MARRIAGE! (But not mine...)

Monday was a really cool day beacuse we got to head over to Miller Park (the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Team Stadium) and eat lunch there, and then we got to walk around the place. 

However, I also just had an all-around good week.  But since I'm short on time (as usual) I'm gonna just fill you all in on the biggest moments of the week, which are Friday and Sunday.

Elder Wiscombe and Elder Hubert

Friday was a fun day because all day, we were stuck in meetings!  #timeofmylife

But really though, that morning we had to get up early so that all 4 of us who were staying at that apartment could get ready in time to go up for MLC up in Oshkosh, the meeting where we discuss the mission and the things that we could do better at, so that is always fun.  But the best part of the day happened when we got back...  We got to go over to the Santiago's house for a very special event - a wedding!  It was a very exclusive wedding - only family members and us two missionaries were there aside from the Branch President who was performing the marriage.  It was really good though!  He shared a short message and then went right into it, saying (in Spanish) the marriage vows, and then they whipped out the rings and put them on, and then they kissed, and then BAM!  They were married.  The funny part is that they were getting married to each other for the 2nd time, because the 1st time ended in divorce.  But hey, they're re-married and they're in love still, so that's what matters most!  :D  It was really cool though because Elder Evans and I had the privilege of being the legal witnesses of the marriage, so we got to sign the marriage license and everything so that was good!  :D  #neverdonethatbefore

Santiago wedding

Sunday, yesterday, was another time just full of miracles.  Up until that point, we had only found 1 new investigator the entire week, and we were thinking "That's pretty pitiful, let's go find some people!"  So we did!  We found this one lady named Alicia who seemed pretty religious, so that's cool.  But the real miracle happened after that, when we went to go contact a Less Active man who didn't live at the address it said he did.  So, we went across the street to go and talk to some people, and found this woman named Veronica, and after talking to her briefly at the doorstep, she invited us inside to come and share a message with her and her 3 children.  She had a 10-year-old daughter (who is as tall as me), a 12-year-old son, and then a 14-year-old goliath!  Literally, this kid is 6 foot 3, and he's 14!!  But besides his height, we had a great experience with them.  We taught an awesome Restoration lesson and they participated the whole time, and it was SO amazing!!!!!!!  And they want us to come back!  Man...  I love the Spirit so much!  :D

But yeah, that's my life!  

I just wanted to let you know that I love you each SO much and that I can't wait to hear from you all soon!  :)  Missions fly by so quickly so thanks for all of the prayers that have come my way during the last 20 months.  :)  I LOVE YOU!  Adios!  Have a great week!

--Elder Nate Hubert

I've been getting stalked... By miracles... They follow me everywhere

Basically it's true.  Here's a few of the many miracles that I was able to experience this week:

On Tuesday we had exchanges with Milwaukee Spanish C which is made up of Elder Fry and Elder Miller.  I was able to go serve with Elder Miller in their area, so it was super awesome to basically be re-living the dream-team companionship that we had up in Green Bay for 2 Transfers.  And dang, we saw some awesome miracles.  The first of them happened as we were walking around street contacting.  We met this man named Humberto (Hubert in Spanish) so I was all like: "Hey, we're twins!"  So we hit it off pretty well.  We ended up talking to this guy for almost 40 minutes outside of his house, sharing a Book of Mormon with him and teaching him about how, in the midst of this dark world and everything, how we can find light and truth as we follow Christ through reading his scriptures and seeking him in life.  He really liked that and invited us to come back!

Literally right after that, we went to an appointment that had previously been scheduled with this man named Gerardo.  Here's the crazy story behind Gerardo:  He lives in Milwaukee but works in Waukesha in the summertime.  He remembers last July, a short blonde haired, blue eyed missionary gave him a Book of Mormon while he was waiting for his ride home in Waukesha.  As soon as I walked into his house with Elder Miller, he and I both recognized the other.  I remember this man, like my last week in Waukesha, who was sitting on a porch near our apartment, and who we gave a Book of Mormon to.  We were never able to give him as a referral because we never got his Milwaukee address, but what an amazing experience how everything came back around and how I was able to teach him again!  :)  The lesson we had was really awesome.  We talked about the Book of Mormon and how we got it, bearing testimony that it would change their lives if they would let it.  Now usually in the Hispanic community, they picture the missionaries as nice young men who stop by and share a message when they're in the area - they don't have the mentality of making and keeping specific appointments.  However, Gerardo, his wife and his daughter ALL wanted us to come back the next week at the same time to teach them more.  Unfortunately, I will not be involved in their teaching any more because it's not my area, but I was SO grateful for the opportunity to finally follow-up on that Book of Mormon handout.  :)  

Another cool thing is that Elder Miller and I were able to help a Dominican less active woman realize the benefits of coming back to church, and she committed to doing it next week!  :)  And she gave us lunch, which is a huge blessing.

Milwaukee Courthouse

With the Santiago Family

On Thursday morning, we had the amazing opportunity to be able to go to the Milwaukee Courthouse and help the Santiago family get a marriage license.  It's funny - they were married, and then they got divorced, but never moved out...  So, they've been living together for like 10 years, and finally decided to go and get married again!  We're so happy for them!  Also later that day, we got a visit from the Reyes family from up in Green Bay who recently got baptized.  they took us out to lunch and it was awesome to be able to talk to Lydia, Monica, and Elizabeth again, and I was especially excited when they told us that they would be moving to Utah in August!!!  SO awesome!

Surprise visit from the Reyes family

And finally, another highlight of my week was Stake Conference that we had on Saturday and Sunday - lots of revelation was to be had.  I missed out on some of it because I was involved in the Spanish Translation process for the 2 Spanish Branches that we have in our stake, but even so, I was able to learn some things.  :D

Elder's translating Stake Conference

I just want to close in letting each of you know that I love and appreciate you so much!  Thanks for all that you do for me, especially for your support and your prayers.  They really are appreciated!  It is awesome to know that the Lord is hastening His work over here in Wisconsin as He labors in the vineyard with us.  :)  I know He loves us, and I know that He wants the best for us - the best is the Gospel!  :D

--Elder Nate Hubert

Serving as Branch Clerks because nobody else knows how, and helpingsave the branch

Don't worry - I will explain what the subject line means all in good time.

But yeah!  We had a really good week!  Some definite highlights include the following:

The District

Monday we were able to go and visit some members of the branch that had decided to not come to the Spanish Branch because of the conflict that occurred, and while we were there we shared a message about how we need to realize that in times of storm, we cannot make the storm go away.  There is only one person who can do that!  We compared it to what was going on in the branch right now, saying that "the winds are blowing hard and the waters are very choppy!"  We told the story of Christ calming the tempest, and how it was only after the Apostles had realized that they couldn't do it on their own that they reached out to Jesus who was on the boat with them to calm the storm.  The hope we can have is that we know that Christ is doing his work!  He works in his vineyard with us (Jacob 5) - He is in the boat with us.  Our job as His followers is to increase our faith in Him and to allow Him to do His work.  The Apostles reached out, and he calmed the storm that was going on in their lives.  Luckily, the Spirit touched the hearts of the members of the branch as each of us reached out to Him, and he calmed the storm that was going on.  We were able to "see the Salvation of God" (D&C 123:17) as he healed the wounds that had been caused in the branch.  That was a definite highlight of the week.  But even though a large portion of our work is now directed at strengthening the members of the branch in which we serve, we still are able to work hard with investigators and those who are in need of us.

For example, on Tuesday/Wednesday, I was on exchanges with an Elder Wyatt Baird from Provo, UT (graduated from TimpView HS) and we had a great time!  We were able to find 6 new investigators together in that short time, and teach a bunch of lessons!  He's a hard worker and it was my pleasure to spend that time with him.  :)

A cool story that we had is that on Wednesday night we got a call from some elders serving in an area kind of by Green Bay (north of Milwaukee - place called Sheboygan) telling us that there was a member who was getting life-flighted to the children's hospital and who needed a blessing.  So we went IMMEDIATELY, but unfortunately were not able to get into the hospital that night because of hospital regulations for late-night-hour visitors.  We went back the next day and got to meet the family, and I was SO thankful for the bishop of their ward, who had driven all the way down to Milwaukee to minister to this less-active family in need.  We, too, were able to share a message and say a prayer with them, and that was a definite spiritual experience.

But in explanation of the subject line, on Sunday we had to miss out on some of the meetings at church because we had to do what the Branch Clerk would do usually.  Unfortunately, we don't have anybody in the branch to fill that calling, so we spent the entire time just editing the branch list and moving things around and combining houses because the branch list, for lack of better words, was a mess.  :P  But it's on it's way of getting better.  :)

Love you guys so much!  I hope you have a great week!

--Elder Nate Hubert

Spiritual ZTM, Assistant Exchange, Soccer, and Easter Party

Hola todos!  I hope that each of you have had a super good week, and just want to let you know that I am doing fabulous!  :D  Life in Milwaukee is going super well, even if Mother Nature is deciding to profusely rain on us every single day.  I can get over it.  :P  But here's just a few highlights of my week:

Elder Hubert and Elder Evans

On Tuesday in the afternoon, we had a super amazing experience as we had a Zone Training Meeting.  Basically what that is (for those of you who aren't sure) is that Elder Evans and I got to lead the zone in a few trainings that we had received the week previous from the Mission President and the Assistants.  We relay these messages and trainings to the members of our zone, and each of us learn new things.  The reason that we had such a great experience is because the zone participated very well in everything that had been discussed.  We talked about being consecrated, we talked about Temple Covenants, we talked about having dignified language, and we talked about strengthening the groups in which we serve.  Each member of the zone had some priceless comments that provided a very in-depth discussion on how each of us could do better.  I know that each of us felt the Spirit, and I felt the Spirit more during this ZTM than I think I have in any other ZTM I've had during my mission!  (PS:  ZTM's are a monthly meeting we have)  So, that was an amazing experience.

Friday, I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Eyring (he used to be my zone leader in Green Bay - we've been on exchanges before), and we were in the Spanish area.  We had some good experiences, like when we met this Mexican Rancher who is a super rich guy back in Mexico - he is a new investigator.  Also, we contacted a referral that we had gotten for a Dominican lady named Nancy who is super nice and would like to come to church!  She wasn't able to this last week, but she said that she would like to soon!  :)  But I would say that the most interesting experience we had was when we entered the house of a new investigator whose parents are pastors of a non-denominational church that they have in their home.  We sat down with the father and his friend from Chicago and taught them about the Book of Mormon.  He attempted to test our Biblical knowledge, and when he realized that we did, in fact, know what he was talking about, he dropped it.  However, after a little bit of being there and after setting a return appointment, we decided that it was best that we leave, so we asked if it would be okay if we prayed together.  So, I'm not sure what religion or church these people belonged to, but everybody came in for the prayer.  There was the husband, the wife, a couple friends from Chicago, and 2 kids, and then us two missionaries.  And then the prayer began!  It consisted of a bunch of shouting in Spanish and what they called 'speaking in tongues' (I can demonstrate for you what that sounded like when I am home from my mission - it kind of sounded like jibberish mixed with ancient Hebrew - it was kinda freaky) and this shouting went on for like 5 minutes.  Once they had calmed down, one of the women starts yelling at us/preaching to us (out of what motiavtion, I'm not sure...) but after she calmed down a little, we asked if we could offer one of our prayers.  We demonstrated that during our prayers, we all bow our heads and fold our arms and remain reverant as one of the people directs the prayer.  I volunteered to do so, and I only offered a prayer that was about 1 minute.  As soon as I said 'amen,' the Spirit flooded the room!  No credit given to myself or Elder Eyring, the Lord knew that these people needed to know what the Spirit really felt like, the peace and joy that comes with its presence.  It was a beautiful feeling, and then as we were leaving, the pastor man grabbed my hand and said "I love the way you pray.  Just your voice!  Very humble.  Very submissive.  Thank you."  THAT was an amazing experience.  Everybody, the power of prayer is real!  The Spirit is real!

Mud Soccer

The next morning, we were able to play soccer for a few hours with our investigators and some members, so that was pretty awesome.  I think a lot of them were surprised when a bunch of us white guys were scoring from mid-field...  :P

Easter egg party!

And then the last part - there was an easter party yesterday (I've included some photos and videos of this on DropBox) and that was really fun!  There was lots of food and lots of candy, and then we all threw eggs at each other!  but these eggs had been cleaned out and filled with flour and confetti - it was super fun!  AND I got betrayed by my friends...  :P  But it's okay, I betratyed my friends too.... :P

I hope that you each have a great week!  I love you all!  Adios!

The church is true!  The book is blue!

--Elder Nate Hubert

Easter - Hope of a Glorious Resurrection

Hello everybody!  So my weekly email is going to be a little different this week.  I want to share something with each of you.  I'm actually going to be sharing from my journal entry from yesterday, and so you'll be able to know what's been on my mind and heart:

Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission!

"Happy Easter!  What a miracle it is to have a day like today, to celebrate an event so inspiring: the first resurrected being to ever before rise from the grave, to have His Spirit enter His body once again, and to have us be the recipients of so magnificent a blessing.

Let me share an special experience with you:

Last night (Saturday night) right before 10:30pm, I received a call from President and Sister Cutler.  I had no idea what President was going to want to talk about at so late an hour, but I answered the phone.  He apologized for calling so late, but then he continued to tell me that he had just gotten off the phone with my father, who had called so that president could let me know that my Great-Grandfather Egbert had passed away a few hours earlier.  As I hard these words, all I could do was close my eyes to take it all in.

Of course I am sad.  At the loss of anybody relatively close, a person would be saddened.  But I am not distraught!  After 5-days short of 95 years of age, Frances Egbert departed this life to be once again with his dear wife.  And I am overjoyed to know that, as it says in Alma 40:11, "The Spirits of all men,  as soon as they are departed from this mortal body... are taken home to that God who gave them life."  What a glorious knowledge!  The Spirit of my Great-Grandfather, though departed from his body, has gone home.  Most of us consider here to be our home, the land of our inheritence.  But our real home is not here.  Imagine that you've been on a long trip - for a month or so - and then you go back home.  No matter the excitement of your voyage, the fun of your trip, the learning moments of your adventure, the memories of your vacation, or the experiences of your quest, the greatest part of any excursion is the moment you open the door and enter your home at last.  Now imagine that mortal sense of entering 'home,' and take it to a divine perspective.  There, the feelings of relief and accomplishment can never be measured, especially because of the indescribably glorious reunion that has occurred between Francis and his sweetheart.

But even more than that, what joy fill my soul in being able to say with firmness and testimony in my voice that Francis Egbert, the loyal servant of God for 95 years, has once again entered the warm embrace of his Father, who is our father.  He is a father so wonderful that he provides us with this experience on Earth, one of the side effects being that we forgot our Father's face and his voice.  But one day, we will each enter his presence, as my Great-Grandfather did today.  Sadness in death is to be expected, but despair is unnecessary because "there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ" (Mosiah 16:8)."

Those are my thoughts...  It's been hard to deal with it, but I'm so grateful that it happened right before Easter rather than any other time, because with hope of a resurrection we cannot focus on death.  I love my family SO much and I will miss him tons!  I'm sad I wasn't home to be with the family during this time, but I'm also happy that I am able to be on a mission - I would not rather be doing anything other than this work right now, bringing hope of eternal families to the people of Wisconsin.  :)

Another experience that happened this week, just real quick, is that on Thursday night we had some elders staying the night because we all had to go to a meeting on Friday, and one of them fell and hit their arm on a bedframe and cut it right open...  We spent 4 hours in the Emergency Room that night and got 1 1/2 hours of sleep - that was wonderful.  It made Mission Leadership Council really enjoyable the next day!  :P  But yeah.  That was my week!  

AND General Conference was amazing.  'nuff said.  :)

I love you all so much!  I hope you have a great week!

--Elder Nate Hubert

So basically I'm the FBI, or Batman. Take your pick.

Dang I was super scared as I got on the computer today, because they started doing something new with the Missionary Email Website, and it was having some bugs when I first got on, but now I'm on so I'm pretty stoked about that.  :)  I'm just going to start out by going over the highlights of my week:

Monday during the day was crazy - mostly because when we got to see all of the changes that were happening for transfers and it threw us all for a loop.  But hey, nothing happened with us!  Elder Evans and I are staying another transfer together!  This is a great companionship though - we both love to work and we get along together great, especially when a person has a guitar at their house because then Elder Evans plays the guitar and I sing, and we basically just win people's hearts over that way.  :P

But Monday night we had a great visit with a family in the Branch over here.  They are the Miralrio family (translated in English their last name means "Look at the river"), and they have a very special place in my heart.  First of all, they are converts of a couple years and have a super strong conversion to the gospel.  However, due to his work schedule (he owns a soccer shop and refs some soccer leagues - super awesome) he hasn't been able to make it to church a lot of the time, but we taught them from the Book of Mormon using where they were reading (I don't recall where) and talked about the commandments, Enduring to the End, and doing all things possible in order to attend the temple (which they haven't done yet as a family).  The best part is that they were totally on board to doing all of the things we talked about it, and I know that they meant it because later on in the week, on Sunday, they showed up to church all together and stayed the whole time!  :D  I'm so excited for this family!  :D

Tuesday was awesome because neither Elder Evans or I had to pack our bags because we were getting transferred, so that was a big stress reliever.  Then, we got a call from the Assistants (who are some of our best friends over here) and they asked us to come over to the mission home to take out the new Spanish Missionary who arrived in Milwaukee that day, so we were all over that!  We went over and picked up Elder Cameron Fry from Orem Utah, and apparently he knows tons of the people I know, including my little sister Sarah!  "It's a small world after all..."  No lie.  He keeps on mentioning people that he knows, and I'm like "Holy cow, you know them?!  ME TOO!!"  Super crazy.  But we went out with him for like 2-3 hours and it was awesome!  We taught something like 12 lessons - I forget - but it was super amazing and I hope he had a good experience with it.  He'll be a good missionary though!  He's getting trained by my former companion Elder Miller so he'll be working hard.  :)

Wednesday was a stressful day because it was transfer day, and we had to be in charge of the Milwaukee Transfer Point, helping missionaries put their luggage in the right places, keeping them quiet, trying to help other missionaries not mess around so much...  Stuff like that.  It basically took up our entire day!  The first thing we did that didn't involve transfers was go to Annette Ruiz's house and teach a lesson to her family from D&C 121, ensuring them that no matter the trial, that if we endure it well God will exalt us on high.  That was a miracle.

Thursday was cool because we got to go to the mission home again to have interviews with President Cutler.  My interview was really good - just talked with him about some various insights that we had recently from our studies.  It was sweet!  The scary part of the day was when we had President Cutler come out with us that night to teach some lessons...  I mean, it had the potential of being scary, but it really wasn't that scary.  :P  I just acted like I always do so i wasn't really scared.  But, we taught the Velasco's which was awesome, and we also taught the Roman family and they are progressing well too!  We're just hoping that soon they'll commit to doing something.

The next awesome thing that happened with my week was on Friday, where I was able to do my first baptismal interview for one of Elder Miller's investigators named Maria, and she passed so that was really good!  :D  

She was baptized Sunday morningbefore church, and then during church she and Leti Velasco were confirmed members of the church - what a miracle!  :D  Such progression in such short time - what a blessing it is to see the gospel change and morph someone's lives and help them be better.

But yeah!  That was my week!  It was pretty action-packed, you know.  Basically, I'm Batman.  That's why.  Actually, something funny that happened this week is that Elder Evans and I were in a hurry, and were in our suits, and had to stop by a store to grab something really quick, so we kinda ran into the store and were speed-walking through it, and all of the people in the store thought that we were the FBI or something, and that we were there to make an arrest...  :P  We only know that because they told us later.  :P  FUNNY!  :D  I hope that all of you have a great week!  This is Elder Hubert's Weekly Wisconsin Report - signing out.....

--Elder Nate Hubert

Mission Conference, Baptism, Last week of trasnsfer

Friends, nobles, countrymen.  I was trying to think of a creative way that I could start out my email, and that was the only thing I could think of.  There you go...  BAM - creativity.  :P  I'm kind of in a weird mood right now - it is kind of like I'm really sad that it snowed this morning, and I'm really tired because I was up late last night, and I'm really excited because transfers are on Wednesday...  Mix that up all together and what do you get?  A feeling-weird-elder-hubert-smoothie...  Yummm...

Milwaukee Zone

But yeah, to update you on the goings on of the missshhhhh...  

Monday evening was super amazing because at 7:00 we got to go over to the Mission Home (President Cutler's house) for an FHE with his family and the Velasco Family.  (There are probably photos of this on the mission blog).  But yeah, it was super awesome!  We spent the first part getting to know each other, and then we had a song, and then Sister Cutler shared a favorite scripture, adn then President Cutler handed me an ensign and had me choose a favorite quote, but I think I did a decent job at that with the 2 minute warning I got.  Then, their 16-year-old daughter Megan shared a spiritual thoght about CHrist and the last week of his life.  It was really good!  And then we played Catch Phrase and had dessert, and we headed out for a lesson and the Velasco's stayed there and socialized for a while longer.  During our lesson, which was with the Angeles family, we taught about the Restoration adn committed Victor, Blaca, Brandon, and Harvey all to baptism in May, and they are super excited!  We'll keep you posted!

Elder Evans and Elder Hubert

One good thing about this week is that we didn't have any exchanges.  Don't get me wrong, I love exchanges!  But this transfer, having to go on so many exchanges, has kind of ruined it for me.  They seem more like a chore now than anything, but they are still fun!

One family that we've been working with who are super awesome is the Hernandez family, who are from Jalisco Mexico.  They are really promising and love the missionaries, so we're really excited for them to start progressing.  We had a lesson with them on Thursday and we read from the Book of Mormon, and they really like it and committed to read it!  :)

Friday night was cool because we got to go on a 2-hour exchange while Elder Evans went with Elder Miller so that Elder Miller could do Leti's baptismal interview, and I went with Elder Phillips to talk to their main investigator Maria Capistran who is prepping to get baptized.  :)  She seems cool!

Saturday was amazing because we got to go to the church early - at like 7:30 - because we were having a huge mission-wide meeting.  All of the missionaries from the entire mission -  like 230 of us - all met down in Milwaukee to hear from Elder Craig C. Christensen of the presidency of the 70 and another guy too.  It was so powerful, and one crazy part is that Elder Evans and I got a shout out from our mission president when he showed a photo of us and the Velasco's at his house and talked all about us and them.  :P  The meeting was cool though!  I'd say more but I'm running out of time!  And then that night I had dinner in Waukesha because some of the branch members live out there, so I got to stop by the Schuenke's house (some Waukesha friends) and say hi right before dinner, and that was super sweet!!!  :D  I love that family!

Waukesha friends

More Waukesha friends

Sunday was a miracle day because Leti Velasco, our amazing investigator, was able to be baptized.  It was an event that was 20-years in the making, and she finally made that choice to enter those waters.  :)  There are photos on DropBox.  :D 

Anyways, it was a good week!  I love you tons!

--Elder Nate Hubert

First Zone Training, AP Exchange, and Branch Conference!

Greeting everybody!  We had a really good week this last week!  Our zone has significantly improved in the people that they're teaching, especially in the great investigators who are actually progressing towards baptism, which is always a good sign!  :D  

The Black Pearl

Last Monday, we had a really great lesson with the Angeles family where we taught them the Plan of Salvation and were able to promise them that they would see their son again.  It was very spiritual and I don't really want to go into details, but it was a very special experience.  :)

Driving the 12 seater 

On Tuesday we had Zone Training Meeting at the church building, where basically the zone meets together and we get to train them!  It was really cool though, because we go to train about Priesthood Power and how the amount of priesthood power and authority we have is all conditional on our personal righteousness and our keeping our covenants, which for missionaries includes the promise to be completely obedient to everything he's asked us to do, so that was really good!  :D  We also did a fun little dress-up role play about asking for referrals.  Basically what happened is I dressed up as 3 different people and it was really fun.  :)

On the streets of Old Milwaukee

In Old Milwaukee Town

After the meeting though, we went on exchanges with the Muskego Lakes elders, where we had a lot of success. First of all, we met this Puerto Rican lady and had a lesson with her, teaching her the restoration, and then we set a baptismal date with her!  So, that was a miracle!  Later on, we talked to a man who is returning to activity all about the Plan of Salvation, and then we taught a guy who's in the army about Captain Moroni and how it's important to fight for freedom overseas, but also to fight for our families every single day in this 'battleground' here at home.  

Elder Hubert and Elder Thatcher

Wednesday, we exchanged  back and Elder Evans and I had a little bit of time to work together, including an awesome lesson with the Velasco family where we talked about tithing.  :)  Then, that night at 9 we started ANOTHER exchange, but this time it was with the Assistants to the President.  I was with Elder Stephens (sorry I didn't take any photos) and we had a good old time.  Throughout the entire next day, we were able to teach a bunch of people and find even more people, and I was able to learn from Elder Stephens a lot.

Friday night was cool because we had a lesson with the Palacios family, and for whatever reason there were like TONS of kids there!  So we taught about the Atonement and how Christ makes us clean again, and then got a photo with them...  :P

With the Palacios

Sunday we had Branch Conference where the Stake President basically just told the branch, in the nicest way possible, that they need to step it up a little bit.  Or a lot bit...  :P  The meeting took a turn for the worst when at the end of church, a 79 year old member fell down the stairs.  We had to call 911 about it, but don't worry he's fine!  Later that day we had a meeting with the Mission President and everything to discuss the work in the stake, and that was a very productive meeting.  We discussed the needs that needed to be addressed, and that was cool!  :D

Why I'm fat!

I love you all so mcuh!  Life is doing great over here in Milwaukee, except my mailbox has been dry recently...  :'(  But that's okay!  Life goes on!  :D

I hope you each have a wonderful week and that you're able to see miracles!

--Elder Nate Hubert

Life on the Other Side

This last week was a pretty good one, but it was different for sure!!!  

Tuesday we had a crazy morning with picking up some elders and taking them to the stake center, where we met the other missionaries, piled into the mission's 12-passenger van, and drove to Kenosha (a city between Milwaukee and Chicago) for a Zone Conference.  Because of weather conditions, we arrived 5 minutes before the conference was supposed to start, and that's when things got weird.  Instead of sitting in the congregation as usual, I had to sit up on the stand and everything.  I mean, it's not super weird, it's just not something I'm used to.  But luckily we only had to do that for like 10 minutes because then President Cutler started giving trainings so we went out to the congregation so we could see him.  :)  The conference was good, and it was awesome because I got to see my old companion Elder David Wise!  I love that kid!!!  Also, we got to give a training to our zone, so that went pretty well!  We talked a bit more about Abinadi and his example for us and everything.

Me and Elder Rytting from PGHS

Me and Elder Lee from GB

Another weird day was Thursday.  Usually it's pretty jammed full because of Weekly Planning anyways, but this week, halfway through weekly planning, we got a call from the Assistants asking us to go run an errand for them, an errand that involved us switching cars with 2 other companionships of elders, spending time in the mission office, and packing up a whole bunch of stuff!  I mean, I was SO glad to help the senior couples in the office and the Assitants too, but we never really got to weekly plan again...  :P  But hey, the Assistants were in the middle of a 6-hour drive when they asked us to do that so I'm glad I got to help!  :)

Me and Sister Weaver

Spanish Zone Leaders

Then the next day was Friday.  We had had the Kenosha zone leaders spend the night with us the night before and then we once again piled into the 12-passenger van and this time drove to Oshkosh for the Mission Leadership Council, a really cool kind of a meeting where all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders meet together to council about various things in the mission.  It was cool because we got to set goals, and I liked it because I actually had something to say, and people actually listened to me!  :)  Hoorah!

Funny assistant training

But on the other front - the investigators' front - thigns are going pretty well!  We are progressing greatly with Leti Velasco, although we had to push back her date because she wasn't keeping the word of wisdom.  However, after the lesson we left with all of their coffee - they gave it to us.  :P  We threw it away after taking photos with it.  The Palacios family is great, but they didn't come to church again so we're pretty upset about that - we're not sure what else we can do.

But hey!  That's the update from life out here!  :D

Love you all so much!  HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

--Elder Nate Hubert

Milwaukee Week 2 - ABINADI ZONE

Hey everybody!  So I think this new outline for weekly emails is going to be what I stick to, as long as I have this limited time that I do here in Milwaukee.  So, I'm just going to run through things that stuck out to me this week, and things that were miracles, and similar things.  :)  I hope you enjoy!

Milwaukee Spanish District

On Tuesday after district meeting, Elder Evans and I called a special Zone Council-type meeting.  We have that special opportunity because all of the members of our zone meet at the same church building every Tuesday for DTM, so we just took like 20 minutes of their day and talked to them for a bit.  We talked about ways that we could be better as missionaries, to have an 'Urgency to Baptize' as our Mission President has been pushing for - because success in the work starts with having urgent missionaries.  We compared ourselves to Abinadi - a fantastic BofM missionary who gave everything he had.  He gave his ALL until the very last moment - until his mission was over.  We have a lot of missionaries in our zone who are finishing their missions soon, and they are 'tuning out' early - they stop working as hard as they can.  However, this new zone goal that we have is to become a Zone of Abinadis!  So, at the end of each txt that we send to the zone, it says #abinadizone (yeah, we're into that whole social network thing too...  :P) and it is working!  The zone is PUMPED and it shows because of the great miralces they're seeing and the numbers they're putting out!  So, I'm pretty pumped about that!  

Later that day, I began exchanges with Elder Phillips, a newish missionary (he came out with Elder Norris) and it was cool to be able to talk to him about life, about his mission experiences so far, and about what he wishes he could change.  We had a good exchange, espeicalyl because their area has been struggling to find new people, and we were able to find 6 new people together and show them how to do it, so now they're going to be able to reap those blessings in their own area!

We saw another great miracle on Friday as we went to a bunch of appointments that we had planned, and saw the hand of the Lord as we realized that these people have been prepared for us and our message.  Elder Evans and I taught this amazing Puerto Rican family, and it's super strange because one of their sons is white as can be with RED HAIR!  But he's Puerto Rican so that's cool i guess.  :P

We then started exchanges with the other Spanish companionship, and I went with Elder Lee who has been out for 3 months longer than I hvae.  But hey, it was still a good exchange because together we were able to teach 3 power lessons, and 1 with a bunch of members present and were able to demonstrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this woman in a very personal way, like it was a gift from the Savior to us.  It was awesome, and I think it really helped us gain the trust of the members that had come with us.  :)

I love being a missionary though!  There are so many miracles that we've been able to see every single day!  Now I don't say this to be cocky or anything, but during the last 2 weeks, Elder Evans and I have been able to find 30 new investigators - all part of families that are now receiving great blessings because of the gospel.  :)  I love it SO much!  

This next week is going to be fun - tomorrow we have Zone Conference where we have to give some trainings, and then on Friday we have Mission Leadership Council where we get to go and do some leadership training, so I guess I'll let you know how that is!  :P  until next week!  Love you tons!

--Elder Nate Hubert