Another Miraculous Week in Milwaukee

Hello everybody!  This week has been a super good one!  I'm just afraid that I'm going to have to start talking about every single day again so I can include the full effect of all of the huge miracles that we have experienced this week, so here we go:

Tuesday evening (last P-day), we had some lessons scheduled.  The first one was very distracting because there was a family gathering going on at the Frias-Rodriguez house, but the mother of the family still wanted us to teach her, so we talked all about the Restoration and why it was necessary, and she understood!  It was awesome to be able to re-kindle the flame of the gospel that they had felt 7 years ago - hopefully everything will work out.  We have a lesson tonight so stay tuned next week!  But I'd say that even the bigger miracle than that was when we met with the Angeles family.  We found them sitting outside waiting for the police to show up because some guy's car was having troubles in the middle of the street right in front of their house and they couldn't help with it, so we waited outside with them (I got to play soccer with their little kids - such a win), and finally got to go inside.  What this lesson ended up turning into was this following example from Preach My Gospel:

The example is this picture of an iceberg, which represents the people's concerns.  Some of them are above the surface and are obvious, but the biggest ones are below the surface and they don't tell those ones to you unless they trust you.  We have been working with them SO much to get married and to improve their lives, and finally on Tuesday we got Blanca's entire iceberg.  I'm not going to tell you because it is touchy information, but we now have a plan on how to get past it, and they both want to get married, and so we're progressing with them!  We're moving onward with them, and Elder Evans and I were both just SO happy and SO overwhelmed by the many blessings that the Lord poured out upon us that night during that lesson - it was purely guided by the Spirit.

Wednesday's miracle was that during Zone Conference, our training had to be shortened to fit time for something else, so we were SO happy about that!  :P  THat really happened, but that's not the miracle.  The awesome part of Wednesday was when President and Sister Cutler gave us some kick butt trainings on the Sabbath Day and the Sacrament, using video clips of things that the Apostles said just prior to this past General Conference, when they give trainings to the Seventy and such.  SO awesome!  My viewpoint has entirely changed, and now I feel like I understand how to better follow Christ and give the Sabbath to Him.  I was even able to make goals on how it was going to affect me back home and how I would keep it holier.  :)

Friday's miracle was that we got to have an AWESOME lesson with the Relief Society President and her daughter in their home.  We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (of course it is something they already know), going over it and sharing insights about it, each of us learning as we went along.  At the end of the lesson, we asked a crucial question.  It was: "Who in the branch are you worried about, or who in the branch do you feel could use a message like this?"  She gave us some names of some people she was concerned about, and the best part is that 2 of them were her less-active son and daughter who lived with their own families and who needed a reminder of the gospel, so we're going to be visiting them with her later on this week!  I feel like that last part is key - WITH her.  She is their mother, she is their friend, and SHE wants the missionaries in the lives of her kids, so she is doing something about it.  I love the initiative that is being taken.  :)

Friday night we started exchanges with the Assistants, and I got to be in the AP area with Elder Stephens, which is always a party.  In the early afternoon, we got to have an amazing lesson with a guy name Jesse, and a member named Danny came out to the lesson with us.  Jesse is dating a member and is curious about what she believes in and why she is the way she is, so during the lesson (which was a spiritual experience for me), we were able to set a baptismal date with Jesse, which was awesome because I guess it's the first baptismal date that area has seen in like 3 months.  #miracle!  

But this is the main experience I wanted to tell you about:  I GOT TO GO TO DOWNTOWN MILWAUKEE, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE CITY THEATER, AND I GOT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SHARING OF BOOKS OF MORMON RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BOOK OF MORMON MUSICAL.  It was SO cool.  People were SO curious!  It was a miracle, for sure!  It was right after the Matinee performance and it was incredible to see people either look at us and laugh because they couldn't believe that we were the real missionaries, or they would be super curious, but I had 8 copies of the BofM on me and gave away all of them in like 5 minutes.  Crazy!  It is such a miracle that so many copies of the book of mormon have been given to people over the last week.  Just during the showing of the play, the missionaries in the effort handed out almost 2000 copies of the book of Mormon, in almost 2 weeks!  Crazy!

And then after that, to re-exchange, we got to go to this super awesome Spy restaurant...  The main door is in like this alleyway and you have to know the password to get in to the door, and then you go in and you eat!  :)  But it's spy themed, which is cool.

But yeah!  I'm running out of time, but that was my awesome week!  :D  I hope all works out well for each of you this week!  :D

Birthday Party, Exchanges, Memorial Day

This week we've had a whole bunch of just awesome miracles!  :D  The first one started on the evening of last P-day with a huge miracle of finding a new family.  

Awesome Mural!

It was Monday evening and we were tracting in an area that neither of us had been to before, and we knocked on this corner house and nobody answered.  So, we crossed the street to continue onward, and turned around to look at the house again, and saw that there was a side-door to the house we had just knocked on!  We both felt an impression that we needed to knock on that door, and so we went.  As we were climbing the stairs to that other door, a woman holding a baby opened the window and simply asked us, "Do you want to come in?"  Of course we do!!!  So, we went in and started talking to this woman and her 2 daughters that were home (age 19 and 22) and then her husband got home like a minute later with his friend.  We talked to them a bunch, and it turns out that they had been meeting with the missionaries 7 years ago when they had lived in another house!!!  The family is Dominican and they are 7th Day Adventist, and so we asked them if they knew our friend Yolanda who is also Dominican and Adventist, and then Justin, the dad, said "Yeah, that's my sister."  ?!?!?!?!  What in the world?  That is SO awesome!  They are related to another investigator family!  :D  And while we were teaching them about the Restoration, Yolanda walked right in and saw us and had a little freak out moment...  :P  It was awesome!  This family is all new investigators!

Tuesday we had a HUGE miracle too!!!  It was a miracle because, while we were on exchanges with the Elders serving in the Muskego Lakes ward, we got to go to a lesson with the Angeles family.  I was with Elder Thatcher and all we were going to be doing for the lesson was talking to them more about getting married.  However, when I first brought it up, Victor looked at me and was all like "Elder, I've already decided what I want to do.  I'm going to marry her!"  Dang - I just about freaked out right there and then.  We've been working SO hard with them and finally he decided to marry her!  But the funny part is that after he said that, his comment took Blanca so off-guard that she got a little nervous and she couldn't believe it and everyhting - it was awesome!  :D

Then, on Wednesday (SOOO MANY MIRACLES THIS WEEK) we got to give the Oak Creek Elders a ride down to a city called Cudahy, which is like 20 minutes south of Milwaukee.  So, we took them down there and dropped them off at a lesson.  While we were down there, we remembered that we had seen a name on the branch list that lived in Cudahy, so we looked it up and went to knock on the door.  Turns out her name is Darleen and she is cousins with the super prominent Ruiz family that makes up bascially the back-bone of the Branch!!  So, we talked to her briefly and then set up a return appointment.  :)  After that, we went and visited with Darleen's aunt (who we already had an appointment with) whose name is Michelle.  We talked to her and her 2 daughters, all of whom have been less active for a few years, and shared a brief Spiritual thought with them, and let me tell you the Spirit was SO strong!  So strong that by the end of it, all 3 of them told us that they wanted to come back to church because they could feel the difference in their lives with the Spirit and then without it.  

with Elder Fry

On Friday, I had a really good time on exchanges with none other than Elder Cameron Fry from Orem, Utah.  Any of you know him?  If you went to Timpanogos High School, based on all of the stories he told me, you probably knew him.  Basically, he's a stud.  He's hard working.  He's a good missionary!  We had a great time and got to teach an awesome family - Vanessa Garcia and her family, and got to have a good time playing with them after the lesson on Tithing.  It involved a lot of running and jumping and stuff like that, but it was really fun.  :)  We also taught like 6 other lessons throughout the rest of the day, so I'd say that it was a success!  #swimmingfry

With the Garcia's

Saturday was fun because we had a birthday party that we got to go to, we got to help the Velasco's learn a bit about Family History, we got to do a project for the mission president involving planning a meeting for the Spanish missionaries, and of course in the morning we played soccer where I had a LEGIT header goal from a corner kick!  (Pretty proud of that one)

At the birthday party

Sunday's miracle was that a former investigator came to church and told us that he 100% wants to get baptized, so we set a baptismal date with him as a goal and hopefully it will work out!  His name is Jesus and he seems pretty cool!  And then that night we got to go to a legit cookout with a whole bunch of Mexicans!  :D

Sunday AND Monday we had awesome cookouts too, but this time it was with the Ruiz family instead of the Velasco's friends.  What an awesome week!  :D  Shout out to Annette Ruiz!  :D

At the lake

Selfie!

Love all of you!  Adios!

--Elder Nate Hubert

"And that's how He saved the world..."

First things first, by way of explanation of the Subject line, please refer yourselves to the photo I've attached to the email...  It's pretty funny!  Jesus talking to the Avengers.

But yeah, here are my week's highlights:

Monday night of last week was interesting because we kept on running into a whole bunch of Catholic people!  Not that that is a negative thing, but it's just that they all had the attitude of "I'm Mexican, I'm catholic, and I'm going to die that way."  it doesn't make it very easy to teach much more of the gospel if they begin being so closed-minded.  However, I had a cool experience when we went to the back of a house to knock on an apartment back there, and nobody was home...  But right as we were about to leave, a mother and her son got home and walked from their car to the door.  The son, a 19-year-old, recognized us immediately as Mormon missionaries, and when I asked him if he'd ever talked to missionaries before, he said NO, but that he was watching a video about us yesterday on YouTube.  He said that it was a video about a missionary in England and that he appreciated what we were doing.  I got to talk to him over the course of the next 5 minutes or so about various things, and about his religion (Catholic) and how he was progressing in that.  I thought that was cool, but really hope that he saw it as a sign that right after he watches a video about mormons, the mormons show up.  While being a missionary, I've lost all sense of coincidence - I don't believe in coincidence any more... :P

Church in Milwaukee

On Thursday we were able to have a bunch of awesome lessons!  First of all, we met with the Santiago family and committed them - even though they're members already - to live the Word of Wisdom.  It is so awesome because in the last week, both the father and mother, who struggle with coffee and smoking respectively, decided on their own that they were going to STOP and had gotten rid of their stuff!  And then we came over just to fortify that decision, and we didn't even know that they had been thinking about it!  :P  #revelation  #thisisthelordswork

Right as soon as we stepped outside of their house, we met a woman on the street who studied with the Mormons a couple years back, and who wanted to start the lessons again, so we got her information and are going to start teaching her, too!  :)

Cool Nativity 

And then later on in the day, we met with an 18-year-old kid named Nestor, who Elder Evans had found on exchanges.  the only reason Nestor came to the door that day was because his parents wanted him to tell us to go away, but he didn't want to.  Instead, we sat on the porch and taught him the Restoration and committed him to read more in the Book of Mormon (he had already been reading a little bit).  And the best part is that we KNOW he was reading, because he had legitimate questions for us about things that had been confusing for him!  :)  #miracles

Street in Milwaukee

BUT it gets better.  Later on in the evening, one of our lessons fell through.  So, we were going to go tracting, but happened to drive past an investigator's home - who we hadn't talked to in like 2 months - and their lights were on so we knocked on their door!  They answered and we got to know them a lot more, and we joked around, but we were also able to teach them and help them feel the Spirit.  That was a perfect close to a great day.  :)

And finally, a fun experience was on Saturday another lesson fell through and we didn't know what to do!  We were in the area of another investigator so we stopped by, and they were having a party!  They invited us in to eat something real quick, so we stopped in, and when we walked in there (the entire family is catholic) I saw a woman just gasp when we entered their back yard.  I thought she was all like "Oh my gosh, they invited the mormons.!!"  But instead, it turns out that the lady was a friend of theirs who is a MEMBER and who was SO surprised to see the missionaries show up that she was taken completely off guard!  :P  It was SO funny!!!  :D

But yeah, I had a great week everybody!  :D  I hope you did too!  

Corner in Old Milwaukee where my Grandpa Hubert was born and lived in 1930

Just in closing, I know that this work is the most important thing on the planet.  This morning I was reading in Acts 4 (I think) where Gamaliel, one of the Pharisees, is giving a word of caution to the other Chief Priests.  he said that if this work be of men, it will come to naught...  But if it is the work of God, there is NO stopping it!  And I definitely know that it is the work of the Lord because though people may attempt to stop the work, it will not halt until the Lord says it is done.  :)  

Thanks for all that you do for the missionaries!  until next week!

--Elder Nate Hubert

The next big Mariachi Band - El Amor de Mexico

Hello everybody!  I hope that you all have had just an incredible week, because mine has been pretty good.  The entire week we were preparing for a Branch Activity that was spearheaded by the missionaries (mostly Elder Evans and I) so we were caught doing TONS of member work and calling TONS of people all week, not necessarily being able to focus tons on finding new people or anything like that, but our gears have now switched and that'll be our focus of the coming week.

But yeah!  Some highlights of the week include:

Monday night was awesome.  We got to have a lesson with Victor and Blanca Angeles and they are just the best!  We're really trying hard to get them married though.  Blanca is all over it - she wants to get married.  Victor is a little hesitant, but we were talking to him and gave him a whole bunch of examples of why it would be good.  One of the excuses was that "What if something happens and we have a disagreement?"  I feel like disagreements are just part of being alive - part of being human.  But I was SO glad that I was able to use the example of my parents and grandparents, each of those 3 couples have been married for a long time!  :D  And they all have several children!  AND even though they are awesome people and I love EACH of them, they're not perfect (almost though), and I'm sure that they've had their fair share of disagreements.  But the awesome thing that we pointed out is that no matter the disagreement, it can always be resolved, especially if you have the gospel of Jesus Christ in your life.  :D  So, thanks so much to my parents and grandparents.  you're the best! 

Tuesday was actually a pretty cool day too, but mostly because we got to take out the 2 new Spanish Missionaries straight from the MTC.  One of them is from California, and the other said he was from Honduras!  The kid from Honduras was speaking straight Spanish to us for like 2 hours, but it turns out it was just a joke that he was pulling on us because the AP's told him to, and he's actually from Texas but his parents are from Honduras, so of course he has perfect Spanish.  But, that story gets better...

Because on Wednesday was transfers!  And guess who one of the trainers of the new Spanish missionaries was!  My son, Elder Norris!  So, Elder Reina - the kid from Texas - is my new Grandson!!!  :D  he'll be getting trained up in Green  Bay by Elder Kyler Norris!  HOORAH!  That made me really happy.  But Wednesday was pretty strange because one of my buddies - Elder Rytting - went home to Pleasent Grove Utah.  He finished his mission!  Super strange...

The next best part of the week though was on Saturday, the 9th of May, 2015.  The reason that day was important is because it was the day that we had the first annual Milwaukee Spanish Branch Talent Show!!!  Okay, so I'm not sure it's gonna be an annual thing, but it was the first branch activity they've had in like a year!  And it was awesome!  We called a whole bunch of people and got a whole bunch of numbers, and then got more people to bring food, and it was super sweet.  :)  The best part in my opinion was when Elder Evans and I got all dressed up in the cowboy getup the Bro. Rivera gave to us - GAVE to us!  And we got on the stage with fake mustaches, and sang a mariachi song that we WROTE!  It was a HUGE hit especially because we were called "El Amor de Mexico" and we threw roses out to the crowd!  :D

And Sunday of course was a great day because we got to Skype our families - a definite highlight of my day.  :)

I love you all SO much!  Thanks for your emails and our prayers!

--Elder Nate Hubert

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