Another week in Waukesha

We had a great week this week!  I'll just go over the basics:

Monday for the rest of my birthday we went and played sports with the rest of the missionaries and spent time with them until we finished up, went back into Waukesha, and went to dinner with the Schuenke's and had a party because they also invited the Loutensock's, the Blacker's, and Rosa to be there and spend time with me too!  :D  I felt so special - it was great!

With the Loutenstocks

With Rosa!

Tuesday we had a super awesome district meeting talking about progressing investigators and being true disciples of Christ.  It was awesome how the district participated and how each of us learned from the other!  I'm so thankful for having a great district that really wants to learn and do the right thing!

Later on in the day we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders and I was with an Elder Arbon in the Waukesha area.  Throughout our exchange on Tuesday and Wednesday, we were able to teach several investigators and be able to find a bunch of new families, so I was definitely thankful for that!  One huge miracle is that when I was here in Waukesha last time, we were recruited in attempting to help a family in the ward take care of the weeds in their back yard, but this time when I got back we got the young men involved so we'd actually be able to make a dent in it, and we took out all of the weeds and ingrown things all throughout the yard!  Hopefully now he'll be able to fix up the yard so it'll be good and beautiful.  :)  Then tonight as we were finishing up, we were caught in a rainstorm that was so bad that when we walked outside for 3 seconds, we were COMPLETELY soaked!

Wednesday and Thursday night we were able to have lessons with some members at later hours in the evening, like at 7 or 8, and we showed them a video that we have that talks about missionary work, and promise them that as we watched it, names of people would come to their mind, and those people would be the people that they could reach out to and help by giving them the gospel.  It's been great to see how names come to people's minds as they watch it, and to be able to help each of them make plans on how they can be more effective missionaries by reaching out more as their friends.

Wednesday during the day, I was asked to give a talk in church.  And then Thursday evening me and one of the sister missionaries, along with a member of the ward, all decided on what song we would be singing for church this Sunday, because I'd also been asked to sing a duet this Sunday.  So that worked pretty well! 

Friday, we were supposed to go to the Temple with Rosa, but in the morning she fell off of a stool and hurt her shoulder pretty bad so she wasn't able to go on Friday, which definitely put a damper in our plans for the day.  However, the situation now is this:  We get to go on Tuesday at 1!  So we'll still be able to go, but it'll just be this week and not next week.

One of my favorite days this week was Sunday.  I was pretty nervous to speak in church because I didn't have much time to prepare my talk, but it went super well!  First I sang, and afterwords both me and the Sister Missionary were complimented a lot on the way that we sounded, one person even saying that they'd never felt like clapping in church before today!  :P  And then my talk was all about how to recognize the Spirit and use it to deal with life's challenges.  It went well, and somebody later thanked me because their 8-year-old son is NEVER focused at church, but for whatever reason was zeroed in on the talk that I had given.  I know this probably makes me sound cocky, but I was very glad that I was able to get the point across so well.  Another person told me that I taught it so simply and powerfully.  I'm thankful for the Spirit that was there in that meeting - that's what made it good!

But yeah, things are great here in Waukesha!  Elder Trogdon and I are getting along incredibly well, and the work is progressing!  We're finding new people that might not progress far while I'm here, but we're all about creating a foundation that can be worked upon by later missionaries.  Life's great!  Love you all so much!

20th Birthday, Zone Conference

We had an incredible week this last week!  I'm feeling pretty interesting right now because today's my 20th Birthday, so that's definitely strange.  But the ward and the other missionaries have been great to me today. After I said my morning prayers at 6:30, I got a phone call from Elder Cameron Fry in Milwaukee (at like 6:32) and he sang Happy Birthday to me.  :)  That made my day!  

Happy birthday Elder Hubert

But yeah, on Tuesday of this last week we had an appointment with the Tateoka family to go over there and to share a lesson with them and talk to them about missionary work and such, and it was great to be able to talk to them and feel the Spirit as we had that lesson with them.  :)  We talked about some of their friends who are slowly getting softened to the gospel and are searching for truth, and how little by little they are able to introduce their friends to the gospel.

Right after we taught them, we went over to Joey Wood's house and walked with him over to Spring's house where we taught him the Plan of Salvation, and he actually participated and asked us questions and everything!  It was a huge miracle that he listened and was curious!  He still doesn't want to set a baptismal date, but now he understands how getting baptized will affect him not only now, but forever!

At around 3 we went on exchanges with the Brookfield Elders and had a good time.  I was with Elder Shepard who just barely got done getting trained as a new missionary, and as part of the exchange we had an awesome lesson with the Craig family where we talked about sharing our light with other people, and how Christ is the light that we hold up.  :)

Thursday throughout the day we were able to weekly plan and do service at the hope center, and we were also able to follow up with some members about some friends that they have that they'd like us to teach and contact about the church and such.  It was awesome to see how they had prepared their loved ones to receive us!  We had dinner with the Cutler family, the mission president's son and his family who live in the ward, and we were able to have an incredible lesson with them because they had another member family over and we talked all about testimonies and how Christ told everybody to become as 'little children,' and so then we had each of the kids bear their simple testimonies of truth.  :)  It was so amazing!

Friday we had Zone Conference, which was great!  In the middle, Sister Hunter and I were able to do a musical number that we had been practicing, and it was a great experience.  I think what made it better is that one of the senior couples got up after it to talk to us about something, and were overcome and started crying!  It was definitely a cool experience for us because we sang the song, and were able to feel the Spirit of it later on.

Later on in the meeting, all of the missionaries who were departing were asked to come up to the stand and bear their testimonies, and I just about broke down as I was up there because me finishing my mission was just so sad to me!  But now, I realize, that I don't need to be sad as I bear my testimony of God and His love, or even be sad about finishing my mission.  I'm optimistic and happy for the future, and am just SO glad and SO happy for the 2 years that I've had.  I'm just excited for the rest of my lifetime that I'm going to have in His service!

Friday night we had a huge miracle, and that was that we were able to get back in contact with a family that I used to teach when I was here last.  That was awesome, especially because they missed me and are still curious about the message that we have!  The 19-year-old kid in the family was able to prioritize his life for us, and tell us that God is the most important thing to him, and then we asked him if he was willing to show that to God, and he said yes!  So hopefully soon we're going to be able to help them out in changing their lives!

And then Sunday was of course a great day, especially because in the evening the Whipple's so kindly had us and the sisters over to eat, and then surprised me with a chocolate birthday cake that was amazing!  :D  I absolutely love this ward!

But yeah, everything is going great in Wisconsin.  I'm so grateful for my Heavenly Father and for my opportunity to serve, to learn, and to grow (even if it's hard sometimes).  This life is all about learning about Him and becoming like Him.  I'm so happy that I have the personal opportunity to do that!  :D  I love each of you tons!  have a great week!

--Elder Nate Hubert

Fist full week back in Waukesha

This week was a pretty good one!  :D  I'd definitely say that it was awesome!  Last P-day was pretty fun, because right after we were done emailing we got to go and play basketball with our Puerto Rican friends the De la Paz family.  Okay, so we tied.  And I'm not good at basketball, but Aneisha and JP have got some pretty dang good moves, I'll be honest!  :D  But even better than playing basketball with them was that night when we went over and taught a bit of English, and then we taught them the first half of the Restoration, talking about families, prophets, and especially about Jesus Christ.  It was awesome to be able to come together and share beliefs and show our love for them as we shared these amazing messages with them.  The Spirit was definitely there, and we kind of left them with a cliffhanger all like: "So yeah, God called prophets then, and he does today, too! But we'll talk about that next time..."  Something like that.  :)

Tuesday was awesome.  It was the first District Meeting i've given in over 6 months, but it was good to do it.  It was about overcoming concerns and responding to objections, and it was awesome to be able to discuss that and the district really liked the meeting, too!  But I'd say that the biggest plus of the day was being able to give a baptismal interview.  There's this 17-year-old girl named Mai, and she's awesome.  She's been taught by 22 different missionaries over the course of the last almost-2 years.  (She was found when I was in Waukesha last) and what a pleasure it was for me to be able to hear this girl's testimony ringing loud and true as she told me that she knew the BofM was true, and that the Spirit had told her that as she had been studying with the missioanries!  Of course, she passed the interview.  I felt so privileged to be the one to interview her, after 2 years of studying.  She's prepared, for sure.

Wednesday, the highlight of the day was being able to teach Joey Wood during our dinner appointment at Spring Gaffke's house.  His family got baptized 3 years ago, but he never did. He's 18 and is pretty stubborn, but we love him a lot and actually had a really good lesson with him on the importance of baptism and what he thought was holding him back.  :)  AND he set up a return appointment, which is something I don't think he's ever done before!

That night we were also able to teach and give a blessing to Belinda who has been struggling to recover from an operation she had.  She told us that she really likes the Spirit that is there when we come over, so hopefully that transforms into her being interested in the church.

Thursday we finished the Restoration lesson with the De la Paz family, and it was amazing to be able to see the lights in their minds just click as they heard about the BofM and about Joseph Smith as we watched the video of the Restoration with them!  They really liked it!  However, their father was a bit against it at first, but after giving us time to explain what it was and tell him that it was not against the Bible, he took a copy and invited us to come back and talk about it more.  :)  Whoa, that was a close one.

Friday afternoon we taught Joey again and almost set a date, even though he's not really interested in setting  baptismal date right now.  He knows that he needs to be baptized, he just wants to push it off for as long as he can.  So hopefully soon he'll be able to make the right choices!  But it was sad later on today when we found out that a man who had previously been very promising turned to anti-Mormon material and doesn't want to study anymore...  :(

Saturday was awesome, because we got to go to Mai's baptism!  The coolest part I'd say is that the missionary who found her 2 years ago came back to perform the baptism!  There were lots of missionaries there, and when they took the photo of all of the missionaries who had taught her, she wanted me to be in the picture too!  Even though I only interviewed her for like a half hour!  But hey, I felt honored and hopped in the photo!  :D

Later on that evening, we found out that a few of the families in the ward get together on Saturday nights to play soccer or frisbee, so we invited the De la Paz and went ourselves, and we played soccer and it was so fun!  I mean, most of the members were all like: "Elder Hubert, have you played before?"  It was pretty funny though - we had a great time and the ward just embraced the De la Paz!  

Unfortunately they weren't able to come to church the next day, but it is still awesome that they now know people and feel fine coming to things like that with us!

But yeah, I definitely know that I felt the Spirit this week as we were in several teaching appointmets and that hearts were touched.  The only work to do now is to make sure we have more people that we're teaching on a more consistent basis so we can build up this ward and area to what the Lord wants it to be at!  :D  Love you mucho!  Adios!

--Elder Nate Hubert

1st Week Back in Waukesha

It's super crazy to be back in my second area Waukesha - it finally hit me yesterday when I was at church and got up to share my testimony of the Gospel, and I looked out over so many familiar faces that I loved and had missed, and just this huge wave of love just came over me.  It was a great experience and I've had a lot of fun throughout the week to show up to members' homes to visit them and share a lesson, and have them see me and have them start freaking out because I was back in 
Waukesha.  :P  It's been SUCH a good experience so far!

The Munoz family

The Soriano-Vallejo-Ruiz Family

The Velasco's

The Santiago's

But this week hasn't all been sweet - there's been quite a bit of bitter as well.  And that was because I had to say goodbye to so many of my best friends in Milwaukee.  On Monday night we went over and said goodbye to the Velasco family first thing at 6pm, and that was super tough.  Steve wasn't there, but I had to say goodbye to Marco, Leti, and Melanie.  I was at the brink of tears because I've been able to watch this incredible family learn and grow and progress thorughout the Gospel and it's been such an amazing sight!  I'm going to miss them TONS, but I'll see them sometime.  We also had an appointment with Annette and Isidro and Delainy and Roman and Tiffany, and that one was difficult to say goodbye as well.  I had to write in their little book that they have all of the missionaries write in, and I honestly had such a hard time saying goodbye.  We ate dinner, got some photos, and then I started to cry.  It doesn't help that the scritural message that I had come up with to share made me cry every time I shared it!  It was from Alma 17:1-2, talking about how Alma and the Sons of Mosiah had separated, and then when they met again they had a joyous reunion because they were still strong in the gospel.  I applied that to how I had to go, but that when I would come back it would be the same kind of a reunion because we each would have stayed strong.  :(  It was sad.  Another sad goodbye was with the Soriano-Vallejo-Ruiz family that night - Julia, Ghyslaine, Lizbeth, AND Angel.  That one was a tough one.  Tears were shed.  Absolutely.  I was doing good at the beginning of the night, but slowly and surely, the more people I said goodbye to, the more I cried.

The Martinez family

Justin and Elder Hubert

The Isidro family

Tuesday morning we had to say goodbye to the Martinez and Justin, and then we had the great opportunity to take out the new missionaries!  It was great to be able to see their greeny-ness.  Kind of funny actually, but they're each so solid and have great desires to be out here!  :)  After we did that, I finshed up packing and then we went and had a dinner/goodbye appointment with Angelina and Camila, and it was especially special to me because they pulled out a birthday cake because I was going to miss having my birthday with them and they gave me this super awesome jacket as well!  We also had to say goodbye to the Munoz family - Orlando, Kelly, Brittany, and her brothers...  That was was SO sad too!  :(  And at the end of the night, saying goodbye to Jared Rivera was SO tough...  :(  No bueno...

Happy early birthday!

Angelina and Camila and Elder Hubert!

Wednesday was an interesting day for sure - in the morning we went to the church and I just chilled there until my new companion got there, and then we went back to Waukesha!  We got to the new apartment and spent the rest of the day talking about the area and we visited some members as well!  It was great to be back!  Each of the members totally freaked out every time they saw me - it was awesome to see them all again!

Elder Trogdon and Elder Hubert

Another great thing was on Friday AND Saturday, we found 2 Spanish Families that we're going to go back and visit!  That was super exciting!  AND we were able to visit a super promising Puerto Rican family named the De-la-paz Duque famliy.  I like them a lot - they are so much fun!  I also got to visit with the Loutensocks, the Schuenke's, the Osmond's, the Tovias, and the Black families throughout the week, which was incredible.

Sunday was especially cool because I got to see all of the members that I had not yet been able to say hi to, and when I bore my testimony it was cool to be able to see all of them (like I said at the beginning of the email).

But yeah!  I'm glad to be back!  My new companion's name is Elder Trogdon and he's from Washington State, and has been on his mission for 4 1/2 months.  He's great to work with, and I'm excited for the next couple of week!  :)  Love you all!

--Elder Nate Hubert