Weekly Update!

Yes, yes, I know that I am sending this on a Saturday, but don't worry I'm not being disobedient - it's just that every single library in the city of Madison is going to be shut down on Monday because of Martin Luther King Jr. day, so we were advised to email for a tiny amount of time today, on Saturday!

So I just wanted to begin by telling all of you guys sorry that I'm not going to personally email you this week!  I only have a tiny bit of time to send home my generic email and also to write President Cutler, so I'm going to be on and off in a jiffy...  ;)

But, this week has been super fun and pretty busy!  We have had great opportunities to teach and to share our testimonies, which I was very thankful for. 

On Monday though, the only super exciting thing was when we were at the Institute building with other missionaries from around this area.  One of them was on a Varsity Ping-pong team in High School (didn't know that those existed), but basically only wants to play Ping-pong every week!  But this week, we changed it up a bit.  We made a new kind of ping-pong game, called Wiff-waff.  It includes teams of 2 on each side, as well as a certain amount of bounces, diving, jumping, passing, and using the ground/ceiling.  It is super intense and looks super strange while you're watching others play the game, but once you start playing it yourself then you understand how great it is!  :D

Tuesday was district meeting, led by Elder Shipp.  He was super creative coming into the meeting though, because he created a 'Create Your Own Ending' District Meeting, based on what happened at the end of the meeting, so potentially, we had 4 different ending lessons that we could experience.  But first, we had a role-play of a church tour, which the Sisters gave.  It was my first experience with a church tour, so I was thankful that I wasn't told to do it, because I wouldn't have known what I was doing!  But they did a good job.  Then, for our create your own ending, of course we had to end up with the Chastity one!  It was super funny though...  Then, we had brownies!  And guess who made them...?  ME!  It was my first attempt at cooking anything like that out here on my mission, and they were a huge hit!  What I did was put a layer of brownie, then some chocolate bar, then the rest of the brownie mix, so it was super delicious when you put it in your mouth because the brownie was gooey and the chocolate was melted...  Man, it was sweet...  :P  (literally)

Wednesday, we had a bunch of people that we contacted in our area right around our house, but the only people that we were able to talk to were Arezmo and Guillermo, but we got their address and phone number so we're hoping that we can get in with them sometime!  And then in the evening, instead of doing English Class like we usually do, what we did was we took the Chaparro family to the stake work specialist and translated for them as we helped them construct some Resumes so that they can get better jobs than what they are working for now.  So, I really hope that things turn out for them!

On Thursday, we had weekly planning!  Elder Shipp had me lead out the planning session, and it went very well for us!  I'll spare you the details though, it is 3 hours of talking about what we're going to do next week...  :P  But after that, we went up to our weekly lesson with Veronica, but she was not home, which was very disappointing for us.  We even got Brother Allen, a member from the ward, to drive down and meet us there to help us teach, but she was not home!  So, we can only hope and pray for her, because I know that the gospel can bless her life a lot.  And then thursday night, we started our companionship exchange with the Zone Leaders, which I was excited for!  I was able to stay in our area again, and got Elder Carter as my companion for the day.

So Friday was our exchange...  And after all of our studies and making lesson plans for the appointments we had in the evening, we set out to the Raymond area, an area that is pretty far away from where our apartment is.  But we made it out there in good time, which I was thankful for because I'd only ever been to that part of town once before...  And we had made plans to teach 5 lessons while we were down there, but through all of our work and all of our attempts to find people, nobody ended up answering their doors at all...  All of the hispanic people had gone to work or something, but we didn't teach anybody!  So Elder Carter and I were pretty disappointed in the time that we had 'wasted' in the Raymond area, but we went forward in faith to the South Transfer Point area to go to our lessons that had been scheduled.  We made our way up to our first lesson with maria, who was leaving right as we got there at the time that she had told us to stop by, which was frustrating.  However, we were able to teach a bit about the gospel by sharing a small message about blessings, and then we had a prayer before she left.  After that, we re-contacted Omar, a man that we had found last week, and taught a brief leson and set up a return appointment with him.  Then, we went and found another woman named Maria and taught her a bit and then we went to our other lesson and caught them right before they were going out the door as well!  They had forgotten that we were coming, but still welcomed a lesson of the blessings that they can receive as a family when they pray/read together, and we said a prayer with them before we left, so though we didn't accomplish our goal of that certain amount of lessons when we thought that we would, we were still able to accomplish that goal in the way that God saw fit, which is a huge blessing and a testimony to me that He is truly in charge.  And after that, we had a dinner appointment with the Senior family, the family that had saved us from the fire and provided us with sleeping bags.  But Elder Carter and I went by ourselves, which was fun, and then Sister Senior pulled out some music and told me that she'd like me to sing in church next week, so we went through some songs and I'm going to be singing an arrangement of "Lord I would Follow Thee" next week.  :)

And then today, we had correlation meeting again to talk about our investigators, and that meeting went pretty long.  But then we made our rounds to Casildo's house, once again with no response...  I keep on praying that he will let us in again, but I think that in good time things will work out.  And we have some lessons tonight that I'm excited for!  :D

But before I go, I just wanted to share a message with you guys.  ;)  I was reading the Book of Mormon, in Alma 26, verses 10-12, which reads: '

 10 And it came to pass that when Ammon had said these words, his brother Aaron rebuked him, saying: Ammon, I fear that thy joy doth carry thee away unto boasting.

 11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

and then in verse 35:   Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.

And this is my testimony to you guys, like unto Ammon's.  I know that unto my own strength I am weak, but I know that we have great reason to rejoice, even so much that there never were other people that had so great a reason to rejoice.  We can rejoice in our God, for He has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding.  He is every mindful and ever watchful of us, and He loves us SO much.  It is because of that love that He has given us this gospel that we love and enjoy and cherish every day.  So let us rejoice, let us give God the glory, and let us see His hand in all things that occur, for it is always there.  Let us never boast of anything for ourselves, but let us be caught rejoicing in our God!  We have the restored Gospel, we have the Power of Christ, and we have His truths, so we have such a great reason to rejoice.  :)  

I love you guys!  Choose the right!  The Church is True!  See miracles!

(and sorry, no photos this week)

-- 

Elder Nathan Hubert