First complete week in Milwaukee - Miracle of finding new investigators!

Hey everybody, so I'm going to do the weekly email a bit differently this week because I'm running super low on time.   I feel like this is going to be a regular occurance while I'm in Milwaukee...  But that's okay!  :P  Just send me letters - I haven't gotten one of those in a while.  That would brighten my day!  *hint hint...*  But yeah, I'm just going to talk about a few experiences that were especially awesome.

First of all, on Tuesday we got to go on exchanges with one of the District Leaders here in the zone.  His name is Elder Thompson and he was in my district when I was in Madison at the beginning of my mission.  He's pretty awesome, but I was scared to go on my first ZL exchange.  So, he and I went into his area and we had a super awesome lesson that night with a man named Sam.  Sam has been reading the book of Mormon for 1-2 hours a day, and even though they haven't taught him the Word of Wisdom or the Law of Chastity, he totally understands all of those priciples just because he learned them from the Spirit during his reading in the Book of Mormon - SO amazing!

Thursday night we had another HUGE miracle.  So, Elder Evans and I had some time to kill, meaning some time to find some new investigators.  We grabbed our survey (which is the main way that we've been using to get into people's homes - it's super effective) and we knocked on some doors!  Of course we were met by some rejection, but there was a moment where we knocked on 3 doors in a row, and behind each of the doors we met a different Hispanic family, where we entered and we taught an hour lesson.  3 hours, 3 doors, 3 new families, and 8 new investigators.  AMAZING!  The Lord really is helping us do His work and I absolutely love it.  One of the families we were pretty sure would have accepted an invite to baptism, but then they got distracted by their parents getting home.  But soon - definitely soon.

Friday night we had another super cool experience, where we were teaching a lesson to Jose and Maria, a super old couple.  The lady was telling some stories that were taking FOREVER, but eventually we got out of there and we found 5 new investigators!  2 new families!  So, I am proud to say (this is not boasting of my own strength - but I will boast of my God) Elder Evans and I are only teaching families.  There is not a single lesson we taught this week with investigators involved that was only a single person - it was always a family..  :D

Saturday we also had some great experiences, where we taught Justin and his fmaily the Plan of Salvation, which was great because we had 2 investigators sitting in on the lesson so it was super powerful.  Pretty soon after that, we had another member present lesson with the Palacios family (the Soriano's came with us) and we taught them the Plan of Salvation too, with a baptismal invite.  They were super skeptical, and actually turned us down because they said that they haven't received a sign yet.  But after the closing prayer, the wife said "That feeling, that peace - that is my sign."  I love the Spirit!  And to close off the night we taught the Velasco's the same thing, and it was super poderoso!  

And I think the best part is that they came to church the next day!  The Velasco's did!

And Sunday evening we had a meeting with the Stake President and the Mission president, so that's cool.  We discussed the major needs of the stake and what we can do to help.  :)

I love you all so much!  And I don't think that the photos are going throguh because Dropbox is having an error or something!  Sorry, maybe next week!  :)

--Elder Nate Hubert

Transfers, Valentine's Day, ...exhausted... :P

Well...  HELLO EVERYBODY!  Greetings from the great city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin!  I'm so glad that I'm finally serving in the city that my mission is named after!  It is, after all, the Wisconsin, Milwaukee mission...  So here I am, in Milwaukee.  This city is actually pretty ghetto.  But that's not a bad thing.  It's just a description.  But I'm gonna cut to the quick.  First of all, I really hope that while I'm here I'm going to be able to respond to all of your emails, because well, I don't have as much time here as I did in Green Bay!  So, if I don't respond to a personal email, I'm sorry.  It's not that I don't love you, it's that my time is limited...  :P  So, I apologize.  Just wanted to clear that up.

Monday though, was P-day.  We emailed.  And emailed.  And emailed.  I could have emailed for days in Green Bay, but we didn't.  While we were emailing, we got to see the Transfer Board and find out where everybody was going, which is always super exciting.  Then, we went to eat.  And then we went and played sports, which was awesome because we had a bunch of people come!  :)  To close off the night though, we had a dinner appointment at the Rios home, followed by a lesson with Yaritza and her family.  I got some photos with all of them, so those should be coming in.  :)  We also taught a brief lesson to Luis Jimenez, so I'm hoping that soon he's going to decide to change his life.  :D

Tuesday was a super great day considering that I was going to be leaving the next day!  I got packed pretty early in the day so that we could go out and visit people to say goodbye before I peaced out.  Throughout the day, we got to visit Franchesca, a lady we met last week.  We didn't get to have a sit-down lesson with her, but that's okay.  I got to say goodbye to Juan, which was good, and then later to the family from India, the Rosario family.  Then, I said to some other families before heading to the apartment.  It was sad on Tuesday night, knowing that it was my last night in Green Bay, but I was excited for the challenge ahead of me.

But Wednesday was the crazy day.  We got picked up by the Zone Leaders at 9 am to take us to the church, and between 9 and 10 there was weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and several sister missionaries that weren't accepting the fact that they were going home the next day, and lots of photo taking, and lots of hugs, and finally, we got in a van and drove away...  We then got to the Mission Transfer Point in Oshkosh and stayed there for like an hour, loading our stuff into different trailers headed to different places, and when it came time for us to go down to Milwaukee, they tried to shove like 24 of us into a 15 passenger van...  It didn't work, so a bunch of us had to wait up in Oshkosh for like 2 hours for another couple of cars to come pick us up.  Turns out the AP's forgot about us...  :P  Oh well, it was fun.  We ate food and played basketball in the meantime.  Finally, at like 5:30 instead of 2:30 we got to Milwaukee, and from that point onward it was GO GO GO for the rest of the night.  It is all a blur.  From what I remember, my companion came out and we got in the car and took one missionary to his apartment, and then to his companion, and then we picked up another missionary and took him to his companion, and then we picked up two other missionaries and took them to eat, and then we took them to correlation meeting, and then we had to go and get a bus pass and then we talked to the AP's for a bit and then we stopped by another companionship's apartment to drop something off and then FINALLY at like 9:30 we got to our apartment and got to unload everything...  So basically this whole Zone Leader thing is going to be like me trying to catch up to Elder Evans for 6 weeks...  It's like putting a fire hose in my mouth and having me try to drink all of the water...  :P  But it's gonna be fine. But this is the reason that the word 'exhausted' is in the title line.

Thursday was pretty good too!  We got to go and visit a recent convert named Justin and then did Weekly Planning where we had to take care of some zone business before even starting to talk about our investigators, so that was kinda different.  After that, we went and ate, and then we went and had lessons with the Perez family, and then the Palacios family too.

Friday we actually got out and got to teach!  :D  THat was awesome!  We taught Pablo, Humberto, Marina, Cindy, and Oscar.  We found an entire new family so I'm stoked for that!  And for tracting for just a little bit, we got 6 new investigators and taught a whole ubnch.  Basically, Milwaukee is the land of milk and honey for SPanish work.  TONS of hispanics.  Hoorah!  We also set a baptismal date that night with a part member lady - so excited!

Saturday we got to have a lunch appointment at noon, after which we drove around (yes, we have a car) and visited some members, and then got to teach a couple of lessons while tracting on a different street!  We met this crazy drunk guy who asked us if we were ready to die...  We thought he was going to kill us...  :P  Then during a lesson with another part member family, we set another baptismal date!  Hoorah for miracles!

Sunday was interesting.  We'll just say that the branch is going to need some help...  They have several things on their own that they need to work out.  But hey, church was still good!  They made me play piano for Sacrament Meeting.. Hahaha funny joke!  But really though...  

the rest of the day consisted of having dinner and then doing zone leader sunday night calls and calculating different numbers for the mission and stuff like that.  Hopefully our zone will start doing better than they are right now though!  :)

But hey! Sorry my emal is short.  I already told you why.  :)  Love you so much though!

Have a great week!

--Elder Nate Hubert 

Transfer Week - going to Milwaukee

Hey guys!  Another week has gone by, so it's time to email again.  I'm sorry if this is awful - I know I'm bad at this.  :P

But yeah.  This last week was actually kinda difficult!  But as I thought about it, I realized that it was the 'trial of my faith' week, and that I need not get down about it.  I mean, sure we can wish that some things hadn't happened, or hope for a better outcome, but not to the point that we get discouraged over it.  So, I'm not discouraged at all!  I just wish that this last week had been a little nicer to us...  ;)  It was cold, it was windy, and NOBODY opened their door...  :P  #thestruggleisreal

And for whatever reason, all of our appointments decided to fall through!  Well...  most of them at least...  :P  But I'm glad that my biggest worry in life is that!  It could be much worse.  I just count my blessings!

But yeah, on Monday night last week, Juan didn't answer is door, and Liliana didn't answer her door, but a miracle still happened!  We were contacting some former investigators in the area and we found Miguel and Antonio Jimenez - 2 brothers.  After a restoration lesson with them, we extended a baptismal invite for a day in April, and they both accepted!  Baptismal dates!  Hoorah!

Green Bay Spanish district

Tuesday we had the last District Meeting of the transfer, so that was fun.  I got to give a training on how to find the most effective people, not necessarily the most amount of people.  We're looking for Kingdom Builders, and we talked about how to find them.  We also talked about using members to set goals in the areas we serve, and to help them find their own friends who are ready.  The best part was that we committed Elder Landaverry to go and teach his family next week, beacuse he goes home on Thursday.  :P  For the rest of that day, we had exchanges!  Elder Landaverry and I got to teach the Grijalva family, the Carlos family, the Ramirez family, and the Solorio family, having great lessons at each of them!

with the Solorio family

Wednesday we tried some people in the afternoon, but had to re-exchange after having only taught 1 lesson together that day.  Right after we re-exchagned we went and taught the Nieves family and alter went to go and teach a new family we found, the Paez family!  Then, we went and had dinner with a family from a different ward that wanted to say goodbye to me, and then we came home.

with the Nieves family

Thursday we had Weekly Planning, so graciously led by Elder Norris because I am getting transferred, and then we found a new lady named Franchesca who is a mexican woman from Texas.  Later, we tried to teach some people but our lessons fell through!  We did, however, have the chance to talk to Yaritza.

B-ball with Christian and Brandon

With the Robertsons

Friday we did service at St. Vinny's and then we went and taught Audencio Dominguez, committing him to a baptismal date in April.  Miracles!  Then, we got to go and say goodbye to Alexis Morales, and then went to the church for a goodbye party they threw for us and for a member of the branch who is moving to Utah.  :D

Luis and family

Saturday morning we got the transfer text with my name on it, ensuring that I was going to be leaving Green Bay.  So, throughout the day, we taught Elizabeth Perez first, then went to a lunch with the Nieves family where we got a photo, and then went to a Hmong lunch, and then went to check on the Solorios but they weren't home, so we were pretty upset because they were supposed to come to Stake Conference!  But then we went to Stake Conference...  :P  After that, we went to the Munoz's place and talked to Luis and said goodbye to him and his family, which was hard!  I even started crying!!  :(

Farewell cake!

Sunday for Stake Conference we had 3 investigators show up!  Lisa and Orelia and Aranza (luis's little sister).  It was great!  The talks were great too!  After that, we had dinner with the Robertsons where I found out that Brother Robertson served his mission in Chile and was companions with my dad's cousin!  Crazy!  Then, we had a dinner with the Reyes family which was crazy hard to say goodbye to them - we were all crying...  :(  Then I got photos with Angelina and had calls with the ZL's to close off the night.

Sorry if I totally skipped details..  We can talk about them later...  :P  Adios!  Love you TONS!

--Elder Nate Hubert

P.S. (from Elder Hubert's Dad)  Elder Hubert was asked to be Zone Leader in Milwaukee.  He is nervous but excited.

Weekly Email for January 26 - February 1

Hola people!  Man, this week has been a good one.  Throughout my mission, I have always tried to be hardworking - going out of the apartment when I'm supposed to and working hard, talking to people, sharing the gospel and everything.  But this week we set a goal as a district (2 companionships) to try and get 100 lessons together.  More specifically, my companionship decided to get 60 lessons taught this week.  When I first got to Green Bay, the lessons were at 15 a week, and then Elder Miller and I got them up to 20+ a week, and then Elder Harding and I got them up to 25+ a week, and now Elder Norris and I have them up to 30+ a week, but 60 is unheard of.  This is us putting forth every single ounce of energy that we have - being completely worn out by the time we get into the apartment every night...  But I'm proud to announce that we accomplished our goal!  At least, our companionship did...  I know that a mission is not about numbers, but the greatest part about the goal that we set is that each of the people we talked to, every single 'number' going into that goal is represented by a name - a human soul, a son or daughter of Heavenly Father who was edified by the Gospel of Jesus Christ this last week.  And what a privilege it was to bring it to them.  :)  That is the best part about being a missionary - we are the bringers of this 'good news.'

But going through my week:

On Monday we had a lesson with Juan Soto at his home, talking about the connection with the Book of Mormon and the Bible, drawing out a map for him (a map of the world) to demonstrate that God talked to prophets in the Old World (Israel) and in the New World (America) and demonstrating other points in the process.  He really loved it, and loves knowing about how Christ visitied and administered to people here - including some of his ancestors!  After that lesson, we had to run and catch a bus, and got home just in time to walk over to Diego's house for our other lesson.  He was not home, but on the way home we stopped by Liliana's place and got in contact with her!  :)  So, that was good!  We hadn't seen her in a while!

Tuesday we had District Meeting and it was all about representing the Lord as missionaries, and how we can do better, especially in regards to our dress, hygiene, speech, and other things.  It was a really good meeting, and that is where we discussed the goal to get 100 lessons.  After the meeting, we started working towards our goal, and had a brief visit with Hubert Nieves on our way to another lesson with his grandparents who live across the street.  After that, we stopped by Luis Munoz's house and shared a message with him, and another one with his family, and then they gave us a little to eat.  We then got a ride to the Grijalva's house and walked with them over to our lesson with the Carlos family, which went great.  Then, we got a ride from Carlos Alvarado to our dinner with Hermana Isabel, where we shared another lesson, and then we went over to the Solorio's home and had a lesson with them about the Spirit, with Hermana Rios there as well.  The main thing that I learned today was how powerful those women are in our branch - their testimonies certainly helped us during our lessons!  It was great!

Wednesday was an INSANE day.  We basically got out of the apartment at 1ish, bussed and tracted and contacted formers and potentials all day, had a dinner at 4 with the Arcos family, had a lesson with a new family, the Hernandez-Castro family, who are super awesome.  Then, we went over to the Trailer Parks on Bellevue where we taught some more!  We had an amazing lesson with the Vasquez famile - some people that are usually busy but who were home tonight, and then after that it was 9:26 and we live a while away, and our curfew is 9:30 if we were teaching a lesson, so we start booking it!!!  We ran long and hard in the cold, in our boots and coats and everything, and got home right as it was 9:30 - the Lord helped us be obedient there...  :)  And that day, we taught 18 lessons alone, found 5 new people, and gave out 6 copies of the Book of Mormon.

Thursday we did Weekly Planning as a companionship, meaning that we got out of the apartment at like 2:30 or 3ish.  We did a lot of the same we did yesterday, knocking doors and contacting former investigators, but I think one of the highlights of my day was having a team-teach lesson with the Sister Missionaries up here.  We got to this home that is half Native American and half Mexican, so we taught the husband and they taught the wife, and the Spirit is SO strong in their home - it feels like a member's home.  It was an amazing time.  And then, we played basketball so that was fun!

Friday, we did our service at St. Vinny's and we got to talk to our Puerto Rican friend Richard after that, and we had dinner on the West Side after a really good lesson with a new family we're teaching, the Dominguez family, and then we met some crazies on the bus...  :P  But yeah, we were contacting people and referrals and stuff until the evening so we couldn't go to Volleyball.

Saturday we went to the church in the morning to go to a baptismal service - it was for this guy named Larry who used to be atheist and is now a member of the church!  The service was super powerful - I loved it so much!  After that, we contacted some people in the cold until we got picked up for lunch by Brother Meese.  After that, we contacted people some more!  And it ended up being super fun because we met this crazy kid that was outside in the cold practicing basketball, and so we played with him for like a half hour in the freezing cold, and then got him to sign up for a lesson!  :D  Hoorah!

Sunday was sad because it was my last Sacrament Meeting in the branch (mostlikely) because next week is Stake Conference and the following Wednesday is transfers, so I'm most likely leaving because I've been here for a while.  It's not that I want to leave, I've just accepted my fate...  :P  But yeah, at church we got to take part in Sunday School where I confiscated all of the youth's phones and such, and then after church I got photos with everybody!  ;D  It was sad!  :(  After that, we contacted until we got a ride up to our dinner appointment with a member of the 1st ward!  It was SOOO fun!!!  ;D  And luckily we were able to hit our goal for the week - 60 lessons right on the dot!

Anyways, yeah!  That's my week!  I love you tons!  The church is true!

--Elder Nate Hubert