ROSA era BAUTIZADO!!! Y tambien tuvimos Conferencia de Estaca... Ytambien tenemos translados!

Translation of the subject line:  ROSA was baptized!  And also we had Stake Conference...  And also we have transfers!

Like I said in the subject line everybody, our baptismal service with Rosa on Saturday was a success!  But for now, just read on and you will get to Saturday where I'll talk about it more...  ;)

Tuesday was a very bitter sweet day.  It was an incredible day as far as the work and everything is concerned, but we also had to have our last District Meeting with our current district, and we are all best friends, so it was difficult to say goodbye.  It has been a really good 3 months all serving together and helping the work in Waukesha move onward.  But that was a tough section of the week.  It was really amazing how we ended the meeting - we each bore our testimonies about the Savior in light of the Easter season.  The Spirit was so strong and I was just so thankful to be surrounded by such powerful people.  After the meeting, we had a lesson with Rosa at the library once again.  We discussed her scripture reading and of course, baptism.  We read a chapter in the Book of Mormon - Alma 37, focusing on verses 36 and 44 as a part of our lesson.  She is so excited to enter those waters and be numbered among Christ's people.  We were so excited for her.  :)  Then after that, we took a bus to go to a less-active's house, Maria, and met her son Juan as well.  We set a new lesson with them to go over the Atonement of Christ and are making plans to play soccer with Juan and his friends as a finding method - wish us luck!

Wednesday started out with a splendid morning.  We had breakfast with Rosa early in the morning and as we were walking to her house, we met a Baptist Minister with whom we began to discuss 'the word.'  We talked about God and Jesus, and he kept on quoting Proverbs 16 and some Psalms, and then he noticed the Book of Mormon in my hand and said "I know that book backwards..."  So I looked at him and said "Yes, but do you know it forwards, too?"  But after discussing our doctrine for a bit, we said a prayer and went to Rosa's house.  We had our lesson over some incredible food, and later went home for our studies.  After that, we got picked up by the English Elders to go out to lunch with some men in the ward as a 'goodbye meal' for those of us who were getting transferred (Elder Schvaneveldt and Elder Wiscombe).  We then went to our service at the Food Pantry for 2 hours, followed by some visits with Lorena and Jorge, Blanca and Candy - none of who were home.  Hopefully we'll be able to make contact with these people soon though!

Thursday we had service for 2 hours at the Hope Center, which was cool.  There was another volunteer there with us, Alex, who was a student at a nearby University.  She had never talked to Mormons before, so being missionaries, we of course answered all of her questions and told her about what we believe.  It was really cool!  But that service was followed by none other than Weekly Planning.  I was given the responsibility to take charge in this weekly planning session because Elder Schvaneveldt was leaving the area and I was going to be the one to take it over.  After our session, we had dinner and then a lesson with Alisia and Devon, accompanied by brother Neumann.  We taught them a lesson out of the Illustruated Book of Mormon - Ammon and the arms and the 2000 Stripling Warriors.  They were really into it because it was all about fighting and the boys are aged 10 and 3.

On Friday, we did a lot of contacting.  After our regular morning routine, we went to Kensington - a distant street on the outskirts of Waukesha - and contacted a less-active named Jerry Hempstead and invited him to Stake Conference.  Then, we went up to Pewaukee and tracted for a few hours, and came out of it with 2 new investigators, each with a new set lesson.  Then, we made plans for Rosa's baptism, including who was representing the bishopric and who was speaking, who was bringing treats, and anything else we needed to do.  :)

Saturday was such an amazing day.  Yes, Rosa was baptized, but rather than having it be considered a big day for us as a companionship in gaining a baptism, it was much greater to see Rosa and the changes that she has wrought in her life to be able to be numbered among the Saints.  She truly has been converted and has such a powerful testimony.  Just to see her light shine so much brighter now than it did even when I got to the area, is such a blessing to me.  :)  Elder Schvaneveldt was able to baptize her with the English elders witnessing, and I was able to sing "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" as a musical number for her special request.  The talks were great, and the Spirit was better.  :)  After the baptism, we were taken out to lunch by some members, and then made up our studies with the extra time we had between that and when we had to get picked up for Stake Conference - which was all about Missionary Work and was really cool, as well.  :)  Saturday night we got a call from President Cutler, at first asking about the baptism this morning.  Then, he told us what was going to be happening with us for transfers this week.  He told me that I was going to be made Senior Companion to an Elder Wise who is an English missionary coming to a Spanish area.  So, this should be fun!

Sunday was Easter!  Stake Conference was all about the Atonement, and it was really great to be able to hear all of the various testimonies.  Rosa was not able to attend due to a miscommunication, but she will be attending church next week to be confirmed in Sacrament Meeting.  After conference, we had dinner with the Lovelace family - super nice couple.  She calls us her "Elder-sons," because all of her children are moved out.  She totally spoils us, too, feeding us super well with the most delicious food on the face of the planet.  :)  I love them!

But this week truly was incredible.  I have loved the various testimonies on the Atonement that I have heard and borne.  I love Him so much, and He loves all of us, too.  I know that.  I hope Easter was equally great for all of you.  :)  May peace be with you this day, and always...  ;)

--Elder Nate Hubert

BUENAS NOTICIAS! :D

So, my dear family, buenas noticias means GOOD NEWS!  The good news is this:  It begins with our lesson with Rosa on Tuesday.  We went through the baptismal interview questions, and she did well with that!  Then, on Saturday, Brother Tateoka got her a Holy Bible and Triple Combination (the huge study versions) to give to her, so we did and she freaked out like a little girl she was so happy that we had gotten those for her!  And now she's able to use cross-references and footnotes to further her studies!  Then, on Sunday we had church and President and Sister Cutler spoke in the ward, and they were able to meet Rosa afterwords!  Then, Rosa had her baptismal interview by Elder Kimzey and she.....  PASSED with flying colors!  She is scheduled to be baptized on April 19th and confirmed on the 27th (we have Stake Conference on Easter), and Elder Schvaneveldt is going to baptize her because he's been here the entire time she's been taught, and she asked me to confirm her and sing at her baptismal service!  So, I get to do that!  :D  This is actually happening everybody!  :D

Basically nothing else in my week matters because this just trumps it all...  It has been so amazing to see her progress and to see her want to make these covenants with God, and also to see that she really wants to do the Family History Work and Temple Work for her family, especially for her husband who died 12 years ago, so they can be sealed in the Temple.  She now has something to look forward to doing after she is baptized!  :)

But I guess I'll do a brief summary of my week anyway...  :P

I'll do it backwords because I already covered Sunday and Saturday.

Friday, we had service at Sister Vandenburg's house to help her move out.  I have never had to deal with so much stuff before, it was crazy!  (By the way, I was on exchanges) and service lasted for 3 hours!  It was super crazy...  Definitely a hoarder...  Then, we had a lesson with one of the English Elders' investigators named Dave, an old man who takes everything pretty well.  He committed to pray and see if the LDS church is God's church!  Elder Kimzey is a great teacher - that is one thing that I learned.  Also, we met with Amy and James and taught them.  We mostly got to know them because James was pretty skeptical coming into everything, but by the end of it, he was laughing with us and everything, so we loosened him up.

Thursday we did service at the hope center, and actually got to do weekly planning today!  It was the first time in months that we actually did Weekly Planning on a Thursday, it was great!  We also had a lesson with Alisia and Devon where we gave her an illustrated Book of Mormon for her sons and she was super happy about that!

Wednesday we served at the Food Pantry for 2 hours, then walked to the Black's house to meet with Jose.  We had a lesson outside with him and the kids, but it was only 5 minutes long because he had to go to his mom's house.  We have an illustrated Book of Mormon for him, too, so now he might read a bit more.

We also met with Spring and the girls tonight and watched the Restoration with them and talked about that and why it is important.  :)

Tuesday we had District Meeting, which was one of my favorite ones so far!  Elder Kimzey talked about how we need not be Sailboat missionaries, going wherever the wind takes us, but Battleship missionaries, who go bold and firm no matter what, and who are willing to fire on the Captain's command, not simply firing whenever.  We give our testimony powerfully when the Captain says!  After that, we had Rosa's lesson where we ran over the Baptismal questions and taught her about temples, it was great!  Then, we went and tracted out a building with no success...

Monday was usual, with dinner at the Worthington's home.  it was pretty cool, especially because he is a huge hunter guy who goes to Africa to hunt big animals!  :D

Love you all!  Take care!

-- 

Elder Nathan Hubert

General Conference and... BOOM!!! Spirit. :)

I could say so many good an amazing things about this week, but nothing that I can say will ever be able to compare to how incredible General Conference was for me.  :)  Truly an amazing experience.  The first crazy thing about that is that it was the second General Conference that I've been able to watch on my mission!  Another crazy thing is that I got to see tons of my friends in the Orem Institute Choir in the Saturday Afternoon Session - way to represent you guys!  Also, it was such an amazing testifying Spirit and I loved every moment of it.  :)

But, I'll do a quick run-through of my week though!

Monday was really fun!  We got to play Soccer for P-day again, and I was on a team with 2 other Elders and 2 Sisters, and we were playing a version where you play to 2 and the losers rotate, and once my team got on the court, we were on there for close to 10 games because nobody could score on us!  It was really sweet, and I did really well!  That's my MVP moment of my mission - but I can't compare to my sister Sarah's lacrosse skills that I've been hearing so much about...  ;)  After sports, we got to go have dinner with the Phillips family, a super awesome couple in the ward.  They are super funny and we were able to talk about tons of stuff that we have in common!

Playing at the church gym

Tuesday was kind of a long day, but that is only because we had Zone Training Meeting in Milwaukee the whole day.  We were picked up in the morning by the English Elders and went to the City Branch Building in North-side Milwaukee (super sweet building) and we received a training on using the Book of Mormon in all contacts.  It was cool to have a training on that and to hear the different experiences from the missionaries.  I shared on with Rosa, how she was just listening to the missionaries for a while and liking what they said, but it was not until she received the witness that the Book of Mormon is true that things actually started to improve drastically and she was actually able to progress to where she is now.

After that, we came back to Waukesha and we stopped by Rosa's house because she forgot that we had a lesson at the library.  She was doing well, and had been off of Coffee since we had fasted with her a week ago!  Then that night, we had dinner at the Seneli's home, where Elder Kimzey and Bro. Seneli had a Beat Box Battle - it was pretty cool to see.  :)

Wednesday, if I am able to get any videos or photos to you guys today, I did a video journal!  :)  But quick run-through:  we had Rosa in the morning, which went really well.  She was super excited for Conference this week and even though she's scared, she's set on the 19th to be baptized.  Then, we did service at the Food Pantry, which was fun.  Later, we stopped by Brad and Ana's place for our lesson, where we set some expectations with them, but in the end had to end up dropping them because the only reason he liked listening to us was because we had cool ideas and cool things to say - which is not what we're about!  If he's not going to follow commitments, then we're not going to come by.  That night, we had team-ups with Brother Harless, where we were able to meet with some Less-actives that we'd never met before.  It was good though!

Thursday was good, but when we stopped by our 2 lessons in the morning with Lorena and Jorge and then with Blanca and Ben, nobody was home.  We were able to make contact with Lorena though and schedule a lesson, and then saw Ben later in the day, so I hope that we're able to talk with them again sometime!  We also stopped by a member's house and had a strange experience...  :P  We were standing in the doorstep just to see how they were doing, and the last time we had dinner with this family, we had shared a rap that we had written about the missionaries (as a joke of course).  The kids wanted to hear it again, and we said that we'd only do it if they could guess our first names (because they had previously joking about how our names were Elder and Elder).  So, one kid looks at Elder Schvaneveldt and says "You look like a Jacob!"  And that was his name...  It was crazy!  Then, Sister Schuenke looks at me and says: "And you look like a Nathan."  And they got that one right too!  Super weird, so we did our rap for them and then left...  :P

Later in the day, we visited with Spring and her girls and were able to teach them from the Book of Mormon, then we stopped by Alisia and Devon's house and watched 'The Restoration' with them, and then we talked about it with them, too.  :)

Friday, we did our weekly planning and contacted some referrals, so that was the excitement for that day...  None of them were home, so we just went super out-of-the-way without being able to talk to anyone...  Just one of those days, I guess.

Saturday, we were expecting to watch Conference with Rosa in the morning, but she had to go to a funeral instead, so we're going to watch it with her tomorrow (Sunday session).

But, Conference took up most of our day!  We went to the first session at the Tateoka's home, and then went to the church building in Wales for the next session, and then went to Subway for food, then had the Priesthood session there, too.  It was funny because President Cutler came to our building for the Priesthood Session with his son and that was pretty cool to be able to see him!  :)

Sunday was about the same as Saturday.  Definitely my favorite part of the week was conference.  I just loved so much of it!  I loved how so much of it started with a BANG!  There were so many talks about being a defender of the Faith and having to stand firm and true, leaning and depending on Christ, even if we stand alone.  So true.  Life is hard, and it is going to be getting harder, but with Christ's help, how can we fail?  I know that is true.  I also loved Elder Holland's talk about this gospel not being a smooth gospel.  "If your right hand offends you - cut it off!"  Very straight forward, and very true as well.  I'd love to hear from all of you and about your favorite parts of conference!

I love you all and I know that this gospel is true!  See you later!

--Elder Nate Hubert

-- 

Elder Nathan Hubert