December 30th, 2013

** Insert from me.... we loved Skyping with Sister Huber on Christmas.  These are the family photos that we took during this!**

Well it looks like starting tomorrow I'm not gonna just have one companion but 2! We are being put in a trio! I am actually really excited about it. There are tons of trios already in the mission and I have always kinda wanted to be in one. There are just so many missionaries and no where to put them! Sister Andersen and I are both staying and they are just bringing a new one up here. President also knew that I needed help with the work up here. He called me earlier this week when I was on exchanges and was debating on whether Sister A should stay on a mission or not. It is really hard on her. She has bad anxiety and shuts down when she has to talk to someone. She like medically needs help I guess. I feel really bad for her though because I know its hard and she gets frustrated with herself because she wants to help and to be outgoing and talk to people but she just cant. She says in her mind she knows what she wants to say to people but when she goes to say it she just freezes and cant get anything out. Its way sad. But its been hard too because I have had to almost carry double the load for this companionship and I just really need more help. Its been pretty draining in just about every way. So I think this change will be really good for us all! Alma 26:12 was an answer to my prayers last night. One of our elders is getting transferred and I am really sad about it. We actually did not get along with each other at all at first haha. I called him the annoying older brother I never had. And he tried his hardest to live up to that name! But the 4 of us really worked well together and he was someone who I could joke around with and we definitely kept things lively around here! He actually is exactly like scott. I'm sure that explains things hahaha. Our saying was if you aren't having fun, you're doing it wrong. And we did it right alllll the time with that one. So I'm hoping the new one that comes in can have a little fun every once in a while or I might go crazy! But hey 3 girls working together will have enough excitement in itself. Poor Brother Prince. He went from living with 3 girls in his house now to 6 hahaha. Never a dull moment around here. We are spending the rest of the day moving furniture around and stuff so that we can fit a third bed in our room! Its gonna be crazy but it will be way fun! I'm excited about this week! 15 potentials to get after this week so things are definitely happening in the woodlands :) teach teach teach is all we do! best time in the world to be a missionary!

December 23rd, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

 

I seriously can't believe its here. My one and only mission christmas has come way too fast! We had a big mission conference for christmas and it was the most amazing experience of my life. They actually had to split the mission in half and do 2 because there's too many of us now to have us all in one place! President was saying how with half of us there, it was still way more than his entire mission when he first got here. There was only like 150 missionaries at the beginning of this year, and now there is 280. 130 of those being sisters :) Like how cool is that?! They showed a video of all of the pictures of this years baptisms throughout the mission and I'm pretty sure I have never been in a room where the spirit was so strong in my entire life. President stood up and was talking to us after that and said that while he was sitting there he was getting all this revelation from the Lord and said he wasn't planning on saying any of this but that he was inspired to tell us all this stuff. So he starts saying how he knows that the Lord is very pleased with what we have done in this past year and that He is proud of all of our efforts, but that it isn't enough. He said we have to step it up this next year and have a mindset of baptizing someone EVERY WEEK. I think everyone's jaws just like dropped to the floor when he said that haha. A while back president wanted us to change our mindsets to baptizing a family each month and no one has gotten there yet and he knows that, so he said that he knows none of us are in a place to even be thinking we can baptize someone every week but that we have to get there. The Lord means business when He says He is hastening His work! We have the numbers in missionaries so He is providing a way! If thats what He wants then He will make it possible :) Basically its time we all step up our game 100 notches and GET. TO. WORK. :)  

So this girl named --- and her mom yesterday walk into church wanting to meet with our bishop to get an ecclesiastical endorsement for her application to BYU. Neither of them are members. --- is a senior in HS and she told us that for the past couple years she has felt like she needs to go to BYU for some reason and she doesn't know why. So she met with the bishop and then asked me tons of questions about it and this girl is seriously golden. Even bishop was like this girl is going to be a member one of these days. It was the craziest thing ever! I feel like HF was like, you're struggling kinda bad so here's an easy one hahaha. for reals though. It was just a testimony to me that there are people here that are prepared even though it seems like there is absolutely none. And if we do our part He will do His and lead us to those who are ready to hear the gospel.

Basically I am dying to be able to talk to the best family in the entire world in just 2 days!!!!! I am a baby and tear up every time I think about it so I have been trying to just not even think about it haha. I CANT WAIT!!!! I LOVE YOU!!! have the best christmas EVER!!!! :)

 

xoxo sister huber

typical day in the life of sara. hahahahahaha. one man show over here.

December weather.

Mission Conference

my bff hartlock :)

December 16th, 2013

hey hey!

oh my goodness. I LOVE THIS WARD. seriously its like amazing. The bishop LOVES us. sounds prideful but really haha. He told the members that we aren't allowed to leave their homes without them giving us a referral which isnt an issue cause the members here are constantly giving both us and the elders referrals. Its amazing haha. They just get it here. Its a ward where both the members and the missionaries all work together and get things done. They are so supportive and have such a love for the work and they all are so good at reaching out to their friends. No one here is scared of sharing the gospel. Which seriously blows my mind! I am amazed at how solid the members are here.

We are working with like 6 part member families right now. Some are progressing more than others. One of them the mom is a less active in the ward and after meeting with her once she expressed her desire to come back to church and asked us if we would teach her kids and grandkids living with her the discussions. it was so crazy. another one the husband is a very active member and his wife isnt a member. all of their kids are older and they all served missions. He works at the temple a couple times a week too. So this lady has just been swarmed with the church since they have been married for years and years and hasnt ever joined! the crazy thing is that her kids all went on missions and some actually are serving in bishoprics in their wards. She obviously doesnt have anything against the church! So the husband came up to us at church yesterday and told us his little game plan to get her baptized haha. He was like its time sisters its time!

Here's what I have learned about this area though. There isn't really a lack of investigators. We are actually teaching like crazy. The thing is though, people here are obviously content with their lifestyle cause they all have the $$ and nothing seems to be going wrong in their lives. Cause they all are living great and are super happy people! They all are super nice and welcoming to us too. But we have to push for everyyy inch we can get with them. I feel like my last area the struggle was finding them. But once we found them and started teaching them it was a breeze. Here its the total opposite. Finding them and teaching them is the easy part. Cause the ward is super involved in that. Its getting them to actually progess thats the struggle. Buuut ya know you gotta have all types I guess! I was reading in the BOM this morning and came across a scripture that is super random and I could swear I've never read it even though I'm sure I have like 20 times. But for some reason it stood out to me. Its words of mormon 1:7. I've been learning to have a lot of patience lately. And I've really been having to humble myself before the Lord and do things according to His will and not my own. Its been one of those things where I'm sure He is just like 'seriously sara let me take control and just listen to me cause I know what I'm doing!' I'm not the one doing the work here. He is, He is simply just working through me to do what He wants, not what I want. So I'm working on my stubbornness. :) I guess I also have to work on my speaking skills cause for some reason everyone thinks its a good Idea to have me speak at things and I dont know why haha. We are having this big christmas mission conference on friday and president called me and asked if I would give a talk in front of the entire mission. so wish me luck on this one cause its gonna be interesting! We have an exciting week ahead of us though! Its warming up thank goodness and I think we have a week of 70's coming up :) at christmas time :) nothing can go wrong! counting my blessings here haha. god bless texas <3

I love you so so much and hope you have the best week ever!

xoxo

sister huber

Oh just an 80 year old turtle. Did I mention I hate animals?

Working in bishop's taxidermy shop. Another reason I hate animals. The elders didnt think I would actually touch those things so I had to prove them wrong and I scraped that sheeps brain outta him. Nastiest thing of my life but I think I moved up a notch in the bishop's book so I'd day it was worth it!

Service!

Using Time Productively Training Conference

December 9th, 2013

hey!

things here are so so great! Christmas time is the best time to be a misssionary!! And it was temple week which is always a good week :) I also took up romanian so I may just come home speaking 3 new languages. jk hahaha. I was on the phone with our district leader last night cause he was getting numbers from us and I said something that was very grammatically incorrect I guess and he was laughing so hard and now I get made fun of allll the time from them cause apparently I cant speak good english. <--- I dont think thats correct either. So trying to take up all these other languages is bad news I think. But you have to have some change up sometimes! just keeping things exciting around here! anywayysss. something really cool that we are doing here! we are doing these voice recorded journal type things. Its called legacy stories and we go around to people and they talk about their ancestors, and their own lives and we record them and they get to keep them and put them on family search! isnt that cool?? Its a fun way to do family history and people are responding really well to it. We also have been making little christmas packages and are giving them to all of the less active and part member families in the ward and its been huge in getting us into their homes. There are so many part member families in this ward we are working with. We had 3 investigators at church yesterday!! This one girl whose name is ---. shes 15 and is best friends with a boy in the ward. he just left on his mission and he was huge in getting her interested in the church. his whole family is actually huge in missionary work and has been apart of a billion conversions its so insane haha. its basically their life. she has a date set for january 11! She is so excited and cant stop talking about her baptism. She asks us questions all the time about our missions too and she is saying how she wants to go on a mission and go to byu and all this stuff its crazyyy. so golden that girl haha. We are also starting to teach a 10 year old girl named ---. her mom is a single lady in the ward who was baptized only 3 years ago I think. And not too long after her baptism she went less active. So we are working with her and hopefully will get the little one baptized! sweetest girls in the world though. The lord is hastening his work!!

I have to say i was a little upset at first about having to share an area with elders. It was an adjustment for all of us and has taken some time getting used to. We had to take a step back into kindergarten and re learn how to share haha. But I cant even tell you how big of a blessing it is and how much we all love it now! It is such a blessing. It is so true that when we all work together miracles happen! We have seen how the elders click with some people that we dont, and we click with others that they dont. There is just so much going on around here that the lord is working through us all to do and it is so amazing to be apart of. 

I feel like this transfer I have learned more life lessons than anything. Its weird. I think I have definitely learned the most about myself, and have been put in situations to help me to grow more than anything. In the past I have felt like I have been helping others more and helping them to improve themselves, but for some reason the lord gave me a wake up call and put me in a place where I could improve myself first. I had a lot of personal growth that needed to happen and I know that He is helping me to better myself right now. Which in return will help me to be able to help others even more. Sister Andersen and I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday and as I was preparing my talk I learned something that I know the lord was screaming at me to learn. We are here on this earth to go through the process of conversion towards eternal life. We dont recieve eternal life by simply doing what is right. We recieve it by doing it for the right reason, which is the pure love of christ. Chartiy, or the pure love of christ, isnt an act. It is a state of being. It is something that one becomes. I really had to stop and evaluate myself and what I have become. I knew what charity was. I also knew the acts behind charity. But I had to ask myself if it was something that I had become. Is the pure love of christ truly a part of who I am? So then my next question was, how do I know if I have been fully converted or if I have become what it is that I want to become? We learn in 1 cor 2:16that those who have recieved the spirit of god have the mind of christ. If we hear His voice instead of the voice of the world and do things in His ways instead of the ways of the world, then we know we have been converted. I still find myself thinking and acting in the ways of the world. But I know we all have the potential to be as our heavenly father and savior jesus christ and see things as they do and act as they would. And the only way it is possible is through them. We have to rely on them for help. I have really had to pray specifically to see certain things how my heavenly father sees them. And it takes effort. Its not easy sometimes! But with dedication and a real desire it is possible.

We watched the christmas devo at a members house yesterday and it was amazzing! I hope you got to watch it! We were at president chappells house who is president pingree's first counselor. He is in our ward here and he and his wife are the most amazing people you will ever meet. I have been way too blessed with such amazing people to work with here. Too many saints down here in houston! :)

I hope have a great week this week!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

xoxo sister huber

December 2nd, 2013

Everything is great here in the woodlands! I really don't think I could have asked for a better ward. Its amazing how much they are into missionary work. And they aren't shy about it one bit. Families here will give like handfuls of referrals to us for us to teach. Its so crazy! Its kinda simple actually which I'm not used to, but all we have been doing is going and teaching members in the ward and then they tell us about all of their friends and neighbors that they want us to go and teach. Like I feel like it shouldn't be that easy! And especially with 2 sets of missionaries here there is a crazy amount of teaching going on. Its also fun cause there are so many fun things we can do here at Christmas time. It makes me sad that I only have one Christmas here. But we are putting little baskets together with the members with Christmas videos and pamphlets and treats and BOMs and things like that to deliver around to their neighbors and friends and I think that its going to be huge!

Back to the windrose ward though real quick. sister walker told me that --- went to church yesterday for the first time! we taught her for 6 months and she did everything except go to church! so she went and is getting baptized at the beginning of next month! I was reaalllly excited about that :)

We are teaching a lady here named --- who is a referral from a member. She had missionary lessons in the past but didn't have such a great experience I guess. She has a daughter who is mentally and physically disabled and her biggest question I guess is why did this happen to her and her daughter. The last missionaries told her that its because they are being punished for something? So yeah I can see why she stopped meeting with them! She is very open and the member said that she is only listening cause we are sisters and not elders this time haha. Im really excited though cause this afternoon we are going to some workout thing with this family in the ward and their neighbors run the classes and have tons of questions about our church so we are going to their super intense workout class and going to meet them because they want to meet missionaries. so that'll be interesting haha. tons of potentials here which means lots of work to do!

As hard as its been the past couple weeks, I have to say I am grateful for it. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to learn and grow and improve myself through all of this, and also for more opportunities to serve others. I am grateful for the fun and easy times, but even more so the challenging ones. The Lord is just telling me that I need to be stretched a little farther cause I'm obviously not quite where I need to be right now. And I'm okay with that! I will get there one of these days :) I am so grateful for all of the love that has been sent here to me! I don't think I could do this without my amazing support back at home :) it means more than you know! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! :) xoxoxo

sister huber

Sister Huber and her Starbucks Caramel Apple Cider!!