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