May 26th, 2014

WHAT A WEEK!! holy cow. it was SO GREAT :)

I have fallen in love with this area. I really don't know if I could ever go back to a family ward!! Nothing is better than working with & teaching your best friends about the gospel. Thats exactly what it is here! 

So on Monday Sister Loo and I showed up the elders at the golfing range which was SO fun. We are making it a weekly thing now haha. She golfed at SUU so she is pretty much a pro. She is teaching me her ways ;)  I hope you are proud dad! :) 

We taught ... and ... the Plan of Salvation this week and split it up into a couple different lessons. A group of the ward members met up at another members house and all helped us teach them the last part of it and then everyone in the room went around and took turns bearing their testimonies of the plan, and even ... and ... bore their testimonies and it was SO powerful. Their testimonies are absolutely incredible. When we started talking about their baptism their faces seriously lit up the room. I don't pick favorites or anything, but I am probably more excited for their baptism than any other so far on my mish. They are beyond ready and they seriously cant wait! Cutest thing ever haha. 

.... ..., ..., ..., haha. Oh boy. We taught him both the restoration and plan of salvation this week. Most intense lessons of my whole mission! We taught him the entire restoration lesson, and at the end his questions were about the spirit world and baptisms for the dead... So the next night we went over with 2 of our RM friends to teach him the Plan. Holy Moly. If it werent for those members we brought with us, Sister Loo and I would have died haha. He had the craziest questions I have ever heard. And for every little thing that we said, he needed us to show him a scripture proving it to him in both the BOM and the bible. At the end we had to explain to him that it all comes down to his faith and him praying about the BOM and Joseph Smith. He is really sincere about it and he accepted baptism when he finds out for himself that it is true! Deep down we know that he knows its true. He is just having a hard time accepting it. He is worried about losing his past beliefs by accepting this gospel, and is having a hard time realizing that we are only adding more to what he already knows! 

We taught Viet more about Joseph Smith this week and made sure that he understood the importance of him in the restoration and about the book of mormon. He is heading to Virginia for the week, but said that once he gets back he plans to quit his job so that he can start coming to church!! The boys in the ward have been great with wrapping their arms around him and bringing him in. He was a little uncomfortable at first because he is super shy, but this week he came out of his shell a little bit more and has become really close with the ward!

... said that she has prayed and really feels that the 14th is when she needs to be baptized. We were actually able to do a church tour with her mom this week and she seems really open to the gospel as well! She said she is so excited for her daughter to be baptized, which in most cases it usually isn't that perfect! :) 

We had Zone Conference this week, and president gave a really good discussion on pleasing man vs pleasing God. Here are just a few insights from it :)

Ezra Taft Benson explained: “The proud stand more in fear of men’s judgment than of God’s judgment.  ‘What will men think of me?’ weighs heavier than ‘What will God think of me?’ . . . The proud love ‘the praise of men more than the praise of God’ (John 12:42-43). . .” 

 "First, when we seek to please God, we gain lasting peace and strength; when we seek to please men we ultimately lose the respect of others and experience personal regret.  Second, when we choose to please God, we are sometimes required to confront a negative, although short-term pressure from others.  Finally, as illustrated by Peter, we can refine, strengthen, and improve our determination to please God over time.  There is great hope for all of us!"

As missionaries, we face situations every day where we have to choose between pleasing God or Pleasing the world.Going against what the natural man would do can be really hard sometimes, but never does it bring lasting happiness! As we do the things that our heavenly father would have us do, and strive to make Him proud every single day, that is when true, eternal happiness comes!

We got a new investigator named ... this week. We met up with him at the temple and read from the BOM with him. As soon as he met the missionaries, he instantly stopped smoking and hasnt ever picked it back up! Talk about a miracle right there! He is on the quiet side so we are trying to get him to open up a little bit more, but he definitely has a lot of potential! He has been coming to church and has been progressing pretty well so there might just be another baptism in the near future! 

So Friday rolls around, and David is supposed to be getting baptized the next day. We still had the entire 4th lesson to teach him, and he still needed to have his baptism interview. He had work all day on Friday, so we had to go to teach him at 8 that morning before he left for work. So we were a little bit stressed to say the least! We had been trying all week to meet with him but he has been working like crazy so it never could happen! So we crunched in the lesson and he got his interview, and we were super relieved that it all worked out and that he was still ready to go for the next day. So then comes Saturday, the craziest day of my life. Sister Loo and I were running around getting things ready for both the baptism, and the church open house that we had that night, and everything had to be ready by 3:00 because his baptism was at 4. So we get to the church and had to clean out all the roaches from the font, and barely had enough time for it to fill in time for the baptism. We then get a call from James, saying that David isnt home. We were calling his cell phone, and his house phone and his moms phone and he was completely MIA. James was throwing objects at the windows and no one was answering haha. So then we started to panic a little bit. Its funny too cause on our way there Sister Loo goes, "There hasnt really been much opposition before this baptism which is weird!". There is ALWAYS opposition. So we are there waiting at the church and James is sitting in front of Davids house, and people start showing up for the baptism. 4:00 comes and David is still no where to be found. At 4:30 bishop decided to cancel the baptism. He stands up and bears his testimony and said that he still wanted to make a meeting out of it so he opened it up to a testimony meeting. We texted James and told him and he was furious. Sister Loo and I were just way sad and didnt have any idea of what to do. We had been praying for an hour straight and we just felt at peace and we didnt know why. So she goes up to bear her testimony, and James starts calling us. Its now like almost 5:00. So I go out to the hall to answer the phone, and he said that David had just pulled in the driveway and ran into his house to change and then they would be on their way over. The baptism was still on!!!! They showed up towards the end of the testimony meeting and david got baptized!!! 

It turns out he had gone to work that morning and had some trouble getting back so he was WAY late. And his phone wasn't working. haha. hows that for some opposition?! It is literally a MIRACLE that everything still worked out! 

We were late for the Open House, but thankfully had some other amazing missionaries holding the fort down until we could get there. The ward brought their friends & family and missionaries in the zone brought investigators and everyone was at the church having ice cream, and we were doing church tours, and at the end everyone was playing volleyball. It was a huge success and so much fun! I'm surprised I still had any energy by the end of the day! :)

Yesterday I was given the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting. Bishop just told me to speak on whatever I felt prompted to so after some thought and prayer, I chose the topic of Conversion! It actually turned out a lot better than I expected it to. I used Elder Christofferson's talk called "When Thou Art Converted" and Elder Bednar's "Converted Unto The Lord". Those are both amazing talks that you should read! I gained a lot from it personally, and if anything, I learned that conversion is not a one time thing. It is a process that we all must be going through over and over, step by step. Its much more than just a testimony of the truth.  "Testimony alone is not and will not be enough to protect us in the latter-day storm of darkness and evil in which we are living. Testimony is important and necessary but not sufficient to provide the spiritual strength and protection we need. Some members of the Church with testimonies have wavered and fallen away. Their spiritual knowledge and commitment did not measure up to the challenges they faced."

Even when we are converted to this gospel, adversity is still going to come!! But its those experiences that bring us closer to our Father in Heaven, and create an even deeper conversion in us :) If you dont already have a testimony of this gospel, get one! Do those things to strengthen your faith and create that foundation for your life. Once you have that testimony, let it grow within you and let it turn into action! A testimony is having a perfect knowledge of something, but conversion to that testimony is when you ACT upon it and BECOME something from it :)

Church yesterday was great! We had lots of investigators there, and members just keep bringing their non member friends! New investigators are just coming from all different directions! YSA's are seriously the best at missionary work. I committed myself to be just as on fire as they are when I get home from my mission haha. They are so awesome :) 

I love this gospel with all of my heart. When I started living it to its fullest, when I finally let it become a part of who I am, and as I acted upon my testimony of it, I received such a happiness that I can't even explain to you! THIS CHURCH IS TRUE!! 

I love you all so much and hope you have another amazing week!!

xoxo

sister huber 

Sister Missionary Postcards

P day Donut run :)

Pupusas. A central american food that roberto made for us. The greatest thing I have EVER eaten! 

Roberto's hundred pound turtle.

MTC girls at Zone Conference

My best friend and I

At dinner on Thurday night, we were told that it was a tradition that every missionary that comes over has to slide down the stair rail backwards and get their picture taken.. dont really know how that got started but we were told that there was no choice! hahaha.

Davids baptism! (post baptism pic-he is the one in the red)

Rochelle- The sweetest girl I have ever met. I grew to love her instantly

Ice Cream for the Open House

Viet

May 19th, 2014

HEY!!!

another week has flown by and SO much has happened!! 

last monday we got a text from --- with a youtube link and our hearts just dropped cause we kinda knew what was coming... so we sent it to James, our ward mission leader and had him see what the video was because she was not a happy girl! She sent this huge text just saying how awful our church is and how upset she is at us that we would deceive her and that she cant believe the things that our church does and just a whole bunch of sad stuff and basically said that she didnt want to talk to us ever again and that we aren't welcome to teach her anymore! James called us after he watched the link and said the videos were called "Mormons are the Illuminati" and "Joseph Smith's Temple of Doom".... yaaa... hahaha. Thats all we needed to hear right there! Her dad who was super upset at her because she was getting ready to be baptized, showed her a bunch of anti mormon stuff and it got to her as well. WORST FEELING EVER. All we could compare it to is a break up. We just sat there wanting to cry because it actually felt worse than being dumped haha. Satan is good at what he does! A while back president actually gave a whole zone conference on anti mormon literature and how we can better help those we are teaching to avoid it. Its awful how much is out there!! So we are still super sad about her. We really prayed and asked for guidance on how to handle the situation and we felt like we just needed to call her and leave a message with our testimonies so thats what we did and hopefully it will touch her heart and one day she will be open to hearing from missionaries again! 

We did a church tour with ---, and taught him the plan of salvation this week. Of course the day that we go to give a church tour, there are people there cleaning the carpets!! So it was way crazy and super loud and we were kinda bummed cause it wasnt the best environment for the spirit but we just tried our best and did it anyways! It was a really good lesson and he really felt the spirit. He has a weekend job so he hasn't been able to come to church yet, but he told us that he is planning on quitting it and finding one where he doesn't have to work on Sunday! He is just one of those super prepared investigators! 

We met with --- multiple times this week because he said he has been going through some 'spiritual battles' he calls it. James has been a huge help in fellowshipping --- and sometimes he just needs a good bro talk to get things figured out haha. So after working through a few little things, he seemed a ton better and he is acutally getting baptized this Saturday!! He has been praying about it and said that he feels really good about this decision. We were able to get in most of the lessons and are finishing up this week so that he will be ready! The ward has been awesome with making him feel welcome and a part of the group. We are super excited!! 

We received 2 new AMAZING investigators this week from the Copperfield elders. Their names are --- and ---. They are cousins, and just moved to the states from Liberia about 2 months ago. They said that they used to see elders all the time back in africa but that they never talked to them! They both came to a ward party that was this weekend and immediately became a part of the ward. One of the members who brought them to church yesterday told us that in the car on the way there they were both saying that they want to be baptized!! They have been taught the restoration, and set a baptism date for June 28th. We have been feeling like they will be ready wayyyy before then, so we are teaching them the plan of salvation tonight and will hopefully commit them to a sooner date! They were definitely a miracle that The Lord just handed to us!  

--- is doing SO great! We had given her a gospel principles book last week at church, and when we went to go teach her this week she had already read 17 chapters in it. Like holy cow!!!! We were teaching her about prophets and shared a conference talk with her from President Monson and she said that just a few days before she had been on lds.org and already read that talk. I thinks thats what she does in her free time! She is past being ready to be baptized haha. She said she is praying to see if she should be baptized on the 31st instead of next month :) 

Our dear --- is leaving for 3 weeks to go to Cali for an Anime convention..

She said that she would bring her Book of Mormon with her and read if we texted her some assignments while she is gone! She still says she wants to be baptized, but its a little harder to read her than most people haha. She needs this gospel so badly in her life, and I think deep down she knows it!

I've been up north of Houston my whole mission until now, and down here actually being IN houston is like being in a different world sometimes. Not only do people just speak spanish, but people speak in black terms. Like i'm convinced its a whole other language. Its been a struggle. I can't understand anyone!! We were talking to this black guy that we came across the other day, and he was actually super interested in hearing about our church and the Book of Mormon so we started teaching him a little bit, and he would start talking, and I maybe got 1/4 of what he was saying. Its like this weird slang like we are in the hood or something and I just dont understand. He called us the Triple OG's of Jesus Christ hahaha. I don't exactly get the triple part either cause there is only 2 of us but it made sense to him so thats all that matters I guess haha. So funny. I love it here. I don't think I have ever laughed so much in my entire life!

THE WORST part about being a missionary, is the dogs. Its so bad I cant even stand it anymore! Every house has at least 5 I swear. And they aren't the cute little cuddly dogs. They are like little demon dogs. Or big demon dogs haha. So we were teaching ---, a potential investigator the other day and we were in the middle of the restoration. Her dog was barking the ENTIRE time, but somehow we just tuned it out- until it jumped up and literally attacked Sister Loo out of no where. It was the scariest thing! We were just sitting on the couch and next thing I know this thing looks like its going to bite her head off. Haha she started screaming so loud and it actually really freaked me out too. So I dont really know if we will be going back there or not! Probably not though! 

On Saturday the ward had a big BBQ and pool party down in Katy so we invited a bunch of our investigators and there ended up being about 10 nonmembers there! We were able to visit with each of them, and actually got some new investigators from it! This one guy named --- came up to us and had tons and tons of questions, most of them actually had to do with stuff that he got from researching mormons online, so we had to clarify quite a few things! But the talk went really well and he ended up coming to church yesterday and we have an appointment to teach him on Tuesday! 

We are starting exchanges this week which I am excited about! We are going to be going on exchanges with each set of sisters in the zone throughout the transfer, and during every exchange Sister Loo and I will each be with a sister from that companionship and be focusing on their proselyting area for the day! We will be able to help them in their area, and also be finding for YSA's in their area as well. I really think that a lot of great things will come out of it! 

I love this area. I love my companion! We are already known to have the most comp unity :) We match almost every day and we dont even plan it! I think its cute, Sister Loo wasn't a fan at first hahaha but we both are too lazy to change so now she has grown to love it :) she matches me on purpose now :) and apparently we sound exactly the same! Whenever we are talking on the phone to someone, they never can tell which one of us it is. Not one person has been able to tell yet haha. Things are just really, really good and I can't complain about one thing! Mish life is the best!!!

Its going to be a CRAZY week, so pray for sister loo and I :) I can't wait to tell you all about it!!

I send my love from texas!

xoxo sister huber

P day pedicures! We felt like we needed it after --- dropped us.  Best idea we ever had :)

Heart attacking less active girls in the ward <3

Sending Kristin off to the Anime convention!

Sunday scooter ride in the church parking lot with James' girlfriend, Laura :)

May 12th, 2014

I was lucky enough to be able to go back to The Woodlands on Saturday for miss Laura's baptism! I can't even begin to describe the spirit that was there. In that moment, I really was able to focus on and remember the amazing significance of my calling! The joy that I experienced from finding her just one month ago, to watching her go through her own personal conversion leading to the decision to make a very special covenant with her HF in the waters of baptism, is the most joy I have ever experienced. She is a very special spirit and I can feel the love so strongly that the savior has for her! Being back in The Woodlands made me feel like I was back in my home :)

But I have an amazing new home now! I have been transferred to serve in the Sam Houston 2nd YSA ward!! Y'all should have seen my face when I found out I was going to the singles ward.. haha. It was the very last place I was expecting to go! Probably cause I said I never wanted to go there hahaha. A year in family wards then transitioning to a YSA ward is a huge adjustment. It really couldn't be any more different! But its so great! The AP's cover the Sam Houston 1st YSA ward which is the Klein, Houston North, and Spring stakes, and we cover the 2nd ward which is the Cypress and Katy stakes. Yes, we cover 2 WHOLE STAKES! Our area is sooooo big. We have 400 miles a week in our car, which is a huge struggle to stay under! 

My companion is Sister Loo. She is the cutest ever. She is actually a visa waiter going to Brazil! She has been here in Texas for about 7 months, and is kinda just playing the waiting game! She is from the Portland area, and graduated from SUU before coming out here. My second Polynesian comp in a row! What can I say! Its a lot of fun with her :) We even have Portuguese language study in the mornings :)

The work here is absolutely insane!! YSA's are so awesome to teach. We like to call it the decade of decisions :) They are in that point in their life where they are going out on their own and making their own decisions and figuring out what they want in life. Most of them are actually SUPER open to the gospel. They aren't very established in life yet and so they aren't set in their ways like people can be in family areas! 

Finding is also a little bit different here. We knock a lot of one bedroom apartments, and look for houses with cars that look like they would belong to a teenager or young adult, or cars with the LoneStar College sicker on them. Its surprisingly REALLY effective! Its cool too because since we cover 2 stakes, all of the areas that we go into are other missionaries areas, so when we go contacting if we find people who aren't YSA's, we refer them to the other missionaries whose area it is. And in return they give us referrals of YSA's that they find! We literally talk to EVERYONE that we see. Even if they aren't YSA's. And as we have been faithful in doing that, we have really gained a trust with The Lord and we have seen that he has been placing more and more YSA's in our path because he trusts that we will talk to them! 

We have 6 investigators right now with baptism dates!! 

--- A darling 22 year old girl who is getting baptized on May 31st. Her parents dont like that she is joining the church, and she told us that she is already preparing for the worst from them. Keep her in your prayers. She knows that this is right, and she is putting all of her faith in the lord and going through with it even without their support. She is a huge inspiration to me!

--- has a baptism date right now for the 31st as well! He was tracted into, and just soaked in the whole gospel. He has become really good friends with our ward mission leader, but has recently gotten a job that makes it a little more difficult for us to get in and teach him. He might need a little more time but we will see!

--- she was found one day walking her dogs at her apartment complex, and has a date for June 7th!

--- She is a senior in HS, and has been meeting with the missionaries since her boyfriend left on his mission to Honduras! She basically is a member. She knows everything about the gospel and is the sweetest thing ever. She is getting baptized on June 14 :)

--- she has met with missionaries for a long time now. she has been having a lot go on in her life recently, and we feel like she just might be one of those eternal investigators. She is reading the book of mormon and coming to church weekly! She will be out of town for the next 3 weeks though which will be really hard. She has a date set right now for sometime in August! She has to earn enough money to move out of her house since she is living with a bunch of guys before she can be baptized! She just needs prayers :)

We have a really good teaching pool right now. We are at about 20 total investigators, and more just keep coming! We found 3 new ones just in the past few days :) The Lord is pouring miracles out at us!! 

We are almost to the point of baptizing weekly, which was one of the mission standards that President Pingree announced to us at the beginning of the year. It seemed almost impossible at first, being in Texas and all ;) and he even said that we weren't at that point yet! But its SO possible!! and so simple! Be exactly obedient, WORK HARD, talk to EVERYONE that you see, and RELY 100% ON THE SPIRIT! The Lord makes it all work out!! 

A really cool miracle for the week- So I received a lot of amazing promises in my setting apart blessing and frequently I will read through the notes from it and receive strength and guidance in my missionary work. One of the promises that was given to me was that as long as I was doing what I am supposed to, the Lord would place me in situations where I would invite people on their doorsteps to read the book of mormon, go to church, and to be baptized. The first two we do a lot, but the whole inviting to be baptized on their doorstep seemed really out there for me. I was really wondering if I would ever do that on my mission, because I never have felt that it was the right time or place before! Well this past week we were teaching one of our investigators named ---. We teach him on his doorstep because his parents don't agree with him taking the discussions so they don't want it being done in their house. We read 2 Nephi 31 with him, and at the end of the lesson I felt really strongly that we needed to invite him to be baptized. We extended the invitation to him, and he has committed to be baptized on June 28!! He accepted without even a hesitation. It was really, really cool. Its crazy how powerful that lesson was, standing outside on his doorstep. He said the closing prayer, which was the very first prayer that he has EVER said, and goes "Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the most amazing teachers in the world!". Sister Loo and I both were just smiling so big haha. There is nothing more rewarding than being a missionary :)

Church yesterday was so different from anything I've ever experienced. Cause lets be honest, I don't think I ever once went to singles ward back at home haha. I liked being in primary too much :) It was weird not hearing screaming kids during the sacrament. I guess the ward used to be really small, like 30 boys and maybe 10 girls total. But last week they had a flood of guys come in and join the ward since they are here for summer sales. So now its a ton bigger from what it was before! There's like 100 guys and 10 girls now hahaha. Relief Society is so small!! Its a really great ward though. We have an amazing bishop, and a super great ward mission leader. His name is James. Its weird having a WML who is around your same age... But we are super blessed because he is super involved and is probably one of the best ward mission leaders out there! 

Around 10 of the summer sales boys had us over for dinner last night and had 2 of their non member co workers there as well. One of them actually came to church yesterday! We had a barbecue outside and taught the restoration to them, and had an amazing testimony meeting. There is something really special about a group of RM's and priesthood holders bearing their testimonies about the restored gospel. It was so powerful. One of the non members, ---, was really touched by the spirit and he is super interested in joining the church. These summer sales boys are going to be great finding tools for us! They are getting referrals left and right!

I couldn't be more grateful for this new area that I have to serve in, and for The Lord blessing us with so many miracles in bringing His children closer to Him! We are just getting started! :)

I love each one of you so much and want you to know how much your support and encouragement means to me! I couldn't do any of this without you! :)

Lots of Love from Houston <3<3

xoxo sister huber

Leaving the Woodlands...

Laura's Baptism...

My little sisters...

The Prince Girls (who she lived with in the Woodlands)

Sister Huber and Sister Loo

May 5th, 2014

I am SO sad to tell you all that I am leaving The Woodlands :( I literally started crying when we found out last night. I'm not ready to go at all!! 6 months just wasn't long enough! All of the ward members have been calling this morning and its making me more and more sad haha. Bishop Cheney said that he is going to have to make a call to President Pingree and protest. I told him he should :) But honestly, as crazy sad as I am to leave, I know that there is more for me to do somewhere else. Heavenly Father has really helped me to know that this is what He wants! And I am okay with that :) I feel like I am leaving home though all over again and I am probably the worst person on the planet with saying goodbyes!! I feel so blessed to have been able to serve in the most amazing ward ever :) I have developed so many lifelong friends here that I couldn't be more grateful for!! 

On an even better note, --- had her baptism interview last night and she is getting baptized this saturday IN PRESIDENT CHAPPELL'S POOL!!! Its going to be absolutely perfect :) I am so proud of her and it makes me so happy to look back at when we very first met her, and see how far she has come in such a short amount of time. Seriously, so many amazing things are happening here and I am so so happy :) Being a missionary truly is the most rewarding experience I think I will ever have!

Sister Lockhart has been struggling lately and she sent me this email telling me about her talking to president and so if I get sent up to Caldwell aka the middle of nowhere, I will know who to blame ;)

"He asked me about how I was doing in Caldwell. I told him..He asked if getting a new comp would help? I told him yes. He said he'd pray about it. I told him I'd like to make a suggestion...and I'm sure you can guess the rest..:) I told him you could help me finish out strong. He thanked me a lot of times for the suggestion and said he'd def. take it into consideration!!!! We're halfway in!! Can you imagine if you killed me off!?! I think it would be absolutely perfect. INEEDYOU."

I love that girl so much. we have been best friends since the very beginning. but caldwell has a branch of a whole 36 people! thats it! haha I dont know if sister huber can handle that!! 

I just keep telling myself that whatever the Lord wants, I will do it :) I have a feeling that wherever I get sent will be my last area which is CRAZY! The last 6 months are just about to start! My love and dedication to this work has never been greater than it is right now. Each day I push myself harder and harder and my heart has gotten wayyy deeper in than I ever even thought was possible. I wish I could explain to you the joy and love that I feel right now! Once I completely lost myself in this work, not only did my mission change, but my whole life changed. Every little thing about it changed, and it's changed into what the Lord has always wanted for me. My heart is so full and I feel like there is no way that my happiness could get any greater!! 

I love my calling. I love this gospel. I would be completely lost without it! Hold on tight to the path that we know to be true and never, ever let go! Give yourself COMPLETELY to the Lord, and you will experience the greatest joy that you could ever imagine :)

I love each and every one of you!!! You are all amazing!!

xoxo

sister huber