Zone Conference

First of all, I don't know if I mentioned this in last week's email, but I tried the World's Hottest Hot Sauce, called 'Da Bomb, last week...  It was probably the worst 10 minutes of my life...  But hey, now I can say it.  And yes, it is credible because Guinnes said that it was...  ;)  That's enough for me. 

We had Zone Conference on Tuesday!  That was actually really sweet though - I loved it!  We got to hear some great words from Hermana Cutler, President Cutler, the Assistants (Elder Loertscher and Elder Thoreson), as well as some members of the Stake Presidency and other people.  We talked a lot about how the Book of Mormon has played a role in our conversion, as well as how we need to work with the members more.  Also, I was able to take part in a musical number with some sisters and Elder Kanahele (one of our Zone Leaders).  We sang "More Holiness Give Me," and I think it sounded okay... We only rehearsed for maybe 5 minutes... :P  I also loved learning in that setting, and getting to know a whole bunch of new missionaries.  Because I'm new, I don't really know many people, but that presented me with the opportunity to get to know more people!  It was really great!

Later that day, we had a dinner appointment that we shared with the English Elders (Thompson and Campbell), and at the end of that, I was able to share my thoughts on what we had learned at Zone Conference as our Spiritual thought.  I shared how the Book of Mormon has strengthened my conversion, for surely it has.  I would not be here right now if it was not for the Book of Mormon.  Put simply and bluntly, that is it.

And on Wednesday, we had a bunch of appointments set up with Gustavo and Juan y Francisco and some more all in the same area, which lined up really well, but when we went to the houses of all of our potential investigators and investigators, nobody was home!  We continued knocking on doors to pass the time, and actually ended up wandering pretty far - farther than I'd ever been in that area - and taught a whole bunch of lessons.  Our usual for a good day is 2 lessons taught.  However, by the end of Wednesday, we had taught 5 lesssons, which was half of our weekly goal all done in one day!  One woman who let us in told us about how she had prayed the night before for somebody to come and talk to her, to help her find a direction in her life, and she told us that she thinks that we were the answer to that prayer.  It is incredible to see the hand of the Spirit in people's lives, and in our lives.

We also got chased by a dog today!  There was this dog walking down a bike trail on its own, so we thought we'd be good scouts and "Do a good turn daily," but this little dog kept on growling as we got closer.  Elder Shipp took a picture when we were close enough, and then made a sudden movement that pretty much made the dog start chasing him.  It ran right past me and chased him for a good 50 yards.  Then later, it chased me, too...  Cross that one off of the list!

Thursday was basically the same story with all of our potentials and our investigators not opening up the door.  One thing that I'm learning very quickly is to not get super hooked on a person until later on in the process.  You will teach several first lessons, but many people aren't ready to hear the message yet.  So, several times, we drop them or they drop us and just don't answer the door...  Such is life!  But, we were able to stop by a recent convert's house, named Christina.  But, when she opened the door, her kitchen was on fire!!!  She answered it, saw that it was us, and said "Un momento" - and continued to pound out a grease fire in her kitchen!  Talk about strange...  But, when I got home I got to pack up some things to get ready to go on an exchange with the Zone Leaders.  I got to go with Elder Carter up to Middleton.

Exchanges were a super great experience, though.  I loved getting to learn from Elder Carter - he is such a powerful missionary.  And luckily, we got a car.  :)  So, I got a car instead of buses for a day!  One of my favorite moments was when we were watching a mormon message with a couple, and I felt prompted to share my testimony about being thankful with him, so I did, and I think it hit him pretty hard.  And then later that night, we had a dinner appointment with a family who has been hit pretty hard by life right now, and I felt prompted to share D&C 121 with them, which is when Joseph Smith is in the Liberty Jail, saying "O God, where art thou?"  But the words of comfort come from God when he says "Peace be unto thy soul, thine adversity shall be but a small moment."  I loved that, and it started a great conversation. 

And then the only other thing that happened was on saturday night, we had a giant culture night that the missionaries planned.  And, out of all of the activities at a church that I've ever seen, this one was the biggest!  The Latinos went crazy, showing us a whole bunch of dances, songs, and other amazing things.

And of course, Sunday was great too.  :D  Except for the part when we had to cancel all of our day's plans because Elder Shipp is sick and we think he has bronchitis.  I hope he gets better!  But that's it from me - I love you guys so much!  :D

--Elder Nathan Hubert

Rain, rain, lots of rain, cold, wind, and the worlds hottest hotsauce... This is Wisconsin! :P

Well, the subject line basically describes this last week.  It snowed on Monday a little bit, which stuck to the ground for a couple days.  But mostly, it has been almost non-stop rain for the past couple days, as well as being endless freezing cold rain.  Every now and then, I am tempted to get down on myself because if anybody knows me, they will know that I hate being cold and everything that has to do with cold, but I just have to tell myself "such is mission life!"  I mean, I can't exactly say "I didn't sign up for this!"  Because I did.  I definitely signed up for whatever hardship comes my way.

Whatever trial I am given, it is mine and I just have to take it and run because it is supposed to help me to grow.  This kind of applies to an experience we had yesterday on the way home. Elder Shipp and I had been met with a pretty typical winter day in Wisconsin.  It is cold, so people are either not home, or home and really grumpy, so we were met with no success because the two families that we had scheduled appointments with had both stood us up, which put us at the middle of the city, super far from our apartment, waiting for a bus in the cold nighttime weather.  

So, we get on a bus that was heading home and we were sitting there in silence because the only other person on the bus was a guy that was pretty much passed out on the window behind us.  All of the sudden, this guy starts laughing to himself, and I'm confused because he still looks like he's asleep and just laughing at himself.  He then says something about Mitt Romney, so we acknowledge his comment, and then he sits up and opens his eyes and looks right at us and asks us "Are you Mormon?"  We confirm that we are, indeed, Mormons.  He then gets this look on his face as if to say 'I thought so."  Then, he gets this kind of quizzical look on his face, turns back to us, and asks us "But you don't really want to be Mormons, do you?"  Surprised by his question, we look at him and tell him that of course we want to be Mormons!  And he continued to look all confused until he finally said a few minutes later, "Okay, I guess I can respect that."  I guess the reason I'm including this is because looking back on that experience, I realize that I am, indeed, proud to be what I am - MORMON.  I think we each need to look into ourselves and find out if we are just going through the motions of this religion, or if we are truly converted and fully committed to everything being a Mormon brings with it.  I love the part in the Standard of Truth that says "Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, and calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent..."  No matter what comes our way, the truth of God will go forth, and we need to be the ones who are the bringers of that word of Truth.  Just a little message to start out the week.  :)

And I don't want to seem pessimistic by the first little bit of the email, but that is what mission life is like - it is very difficult and it is very eye-opening to exactly how rude and cold people can be, but it is also very encouraging when we as missionaries realize that 100 door slams and rejections are worth 1 yes.  So, with that in mind, on Tuesday we started everything out with District meeting.  It was pretty good, and for my first district meeting I think it went pretty well!  We talked about the work, about the good times of the week, and the bad times of the week, and tings that we can work on, and then we went on to address concerns and questions and then practiced a bit.  I really liked it!  Then after that, we went out to the area near our apartment because we had a return appointment at 4.  But before that time came, we had written to go and visit an Elba, a previous investigator who wasn't home.  We then went and visited the Gutierez family, who had no parents in the house.  But when we went to Francisco's house, his brother Juan ansered the door and let us in.  We have spoken to both of the brothers on seperate occasions and were so happy to be able to teach them together!  But first of all, they are from Nicaragua, and their Spanish is super hard to understand, so I had a bit of a hard time, but I still got along fine.  We taught about how the Holy Ghost can help then with anything and can help them receive answers to their questions and prayers, which was a perfect segway into the Restoration.  We talked about Joseph Smith and that entire story there, and on 2 seperate occasions during the lesson, I looked up at Juan and then at Francisco, and their eyes were tearing up.  The Spirit was so strong, and I absolutely loved teaching them.  I also loved all of Francisco's comments because whenever he has something to say, he is always so animated and so into it.  It was a great lesson, and we even invited them to be baptized, and they said that they won't commit to anything yet, but will think and pray about it, which is great!

Later, we went to Luis's house, but nobody was home...  Then, we had a dinner appointment and then we went home.  :)

On Wednesday, we had goals to go out and teach Juan, Lulu, Maria, and do some other things, but Lulu wasn't home when we went over there, so we had no success there.  However, we were able to teach Juan a short lesson, but we had to go and catch a bus before we got into anything huge, which was too bad - he seemed so ready to go!  Maria, unfortunaltely, wasn't home, but we ended up going to a different house around the same neighborhood and setting up an appointment with them.  Then,  we got on a bus and rode to our dinner appointment which was in Eagle Heights - some Student Housing for UW.  After a delicious dinner and message with the Bradshaw's, we went to English class and played some soccer afterwords.  The message at dinner was something that I really liked preparing and loved sharing with the family.  I talked about Ether 12, a chapter that is all about faith, and talked about verse 6 and the "trial of your faith."  I then read some other verses in the same chapter which tell of a whole bunch of things that were accomplished because of faith, and challenged them to look inwards and find all of the things that are accomplished in their lives because of faith.  I even did the same thing!  It was pretty great!

Thursday was a slower day because we were stuck in the apartment for a while doing weekly planning.  But luckily, we were able to set some pretty good goals - I think that we'll be able to do them!  :D  Later, we did some contacting and some tracting activities that didn't really result in anything, but then we had a dinner appointment with the Salinas family as a birthday party for Brother Salinas.  We ate dinner, which was crazy delicious!  These tacos were the most authentic things i've ever eaten, and then we played Spanish Cherades and then some Uno as well.  They have a son, Junior, who wanted to play a song on their electrical piano, so he did that.  But he had also seen me playing one day at the church and told his mom that, so she made me sit down and start playing some stuff.  I played stuff like How Can I Be and some Hymn arrangements, and then when I was playing a song that I don't remember, I started singing a bit too, and by the end of the song when they were ready to play some more games, one of the kids's girlfriends, who is like 16 maybe, was using her iPod to video me!  I felt super uncomfortable all of the sudden and stopped - kind of weird, wouldn't you say..?  :P

Friday, we talked to a less-active lady who just moved here from kentucky, and told her that we'd gotten her a ride to go to Church on Sunday, even though we didn't have one.  We were just hoping that the Lord would provide - which He did by Sunday!  We were able to get her to church!  But also that day, we rode busses for nearly 2 hours to get to one investigator's house to teach him, but when we got there, he said that he had forgotten about us, and was instead waiting for some work associates to have a meeting at his apartment...  Talk about frustrating!  So instead, we just boarded the bus and went right back home... 

Saturday, we had Correlation meeting at the church, which turned up some great things about our investigators.  We then waited at the church to go teach English class for a few hours because we can't just leave there, but nobody even showed up for that so we had wasted a few hours of everyone's time, and of the Lord's time, which made us pretty disappointed, but we just moved on to our appointment with Oscar, and I was super excited about it because I knew that I had some things to say to him, but he wasn't there either...  But luckily, we got to go to a baptism for one of Elder Shipp's old investigators and then we were stood up again that night for another apointment...  Oh well!  "Such is mission life!"

I love you guys, and I want you to know that though I might sound upset and things, I only allow myself a couple minutes after something like that happens to be upset about it.  We all need to move on from things like that, because even if they aren't ready now and the missionaries might move on from them, the Lord will never move on from them.  That is why He is the Lord.  :)  I love you guys!  Keep the faith!

-- 

Elder Nathan Hubert

"The Field is White Already to Harvest" -WISCONSIN!!

Well everybody, I have officially arrived in Wisconsin!  But let me put to words the trip over here...  :)

Last week was awesome!  :)  So, on Tuesday, Elder Stringham and I woke up at 1:00 AM and got ready for the day, putting the final things into our luggage and doing everything we needed to do to be ready to go to the field.  So, we got over to Reception at 1:30, and left the place at 2:00.  It was crazy to pull out of the CCM, knowing that I would never be back as a missionary...  Though I do hope to come back someday.  :D  But we drove over to the airport which took us probably 20 minutes because the roads were empty, as surprising as that was!  Then, we had to separate from Elder Nistler, Johnson, and Hermana Millett - all of whom were going to Arizona.  So, Elder Stringham, Hermana Goodman and I all went forward and waited at our gate for about an hour and a half before we boarded.  But when we got on the plane, I thought that I had left me journal at the gate, because I couldn't find it anywhere!

The flight was about 2 hours long and then we arrived at Dallas/Ft. Worth airport.  We had to go through Immigration, Customs, and Security once again, which probably took nearly an hour, which was cutting it really close because I started boarding an hour after we had landed!  But I did all of that stuff by myself, waited for Elder Stringham for one last photo as a companionship, and then I left to go to my gate.  I got there with a little bit of time to spare, so I ate the first food of the day...  Then, I still wasn't able to find my journal!  So, I prayed and opened my bags one last time before I boarded, and the first thing I saw was my journal!  The church is true everybody, and prayer really does work!  :D

The flight was about another 2 hours to Wisconsin, and as we were flying over the city of Milwaukee, I kept on thinking of the scripture in D&C 4, "The Field is White Already to Harvest..."  I was so excited to get down!  But when we landed, I walked right through everything and got my bags, waiting for somebody to come and find me...  I wandered for 20 minutes downstairs, and then went upstairs for another 20 minutes, when the Assistants came and found me.  :)  Finally!  We loaded my bags up and drove to the mission home, where I met Hermana Cutler and got to eat a delectable Sloppy Joe.  I filled out some papers and we were then briefed on safety things for cars and cell phones, how to use our church debit card, and then I got an interview with the President before going to a church for a testimony meeting.

That night, I just stayed at the Mission Home with some other missioanries that came in from Provo.  Then the next morning, after a quick time of getting ready, we went to the church to get our new companions.  Sooner or later, I was assigned to Elder Shipp - a missionary from Lehi, UT.

So, after all of that, we loaded my bags up and drove to Madison, WI, which was to be my first area!  We got there about 3 hours later because we got lost, and met our Zone Leaders - super cool guys.  But they gave us a ride to our apartment (we don't have a car - we get around by bus) and I put my stuff away, grabbed my bag, and we went to teach an English class at our church building.  After that, we played soccer for an hour, and then after that we went to a dinner appointment for a recently baptized family.  It was so strange to just be thrust into the midst of everything!  :D

The next day, I got situated a lot in the morning, and then after studying and doing things like that - getting into the mission schedule - we went out to go tracting.  When we decided on a place to go tracting, he had me decide on where to go, but when I asked him where he was thinking on going, it was the exact same place that I thought I should go!  Talk about crazy!  So, we went over there, but everybody that we went to see was not at home.  But, we did talk to a nice homeless Latino guy who we gave a Libro de Mormon and prayed with, and then a man we met in a park who gave us his address and told us to come back on Saturday.  But we walked a lot and talked to some people, but those were the only return appointments we had.  (Sorry for being brief - I'm short on time).

The next day, we went to a different area and did the same thing, and basically the same thing happened, but we talked to several less active members and tried to get them to come back and got several return appointments.  We also got taken out to lunch and got an amazing tour of the UofW Football Stadium, which was AMAZING!  That night, we went to a BYU Football Fireside which I thought was cool too.  :)  Then, on Saturday, we talked to Oscar, a man who was baptized but never confirmed that we're trying to explain baptism to.  We also went back to the first family that we met in a park, but they forgot about it.

Sunday, there was a marathon so the bus didn't go by our church building, so we ended up walking 3 miles or more to our church building, though thick city and dense forest - Madison is a weird city...  :P  I also got to meet tons of members so I hope it continues this way!  :D

-- Elder Hubert

Last P-Day in the CCM

Well, things here at the CCM are wrapping to a close!  It is insane to think that I have been here for almost 6 weeks already, and that I'll be leaving from here on Tuesday, but alas, the time has come!  :D  I cannot express how happy I am to be leaving!  The entire time that I've been here, it has seemed like I had just barely gotten here, but at the same time has felt like I have been here for a year!!!  But here we go, everything that I've taken 6 weeks to get used to is about to change, but I am extatic about all of the great things that are going to happen!  Also, this entire time, it has been very bittersweet.  I have gotten close to several missionaries while I've been out here, and have gotten to see them go into the field and have seen their excitement, and now all of the sudden I am that person!  I cannot believe that it has come to this.  I am going to miss so many things and so many people that I am leaving, and I have made such good friends with so many other people that I hope will last forever, but then again I am so excited to move on to something bigger and better, and to have the investigators actually be real!  :D

But I am still at the CCM for a few more days, and about this last week, it has been a really good one!  But also, it has been very bittersweet...  First of all, lessons with our investigators are going super well!  We still have our two investigators - Luis and Adolfo - and things are going great!  Adolfo has been a bit more hesitant about everything we've been teaching him though.  He knows its true, but he is scared of change.  He doesn't enjoy having to do something if it involves him having to change his lifestyle at all, and that has been one major obstacle especially considering that everything in our church involves changing in some way, and continuing to change in every other way.  But still, he wants to be happy in his life, and he has received a lot of happiness and blessings in his life ever since he started taking our lessons, so I'm thankful for that.  But Elder Stringham and I felt very driven this week to talk to him about baptism and what was holding him back.  We had already committed him to be baptized, but he was hesitant to set a date...  But during one lesson in particular, we discussed all of his issues with it, such as what his family and friends might think and things like that, and after reassuring him, sharing some scriptures, and committing him to pray to receive his own inspiration, he committed to be baptized on November 23!  :D

Luis though, he has been taking everything that we have been telling him and just flying with it!  He told us that he wanted to learn more about the teachings of Christ and everything like that, and that lesson led us straight into baptism and following Christ's example.  So, when we asked him to be baptized, he said that he would!  And when we suggested a date, he said yes!!!  :D  So both of our investigators - really our teachers acting out a role - are to be baptized on November 23.  :)

But we had an exciting accomplishment this week!  On Friday, the 25th, it was our month mark of being out on our missions!!!  :D  Yeah, we ran around and broke all of these rules...  Not really though...  We didn't really do anything, but it was super weird to think that we've been out more than a month!!!  :D  Talk about CRAZY!

Nothing really happened on Saturday except for studying and things like that.  I really wish that I could tell you all about what I study about, but I don't have tons of time on the computer and half of the time I forget my study journal!  But on sunday morning we had an extra hour of sleep because Daylight Savings time ended down here.  It was kind of funny because as usual, I just woke up at the same time I always do, but it was an hour earlier because our clocks changed...  But our native elders thought that it went forward an hour, and then they decided to wake up an hour early, so instead of waking up at 5, which is early anyway, they woke up at 4!  I felt so bad for them!!!

Later on Sunday, Elder Stringham and I got to teach the leadership meeting for all of our Zone leaders, and we got to teach about how it is great to be a leader, better to be a servant-leader, and that you're not doing your job right if you're not delegating.  The Lord never asked any one of his servants to do every single thing, and we shouldn't try to be Super missionaries, so delegation is amazing.  We mentioned the scripture about serving your fellow beings and serving God, and then said that we need to be the ones to allow other people the opportunity to serve God.  It was sweet!  But even sweeter was when Sacrament Meeting rolled around, we had some visitors in our small branch!  It turned out to be Elder Allen and another Elder guy who were from the Missionary board, and Elder Allen is the guy in charge of the entire missionary force in the world!  It was so neat to have them there!  :D  I don't know why they decided to come to our meeting, but they did.  It was also super cool because one of the guys who spoke, Elder Nichols, spoke on how his dad was less active and hoped that someday he would come back to the church.  At the end when Elder Allen said a few words, he told the Elder that he needed to get his dad's contact information so that he could give him a call and tell his dad what he just saw his son do...  The Spirit was so strong, I absolutely loved it!  And then later that night, he spoke at a devotional that we had and he is just like Elder Holland - I am not going to be surprised when this guy gets called to be an Apostle!  And then after that, we got to watch the Joseph Smith movie, which of course is amazing...  :)

On Monday, the only super special thing that happened was that I got a letter from Dad in the mail that he sent a while ago, but don't worry, I got it!  I also got the other one that you guys sent to me - I got that one today...  :)

Tuesday, we had a devotional, and that was pretty good!  We watched an old devotional by Elder Holland, and man he is such a powerful speaker I love it so much!  :D  Later that night, we had a devotional review and then a Zone Testimony Meeting for those of us who were leaving, which was amazing...  I never used to cry, but ever since I got out here, I have been crying a lot!  So of course, I bore my testimony and started crying, but I felt the Spirit so much!

Not tons happened on Wednesday - sorry, but some days are clearly more exciting than others...  But today has been great so far!  I got a haircut and we went to the Temple at 7 this morning, which was great!  I am surely going to miss going to the Mexico City temple, as well as doing the sessions in Spanish, but life goes on.  I hope to make it back here someday - I absolutely love it down here!  But I wonder how life would be outside of our protective bubble...  Who knows!!!

On Wednesday, I also got to go and help some people off of the bus on their first day, and to help them find their casas and everything.  And who was there?  Elder Dallin Jeske (I didn't get a photo with him yet), Hermana Lindsey Turner, and Hermana Melissa Killpack!  It's just an OREM party down here!  :D

Hermana Turner

Hermana Killpack

Well, I need to write some more emails, just know that I love you guys SO much!  I appreciate all of your support and prayers in my behalf - they are being put to good use!  And now, my P-day is going to switch to Mondays because I'm going to be going out into the field this next week, so you probably won't here from me until then, but there is a slight chance I can get on the computer for a little bit on Monday as well as the chance that I can call home on Tuesday when I'm at the airport - we'll see what time allows...  I love you all!

-- 

Elder Nathan Hubert

Another Week in Paradise

Hey everybody!  First of all, I cannot believe that I am already at another P-day here at the CCM!!!  It is just so crazy!  That means that I only have 1 more P-day left while I'm here in Mexico, and then I will go out to serve in the field - I cannot wait to get to Wisconsin!  But honestly, the time really has flown by a lot.

But first things first, Elder Stringham and I have been doing super super great as a companionship.  We see eye to eye on everything, and have the same wants and desires to come out of our companionship.  And, it is a rule down here to get up as early as 6:30 and then to be to class at 7, but without trying, Elder Stringham have been getting up at 6 every day to work out for a bit, and then getting to class at least 5 minutes early.  We are trying to raise the bar as district leaders, and are also trying to get more study time in than is scheduled, because study time is incredible.  But yeah, we've been able to do that all week!  We have also been going on runs every night with Elder Holderness and his companion Elder Lund right before we get ready for bed and go to sleep.  It really is so refreshing to do that, especially with people you know and love.  :)

As far as my studies are concerned, I've been doing a whole bunch of in-depth study of Predicad mi Evangelio this week, especially covering sections 1, 4, and 10 that I've gotten all of the way through, looking at every scripture and marking all of the things that stood out to me.  The other thing that I've been trying to do with my studies this week is that I am trying to go through all of the scriptures in my Spanish scriptures that I have already marked up, and trying to categorize them so that in the little notebook I have, I can have a list of the most effective scriptures to use in each kind of a situation, whether they need a scripture regarding praying to know the truth, the influence of the Spirit in their lives, or anything like that, I am trying to sum it all up, and it has been going so well!  The only problem is that there are SO MANY good scriptures that I cannot decide on which ones to use for each section!  So, I've just been going with all of them and depending on the Spirit to guide me to decide on the ones that I need to use for a particular lesson, and that has been going pretty well.

But on Saturday, all of us were shocked in class when our teacher, Hermano Cruz, sat us down as a class and told us very bluntly "Todos sus lecciones son malos..." ALL OF YOUR LESSONS ARE BAD...   We were so shocked because we all thought that they had been going well, but we were mistaken.  But I'm glad that he did it the way he did it, because he told us that we weren't doing our very best, and then helped us try to reach our potential in that way.  He keeps on reminding us that we are teaching people, not lessons.  He showed us an example of how to teach, and was just so energetic in his lesson, I just want to try so hard to be just like that.  So, that's what I've been working on!  I've been trying so hard to just care for our investigators, caring about what they have to say, really being genuinely concerned, and then being there to help guide them, to bring them to Christ, to help them along the way, and to love them with a Christlike love.

Some of the Guys from my Zone

Later on Saturday, we were able to have a service project!!!  :D  We, as a zone, went over to one of the classroom buildings and were instructed to use some kind of water/other stuff solution to clean the white walls.  It was actually really fun, and though I'm not sure we accomplished very much or affected very many things, it is the spirit of service that we were able to experience, as well as the spirit of unity as we soaked each other with our spray bottles...  ;)  It was great!

We had TALL later that day, and when we went in, I was sitting in front of some guys that I had played soccer with before.  When I heard him laughing at something, I looked at his computer screen and he was checking his email and watching YouTube videos.  Now, I am not one who has the power to discourage breaking the rules, but all I can do is take that example and do the exact opposite.  We are blessed if we obey with exactness, and whether that be a rule like no checking emails when its not P-day, or a rule like no walking by the trees, we need to follow it, and we will be blessed.  Now the rules may not be huge, and the blessings we get may not be huge, but they are still blessings!  :)

Sunday was a super good day, with a Leadership meeting led by some Hermanas in another district, Priesthood being led by Elder Butler and Elder Stutz, and Sacrament being led by Presidente Alvorado.  Later, during the class with the Presidency of the MTC, we were able to learn the difference of the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Power of the Holy Ghost, such as everybody is able to feel the power, but it isn't until confirmation that we are able to experience the gift...  We also had a devotional given by Elder Holland, and then were able to watch the movie Legacy!!  :D  It is a great movie, but I wasn't super emotional this time...  ;)  Then I had to say goodbye to Elders Payne and Shepherd, some guys that I got to know pretty well down here.  They are so cool, I hope they have a great time on their missions!

Our investigator lessons are going super well!  Both of them have committed to be baptized and know that it is something they want to do, but Adolfo hasn't chosen a date yet, and Luis is hesitant to try because he doesn't think he can be ready in enough time, but we are encouraging him because we are here to help him!  :D  We've been teaching them all about the doctrine of Christ, and the Plan of Salvation, and how all of that applies to them because God loves THEM. 

But we've also been playing tons of Frisbee lately, and I guess I have just been playing too hard because I have a bruise on my abs and I have a scratched up knee, but it isn't bad.  The worse part is that I throw way too much with my right arm, and have been having Tennis elbow problems the entire week, but it's getting better because I'm not using it as much...  But hey, at least I am doing epic things!  I have had some pretty great throws, catches, runs, plays, and blocks!  :)  And even a few dives in there!

 

Another thing that I've learned this week that is important to know is how to ask the right questions.  So as a companionship, we are trying to avoid all yes and no questions, and instead asking all questions that will make them think and give a more profound answer, and it is working really well!  Especially with Luis, but I expect Adolfo to open up a bit more.

But that has been my week.  And also, I forgot to mention, we were tormenting some new missionaries by walking up to them to help them with their luggage, but then only speaking Spanish to them.  After looking at their super confused faces for a while and acting like we didn't know what the problem was, we spoke English to them and encouraged them by telling them that by the end of 2 weeks, they'll be able to understand that.  :D 

I love you all so much!  The church is true!  (And thanks mom and dad for the donuts!!!)

Elder Nathan Hubert

Week 3 at the CCM

Well well well...  I cannot believe that another week has already gone by!!!  :D  When I first got here, everything just dragged on and on, but now things are beginning to pick up finally!  I've been here 3 1/2 weeks, and will be leaving in no time, but it doesn't seem like it has been that long...  But hey, I gotta love it while I am here, and I do!  Every single day presents a new adventure!

First of all, to start things out with, on Thrusday on my P-day, our Branch President was reorganizing our Zone Presidency because the old Zone Leaders had left the CCM to go into the field.  So, he chose our District Leader and his companion, (Elders Nistler and Johnson) to be the new Zone Leaders!  But then without a district leader, he called Elder Stringham and I into a room and called us to be co-district leaders, which we were both excited and nervous about, because I know that I wasn't expecting a calling in the CCM at all, so when it was extended to us I was taken off guard but was gracious for the opportunity to serve. Oh, and on Thursday, I finally got your letter!  Thanks family for the letter, it really is amazing to hear form you!

 On Friday, the day after my last P-day, we had a party!  We had gone through all of our classes that day, which aren't super interesting so I don't really write about them, but that night we had a fiesta!  It was in honor of our Latinamerican roommates and the Native roommates of all of the guys in our district.  We all went over to Elder Nistler's and Elder Johnson's room and piled up all of the treats that we all had purchased at the Tienda earlier in the day for that reason, and then we talked and ate and partied and everything!  It was really fun, but by the end of it, it was kind of bittersweet because we didn't want to see anybody leave because we had grown so close to them.  I was especially sad to see Elder Ruiz and Elder Hernandez leave, because they were the ones that were in our dorm.  I've included a picture of them that we took it the night before they left.

Saturday was a pretty fun day.  We got to do some Progressing Investigator - which is when we go and teach our teachers who are acting as investigators.  Our first teacher who is Hermano Cruz is a really great guy, and he is only 21 and gets to teach!  He is super enthusiastic and really easy to learn from.  His investigator's name is Adolfo and he is kind of hard to teach, but Elder Stringham and I do it pretty well.

Our other investigator's name was Karla, but after 2 lessons she went to go teach another class, so our other teacher, Hermano Valdez, became Luis, our next investigator.  We've only had one lesson with him, but we placed a Book of Mormon, challenged him to read 2 Nefi 31, and challenged him to pray cada dia.  He said that he would, so we'll follow through on Saturday and see how things went!

Oh, and by the way, I got a picture with Elder Adam Holderness on my last P-day, as well as with another elder that I went to school with who is leaving this week, Elder Chris Pratt. And also on Saturday, that night Elders Butler and Stutz came running into the classroom from outside, grabbed their cameras, and ran out, so obviously, all of us run out following them.  Where did they take us?  To look at the gigantic moth that they found outside of the bathroom! 

Sunday was a really good day too.  I was able to participate in blessing the sacrament during Sacrament Meeting, and let me tell you, it is a very different experience doing it in Spanish, but it was really awesome.  Then, we got to perform a musical number during it, with Hermana Goodman as the melody of "Brillon Rayos de Clemencia" which is the Spanish version of "Brightly Beams our Fathers Mercy,"and the other parts were sung by myself as Tenor 2, Elder Stringham as Baritone, and Elder Nistler as Bass.  I think it sounded pretty good, I'm glad I had that opportunity.  Later in the day, we had a class given by Presidente Pratt, and a MTC Devotional that was broadcast to us from Provo, given by Elder Christofferson and his wife.  Later in the day, for the movie night, we got to watch How Great a Possession, a movie all about how great a thing the Book of Mormon is.  My favorite thing about that movie is the part about the Italian minister, Vinchenzo, who finds the Book of Mormon, reads it and gains a testimony of it, without even knowing what the title of the book is or the church who published it!  He had such faith, even though he was challenged with many things, such as not getting to be baptized for many years and being kicked out of his old church for his belief in the book.  It truly is inspiring and led me to believe, do I take the Book of Mormon for granted that much?  I have had it all of my life, but do I have a testimony as strong as those people do?  I think we can all work on that.

But there was something else that happened on Sunday that was really cool:  during dinner, the elders in my district, along with all of our Latino missionary friends that were leaving in the next couple days, all gathered in the middle of the Comedor and started singing "Para Siempre Dios Este con Vos,"or "God be With You til we meet again,"and then all of the other latinos in the entire CCM joined in with us!  By the end of it, most of the main part of the Comedor was full of people just singing this song at the top of their lungs, and the Spirit was so strong, I was happy to have been a part of it.  But I also wished that I would have gotten a picture of it, but I didn't bring my camera with me...  Oh well...  

Monday kind of flew by, nothing really happened...  But on Tuesday, man it was hard!  Elder Ruiz and Hernandez left at around 4 in the morning, and it was really hard saying goodbye to them.  I'm going to miss them tons!  But we got new elders the next day, Elders Bernitez and Hernandez, and they are pretty cool guys.  But on Tuesday evening we had a broadcast devotional given by Elder Oaks, and it was really great!  I took almost 2 pages of notes!  But perhaps my favorite part was the choir number...  They announced that the Choir was to sing, and then all of the sudden Brother Ryan Eggett, my friends' Rachel and Bekah Eggett's dad gets up and starts conducting it!  I had forgotten that he was the MTC Choir Director!  But beyond that, I even saw my good friends Elders Christopher Brousseau and Rene Villagra singing in the Bass section!  I was sitting by Elder Holderness at this point, and both of us were freaking out because we knew people on TV...  But hey, it was super cool!  I miss them all so much!

Wednesday was another normal day, though I was able to play some real Street Soccer on an outside court they have here on campus.  It was really neat, and we did pretty well!  There was one elder, however, who was being WAY too aggressive, but it ended up being fine.  

And then today, we got to go to the temple in the morning again!  We did the whole thing in Spanish, and it was super cool!  Then we were able to go to a store on the Temple grounds and I bought some Mexican scripture cases for my Libro de Mormon and Biblia seperately.  They look pretty cool!

But basically, that has been my week.  I love you all so much!  And if you email me and don't get a response for a while, please don't be offended - I'm doing my best with the time that I have!  :D  The church is true, never forget it!

-- 

Elder Nathan Hubert

Week 2 Adventures

Well, this week seems like it's gone by super quickly, even though that during the day, it seems to drag on and on...  :P  But hey, I'm surviving and learning lots every day, which is a good thing.  Never once have I regretted coming on a mission, even though I get challenged every single day!  But I'll give you an update of the last week...

Okay, so last Thursday after I was done doing emails, we went and played some sports until we were done with our P-day time.  But more fun than the frisbee was when we got to go and play Soccer with the 6-year old sons of one of the workers.  His name is Antonio and he completely made my day!  He was so good at handling the ball and being goalie and everything, but I guess that's what you get for being from Mexico!  :D  But every time we would score on him, which was quite often because he is a short little guy, he would just go and grab the ball while yelling "Nada, nada!!!" He would never let us score on him, and the excuses he gave us was that we were either too close, or he wasn't ready yet.  

Us and Antonio

But some good news you guys, I am getting better!  To say things bluntly, the first two weeks, the food here has gone right through me.  It isn't because of the water, and it isn't a stress sickness or anything because I'm basically stress free, but it is the food and how my body isn't used to eating and digesting it!  So, basically, it would just go right through me, but now I'm doing a lot better, and I am actually able to hold a whole bunch of it down, though the belts and pants are still loose on me...  ;)  But that's okay, if I eat a lot maybe I'll be the same size again...

Friday we didn't do anything out of the ordinary, so I'll just go right up to Saturday.  I just have three words to say about that though:  OH MY GOSH!  Talk about a spiritual outpouring!  General Conference was absolutely, most utterly incredible!  And there were so many talks about Missionary Work and Missionaries and everything like that, it is crazy to just think about it and realize that he is talking about ME!  It is just crazy to be among all of the people that I have looked up to for my entire life, and to have so many people praying for me daily, as well as getting all of the prayers from the Temples every day, and everything else, if ever I get myself down, I just think about that and I get a spiritual recharge that gives me the motivation and energy to move on.  But General Conference was so amazing, it was crazy to watch it in Mexico!  But for all of you who are wondering, I watched it in English, though they did offer it in Spanish for the native missionaries.  We were going to watch a session in Spanish but then the people in our district didn't want to move, so we just stayed in our seats.  But I do have to say that I have three favorite talks, even though they were all just amazing.  I loved the talk given by Elder Oaks about morality, and the very powerful one given by Elder Holland, and though I forget his name, the talk given by the 70 who was black and had an accent - his was amazing as well, and I really loved it.  But there were so many more that I loved, and I would love to tell you why I loved them, but I have limited time on the computer...  :P  But talk about a powerhouse man, it was awesome.  

Sunday nights we always have a video night, to watch Church movies and such.  The first Sunday we watched the Only a Stonecutter and then the Finding Faith in Christ videos, and then the Sunday of conference, we watched the Testaments, which was super good.  Whenever I watch that video, I always cry at the end when Helam gets healed by Christ, but this time, I caught myself crying all through it!!!  :D  It was crazy, but I just felt the Spirit so strong, it was incredible.

Monday and Tuesday were just normal days again, nothing really special happened, though those were the days that I started keeping more food down again - talk about a relief!!!  But other than that they were normal.  But let me tell you about our investigators!  They are actually just our teachers acting out, so Hermano Cruz is acting out the part of Adolfo, who is a 19-year-old University Student and who wants to have a relationship with God.  We taught him about the importance of Prayer to get that relationship, and how God wants to have that relationship with us, too, we just have to be willing to give it to him.  Our other investigator is our evening teacher Hermana Sanchez, who is playing out Karla, a married woman with 3 kids whose sister is a member of the Church, and who wants to know why her sister is so happy and why she changed religion.  It is difficult to teach her because she is so comfortable where she is and isn't super willing to change, but we'll work on it.

  
                                                                                               

BUT I have to tell you about the district!  The best district at the CCM, District 10A, is made up of Elder Stringham and myself, Elder Stutz (from West Jordan) and Elder Butler (from Lindon), and then Elder Johnson (from Logan) and Elder Nistler (Our District Leader, from Oregon), and then Hermana Millett (from Green Bay WISCONSIN!!!) and Hermana Stephens (from Oregon, but a BYU Student), and Hermana Goodman (from Mississippi) and Hermana Turner (from Nevada).  If you have any questions about any of them or want a bigger description, I'll have to try and work on that for next week because time tends to be short... 

One of the coolest things this week was that I ran into a whole bunch of people that I know! I ran into Elder Eric Conover, who I was best friends with in Elementary school! I also ran into Elder Xander Butler, who came in last Wednesday and who I ran into at Conference!  Talk about awesome...  I still need to get a picture with Elder Adam Holderness though!  :D

                                                                Elder Eric Conover

                                           
                                                               Elder Xander Butler

                                                

Finally, the rain down here in Mexico is supposed to be crazy, right?  But while I've been down here, it has only sprinkled a little bit...  Until last night!  While we were finishing up our evening class, it started pouring so hard!  It was super insane, and it was flooding all of the sidewalks and I loved it so much!  But basically that is my day!  Feel free to email me with any questions you have and I will try to get back to you as soon as time will let me.  :D  Love you all!  And above and beyond that, God loves you more than anyone else.  :)  Until next week!

--              Elder Nathan Hubert

Week 1 Update

First things first, when I got down here, they so graciously let us know that they hadn't updated the MTC address online, so the address that I found and the address that is in the program at church and everything is actually incorrect, so if anything has been sent, I hope that the Mexican postal service realizes that they need to forward it here...  But I do have the new address in case you wanted to send anything!  :)  That is as follows:

Carr. Tenayuca-Chalmita No. 828,

Col. Zona Escolar, Deleg. G. A. Madero,

C. P. 07230, Mexico, D.F.; Mexico.

Sorry I wasn't able to let you know until now!  But also, my MTC P-days are on Thursdays.  They have to spread out the MTC P-days because there are so many missionaries and the computer lab would be clogged up all day, but while I'm here, expect emails and everything on Thursdays! 

But where do I start?  Okay, so, I got here on Wednesday the 25th, but so much has happened since then!  It was that night that I found out who my MTC Companion would be, and it turned out to be none other than my 2nd Cousin, Elder Taylor Stringham!  Talk about a small world, but things are just going so well!  We get along super well and work together super well, and this whole MTC thing is just incredible!

The first couple days at the CCM were full of meetings and orientations and a whole bunch of stuff like that, and it did get a bit boring, but it is all part of the process.  But on Friday, we were first assigned to meet with our districts and everything.  And let me be completely honest when I tell you this, my district is the greatest district in the CCM!  We have gotten so close, almost like a family.  And we already have tons of inside jokes!  For example, one time one of the Elders said one of their names, but when I heard him say it, I thought he said Iguana Millett instead of Hermana Millett, so now the Hermanas in our district are called Iguanas, and they love it so much!  They tell us every day how they are going to miss being called Iguanas when they get out into the mission field... 

But pretty much every day starts out at 7 with personal study in the classroom, and then later in the day we have companion study, language study, Libro de Mormon Study, TALL (more language study), Gym Time for an hour, and then lesson study time where we get to decide on what to teach our investigator, a woman named Irene (pronounced like Ee-reh-neh - with a Spanish accent). 

But as I said earlier, Elder Stringham and I work together really well.  We just are very  in tune with the Spirit and with each other, and were able to teach her about el Libro de Mormon the first lesson, then we taught her about Christ's example, then taugher her about Baptism, then answered all of her questions and everything.  We thought that we were doing super well with her, but both of us had our suspicions from the first day.  We thought that there was no way that they would let us newbies teach a real investigator, and then the other day our suspicions were confirmed!  We were walking on campus and saw Irene walking towards us, and when she passed us, she looked all uncomfortable as she covered up her 'maestra' nametag, so she really is a teacher!  And then later during that same day, when we went to the CCM Offices for a little bit, she came in there and I got to talk to her while Elder Stringham was busy, and I learned her real name and got to talk to her about being an investigator and everything - it was kind of funny...  :P 

And there is a district in our Branch who thinks that they can beat my district at everything, including Frisbee...  So they challenged us to a Frisbee game, and then we played!  As missionaries, there is a rule that you can't keep score during a game so as to limit the competitious spirit of the game, but even though the game ended up as 0-0, we'll say that we were the greater of the two 0's.  I had some pretty sweet interceptions and awesome plays, and my district works so well together at stuff like that!  :D 

But unfortunately, of all of the amazing things that I have experienced while being down here, I had to get sick as well...  It started on Tursday night, and for some reason I kept on waking up and not feeling very good, and then on Wednesday, Elder Stringham and some other guys in our district started feeling the same way.  I know it's only been a few days since that, but I think that I can dismiss the fear of gaining wait in the CCM, because I've actually been losing it!  But I haven't been trying to, it's just that after a week of being here, some of the food they have been serving has been getting me sick and I have been losing some weight, along with Elder Stringham.  Both of us can see it, and the belt that I have from CTR Clothing?  If I tighten it like I used to, it goes past all of the little hole things, so I have to wear it a bit looser than I would prefer...  Actually a lot looser...  :P  But please don't worry about me, I'm doing great, it's all just part of the experience!  :D

And then today was so fun, we got to go to the temple!  it was so great being able to do it in Spanish.  

Let me tell you that it is so strange writing this email in English after I've been writing and speaking Spanish every day.  I didn't notice it the first time I did it, but recently I've been writing in my journal in either Spanglish or complete Spanish.  It is so strange!  I guess that just being immersed by the language is really taking it's toll on me!  :D  Anyway, I love you guys!  Feel free to email me, tell me how you're doing, ask me questions, anything like that.  :)  The church is true!

-- 

Elder Nathan Hubert

Bienvenidos a Mexico!

Hey guys, I made it down safely!!!  The day went something like this:  I said goodbye at the security station at the Salt Lake City airport, then I met up with the rest of the elders and sisters flying out from Utah.  I became acquainted with some of them, and was able to sit by a nice sister named Sister Lowmax on the way to Dallas Ft. Worth, then next to Sister Page on the way to Mexico City.  But things don`t seem real until now.

We got to Mexico and had filled out all of the appropriate forms to get through Immigration and Customs.  Of all of the missionaries on the airplane, I was the one that knew the most Spanish and ended up translating what the native people were saying to the others, as well has having to translate the signs and the things on the papers that we had to fill out.  But we all got through it successfully and found the representative from the MTC (CCM in Spanish) and were led outside in a single file line until we boarded a bus that would take us to the MTC.

The bus ride was about an hour long, and I sat next to Elder Haws, one of the elders that we saw at the airport.  In the group of elders, Elder Haws and I were the only ones that were under 6 feet tall.  It was kind of ridiculous, but it also made us unique so I guess I`ll take it.  ;)  But we sat next to each other on the bus, and both of us were just ecstatic that we were on our missions!  But it was a major culture shock - I can now see why dad told me that it would be.  The traffic was crazy to begin with, with no rules and everybody just swerving around each other.  It was crazy!  There were a bunch of motorcyclists that would drive in the 2-foot space that was in between the cars in the lanes, and I thought for sure they were going to die!  I also saw a bunch of street vendors, and they literally were that:  in the middle of a traffic jam, they would run into the middle of the street, selling their products, mostly fruit it looked like, to the people who were driving and had their windows rolled down.  It was insanity!  But beyond that, Mexico City is a huge, dirty place as well.  On the flight in, I was looking out of the window at the city, and I couldn`t even see an end to it in either direction.  It really is huge.  But when we got into the city itself, there are just tons of really poor houses along the road, and tons of things that are falling apart.  Graffiti is everywhere, and I`m sure that it is a big part of the gang violence and gang territory out here, but it literally is on every single wall I saw.  There were also a bunch of favelas, like the ones you see in the beginning of the Hulk movie in Brazil.  I felt so bad for so many of the people, because while we were driving in the bus, I didn`t see a single person smiling.  They all have it so rough, and we all have it so great, we really need to see our blessings and thank God every day for the things that we have.

But then we made it to the MTC!  When we pulled up, we knew exactly where we were because it was so clean compared to everything else.  It is so well kept, very large (nearly 100 acres), and very beautiful.  The campus is so great!  And they have a little miniature version of it inside the initiation building.  But we were talking to the missionary couple inside who was going to help get us initiated, and then they asked us where we were from and where we were serving, and it turns out that both of them are OHS Tigers!!!  It is obviously the best school to go to.  Clearly...  ;)  But then we got our missionary packets, which contains our missionary tags and a whole bunch of scheduling stuff.  But the best part about all of that is that when I was looking at the front of the packet, it said the name of my MTC companion!!!  And his name?  You are never going to guess it:  Elder Taylor Scott Stringham!  Talk about a coincidence right?  Hey dad, you need to tell me how I`m related to him again - I forgot.

Anyway, I love you all so much!  Don`t worry, I made it here safe, and I am loving every moment that I am living.  I will upload the photos that I took today on my P-day so that you can all see everything that I saw! I love you guys - don`t worry about me, I am on a mission serving the Lord and am loving the opportunity that I have to serve.

Elder Nathan Hubert