Hello everyone! So if you have read my past emails you could probably tell that I have been a little off. Recently I have been feeling like it is me against the world. I have had to take a couple of steps back, look at how I am doing my work, and fix/change anything I could. I know that despite all the challenges and trials that get thrown into our lives, we have to keep going. You can either take a step forward or a step back.. remaining stagnant isn't going to get you anywhere. After taking a step back and seeing the things that I need to change, I have been able to take a couple of small steps forward. It is only small steps.. but at least now I am moving in the right direction. Here is a quote that I wanted to share with you:
When things go wrong as they sometimes will, when the road you're trudging seems all uphill, when the funds are low and the debts are high and you want to smile but you have to sigh, when care is pressing you down a bit.. By all means pray and DON'T YOU QUIT! Success is failure turned inside out, God's hidden gift in the clouds of doubt You never can tell how close you are. It may be near when it seems afar So trust in the Lord when you're hardest hit It's when things go wrong, that you must not quit! I hope you all know how much I love you but most importantly how much Heavenly Father loves you. I hope you all keep moving forward with happy hearts and positive attitudes, especially when it it super hard. Thank you for all you love and support. Keep on keeping on y'all!
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LETTER TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS: Hey everyone!! So this week was good. Nothing too much happened except a lot of walking and getting lost. Perks of an open area haha! But I am trying my best here and I hope you all know I love you. I just don't have a lot of motivation to type out a big email! Next week I will have more to say and pictures too! :)
Love Sister Hughes “Our mortal life is designed by a loving God to be a test and source of growth for each of us. You remember God’s words regarding His children at the Creation of the world: ‘And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.’ Since the beginning, the tests have not been easy. We face trials that come from having mortal bodies. All of us live in a world where Satan’s war against truth and against our personal happiness is becoming more intense. The world and your life can seem to you to be in increasing commotion. My reassurance is this: the loving God who allowed these tests for you also designed a sure way to pass through them. Heavenly Father so loved the world that He sent His Beloved Son to help us. His Son, Jesus Christ, gave His life for us. Jesus Christ bore in Gethsemane and on the cross the weight of all our sins. He experienced all the sorrows, the pains, and the effects of our sins so that He could comfort and strengthen us through every test in life." LETTER TO MOM: MOM! How are you? Everything is going good here. I love Candelaria but it is sooooo quiet. Like too quiet sometimes. It makes going out and trying to find hard because you walk for what feels like forever and you pass like 4 houses - haha! It is very large but very little is going on, but it's all good! I am in Zambales again which is my favorite! My new companion goes home in January. I on the other hand don't want to even think about going home - haha (not even a tiny bit)! Thank you for the packages! I keep expecting it to be Halloween or Thanksgiving stuff but it was just otter pops and soap this time. I shared a lot with the Elders in the district because I know they can eat it faster than me! Haha! You gotta love elders. I like these elders better than most because they are chill and I am used to brothers. It sounds like everything is going well there! I can't believe I have been gone for so long! I really don't remember what life was like back home so it will be interesting going back.. I don't know how it will go! But anyway! I will be praying for grandparents and I hope you all have a good week! I love you so much mom! Love Sister Hughes LETTER TO DAD: DAD! Your jokes crack me up. My mean companion is gone so don't worry about her - hahah! My comp and I get along and are trying to work together in a new area. She is from Cagayan de Oro and goes home in January.. She's trunky. Oh well My apartment is actually a pretty big house. We have a lot of space to move around but it is really old. Kind of creepy, but works for us haha! My new area is Candelarie - and I love it!! It is huge in area but not too much is going on. It seems like there are no people around most of the time but it just means we need to do more finding! And my new branch- I really love the branch. It is super small but everyone is super nice and is willing to help us out. We actually have branch missionaries now, which I haven't had since San Felipe. It is nice to have YSA who can help us and members who are willing to feed us :) Sorry I don't have pictures this week. The computer is acting weird so next week na lang! I love you Love Sister Hughes Hey there family and friends! More change has come so that means more adventures as always. I got transferred to Candelaria. It is the farthest north that sisters can get so you kind of feel away from the world but so far everything is good there! The members are super nice and I am grateful for the opportunity to be here. My companion is from Cagayan de Oro. Her name is Sister Tuhod (tuhod means "knee" in Tagalog if you were wondering). She is super sassy but so am I so we are working it all out - haha! Her and I both got transferred into the area together so that means OPEN AREA. It is definitely intimidating but like I said, so far so good.
On Wednesday I spent from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. dealing with transferring. Going from trike, to jeepney, to bus, to 2 more buses, to trike again. It was hectic and I was relieved to finally get to my area and rest - haha! Now that I am up here I have seen almost every single part of the mission. I have been to the very bottom and now I am almost to the very top. It is crazy how much I have experienced so far! After we got everything settled we immediately got to finding the people who had been taught by the past set of sisters. One of the girls is Princess, who was actually baptized on Friday!! It was craziness getting into the area, trying to figure life out, and then immediately having a baptism. We are just super hard working hahaha! But the baptism went super well and it she seemed happy afterwards. She is an extremely shy girl so my goal is to build trust with her. I getting a little bit closer every time I see her. She is a cutie, only 10 years old. Anywho, it was Conference weekend for us this week! Who else loved it?? It was amazing from beginning to end! My favorite talk as of right now was Ronald A. Rasband's about "Fear". That was my topic for my farewell talk and it always catches my attention. "Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them". I love that! Especially as a missionary you have so much fear. The majority of it is irrational but it is intense sometimes. But the fact is, I have way more people on my side than I could have ever imagined. People on both sides of the veil. It is amazing to me. That is all from me for now! Things are going just fine here and I am grateful to be back in good old Zambales. My mission is like 3 main provinces and Zambales is my favorite so I am super happy here. :) But I hope you all have a great week and if you have time email me! I would love to hear from you all! I love you! Love Sister Hughes LETTER TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS: Hey everyone! I just want to write a quick email saying how happy I am to be here!!! If you didn't already know, the Philippines Olongapo Mission is the best mission in the world #POM It is hot, it is sometimes stinky, and I am always tired but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, doing anything else! For any of you who have served, you know the joy that comes from serving! And anyone who hasn't served and still can.. PLEASE DO IT! You won't regret it, I promise!!
“Are we giving our all to the Lord without reservation? Are we sacrificing of our time and talents so the rising generation can learn to love the Lord and keep His commandments? Are we ministering both to those around us and to those we are assigned with care and with diligence—sacrificing time and energy that could be used in other ways? Are we living the two great commandments—to love God and to love His children?” I really love this quote from General Conference (I haven't watched it yet and just took this off of LDS.org hahah but it is great!!) Anyways, that is all from me, just know I am happy and love you all! I really would love to hear from you all soon! I will try my best to reply.. haha! Love Sister Hughes LETTER TO MOM: Hey there mom! How is everything there?? Everything is great here in the good old Philippines. I am super excited to be able to watch conference this weekend.. in a new area!!! I am getting transferred again, I'm just not sure where yet.. I find out tomorrow. This will be my 6th area and 9th companion haha! AY AY AY! Things are going well in my area though. We have an investigator who is sooooooooo solid! We extended an invitation to be baptized for November so the new missionaries will be able to baptize her. She is the kindest and brightest investigator. She always asks such good questions and KEEPS COMMITMENTS! I am so excited about that because it doesn't happen that often. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she has already read everything up to 1 Nephi 15 which is awesome! She said that she would read more but she gets tired while she reads and doesn't want to read and then not understand. She also said that she downloaded the Book of Mormon on her phone so she can read at work... She is amazing! I can't wait for her to be baptized and then eventually sealed to her boyfriend (he's a member in the branch). I can't wait. Seeing the conversion of people and the light they have when they know about the gospel. It is extremely remarkable! Anyways, that is the best thing of this week. I am excited and nervous to see what happens tomorrow and will let y'all know next week. Stay safe! I love you all! Thank you for everything mom!!!! Love Sister Hughes LETTER TO DAD: HEY THERE DAD! This week was a pretty good week. I am probably getting transferred again!! President Lacanienta called us a few days ago and said "Clean the apartment, update the area book, and pay your bills" which means "you all are out" which means WHITEWASH.. again! I have a feeling that Elders will be replacing us so it will be interesting to see tomorrow what is going to happen to me. I know I won't be in Pilar, Orion, or San Felipe though haha (even though I would love to go back to San Felipe). A lot of missionaries are coming in this transfer. We have 20 coming in, but they are just replacing the 17 that are leaving. I feel we never get ahead in numbers because so many leave at the same time, but it's all good! I think 5 sisters are coming in so I could be training (but probably not). Next week you all will know what kind of adventures I had this week. By the way, Sister Palayar goes home today so it will just be Sister Sanchez and me for a couple of days. Sister Palayar is a great missionary and I am already missing her example. Yes, I have realized how much I like kids since I've been here! They are honestly my happiness here! They just scream "HELLO" at me and giggle whenever I talk to them in Tagalog, super cute! I want to take them all with me when I go home. This week was a really good week and we had an amazing experience in one of our areas. Resettlement is a massive area in Floridablanca where we went finding last week. We found a sister and her family and they are all so awesome! We had a lesson with them on Saturday and shared the first lesson. The conversation led into them being SUPER INTERESTED in our religion and they just bombarded us with a whole bunch of questions, it was great! haha! The three of us each took a person and we were pretty much able to answer all of the questions they had. I am excited to go back tomorrow and finish the lesson with them and continue to help them progress spiritually. In that same area we have a few other new people we are teaching now. All of them have been so nice and seem very open to our message. I see so much potential in them and seeing people so excited about our message makes my heart so so happy! Sorry dad, there probably won't be many pictures this week! I still haven't bought a camera yet because last week was craziness and I had to order it from an area that wasn't even mine - #stressful. I plan on buying one today! Hopefully! Anyways, that is all for now! E-mail time kind of stresses me out so I want to give myself a moment to process everything haha! I'm weird... oh well. Thank you dad! I hope you have a great week and I hope the kids at your school enjoy playing on their new construction site - haha! I love you! #EVERYTHINGISBETTERINTHEPHILIPPINES #BESTMISSIONINTHEWORLD Love Sister Hughes |