is to conversion and we just end up baptizing whoever, whenever. We have a lot of pressure to baptize but it is much better to baptize faithful, converted people. Elder Uceda said "make disciples!" so we do that first then we do what Elder Wakolo says "baptize converts". It all goes together. He also says this quote quite often "Casualness leads to Causalities". If we are too casual and baptize anyone we see, then the causalities are bound to happen. It really made me look at who we are teaching and the best ways to help them become converted people. I don't want to baptized anymore people just for numbers. But yeah! It was a really great experience and I also got to see Sister Regodos, Sister Christensen, and Elder Larsen. Twas a good day :) Q3) What has the weather been like this week? When is the rainy season supposed to stop? The weather is very bipolar. For a few days it was a down pour and now I feel like I am going to light on fire at any moment. Supposedly rainy season ends in December but when it ends that just means extremely deadly heat so I can't tell if I am excited.. OH WELL! Come what may and love it! Q4) Did all of the new American missionaries arrive that your President was expecting, or are there still visa waiters? There are still visa waiters I believe. The next group to come in is 18 missionaries so I am sure there are a few visa waiters in the mix. I hope to train to be honest because I am ready to be challenged... even more than I already have been, but if I never train then my plan is different and that is okay too! Q5) How does the Floridablanca branch compare to the others you’ve served with? Same size, bigger, smaller, etc.? Have you made connections with any members there? The branch here is kind of like how it was in Pilar. Really small and is the farthest away from becoming a ward... San Felipe actually became a ward! I don't know if I ever told you that. But yeah, it is struggling a bit with attendance, an average of only about 70 people and it has to be 110 to qualify. So, we are a long way away. I have made connections with one really neat sister. She isn't technically a member yet but wants to be baptized so badly. She comes to church every Sunday. The problem is she isn't married to her partner yet and he is working on a desire to be baptized. Its a hard situation but she is an amazing person. Q6) Do you usually eat with members or on your own? What are your favorite Filipino foods? We have only eaten on our own so far... I think. We make a lot of rice and try to add some kind of random meat. It is usually tasteless because none of us know how to cook, but we are still alive so that's what matters! My favorite Filipino food is definitely adobo. It is so good! I also like sinagang (I definitely spelled that wrong), sopas, and the bbq here. Yummy! Q7) How are the others in your mission batch doing? Everyone is doing good! Everyone is training right now except Sister Pau and me so I am sure they're still trying to figure all of that out and help their trainees try to adjust. They are good though! Q8) You mentioned Floridablanca is a larger area than your others. What else has been different compared to your areas in San Felipe and Pilar? It is pretty big, but honestly my past areas were probably bigger I think. The only thing is that we have part of 3 other areas in our area. We also have part of what should be the Angeles mission in our area! I could escape at any moment if I wanted to... but I won't I promise! Q9) What was the very best thing that happened to you this week? The best thing that happened this week was the Mission Tour with Elder Wakolo! Having a general authority come brings a new spirit to the mission. I learned a lot from him and can apply it to make myself better :) Q10) Is there a specific request for Christmas? Your boat shipment will need to be mailed soon. Hard to believe we’re already thinking about that! If you could send some stickers or insert things that I could send in pouches to missionaries here :) Also if you could ask the ward members or family members to write me letters I would love that. The young women usually love writing to missionaries but they haven't sent anything to me...I'm not bitter or anything though - hahah! Anyways, that is that! Thank you for the toy cars. Just earlier this week I gave one to Sister K's daughter and she was sooo excited! Next time we are there I will try to get a picture of us with the car :) I think the cars will definitely make a lot of kids happy :) Thank you for everything dad! I love you and hope you are all happy and healthy! Love Sister Hughes |