August 25th, 2014

Hello Hello!

I first have to say that I can't believe school has already started!!! Where in the world did summer go?! 

The ward was pretty sad yesterday... it went from being about 150 people to maybe 50, and next week it'll probs be more like 30 or 40. I will admit I had quite the trunky moment saying bye to everyone leaving to go back to BYU!! Its been a hard week. It feels like with all of our members, also went all of our investigators. We are being exactly obedient and getting 25 contacts each day. Its hard, and very exhausting. And we have felt that all we are doing is getting investigators for other missionaries. But I just keep pushing through because when the Lord asks for us to do something, we do it! :) And I know that we will see the blessings. I have come to know that we have times on our mission where we are here to strengthen other people's testimonies, and the past few months I know that we have been nothing short of that! But we also have moments where the Lord wants us to strengthen our own testimonies. I am in one of those moments! And instead of wishing things would get easier, I have learned to be very grateful for these trying times :) It always brings me closer to my Savior, and I know that's exactly what He wants for me right now.

I had a thought come to me last week to consider going home the October transfer instead of the December one. For english sisters and the transfer dates, you either end up being just short of 18 months, or just short of 19 months & most sisters recently have ended up going home the earlier transfer. I had never even thought about it before, but it was consuming all of my thoughts and driving me nuts. So we were in our apartment one night and Sister Loo and I started talking about it. I had been praying and praying to know what to do, and it was getting me down because I couldn't focus on anything else! And I wasn't getting an answer. I was praying to even know if it was Satan giving me these thoughts or if it was HF trying to tell me something. So that night, I had a dream- and I think it was the only time I have ever received an answer to prayer in a dream. President Mortensen had us all there for our going home interviews, and he handed me a stack of papers, and at the top of that first paper was written 'Departure date: Dec. 3'. I remember waking up that next morning and just feeling the spirit come over me, letting me know that there is still SO much for me to do here, and I will not stop until I have accomplished everything I have been sent here to do! This is His will for me. & that is my greatest desire. I came to know very personally that Heavenly Father ALWAYS answers our prayers, and we have to pay close attention in order to receive those answers. I know that there is amazing things in store during these next 3 months- which also means that the opposition is only going to keep comin! And we just say Bring it! 

So our miracle for the week- Sister Loo and I were walking around an apartment complex last night trying to get our 25 contacts. There were these 2 guys with beer in their hands in the parking lot, and our usual reaction to that, especially when its getting late, is to walk the other direction. Sister Loo looked at me and asked if we should go talk to them, and I couldn't even respond before my body just started walking towards them. It was the WEIRDEST thing in the entire world. I felt like I had lost complete control of where I was going and the Lord was literally bringing me to them. So we start talking to them and asked if they had ever seen missionaries before, and one of the guys said yes and the other one walked away. So we got talking with this guy, just to find out that he brother served a mission in Scotland, and his dad was a Stake president! He went inactive when he was 15, and said he is no longer a member. He kept saying how embarrassed he was that he was telling us all of these things with beer in his hands, and that he wasn't planning on saying anything to us but he felt that he needed to. The spirit was really strong, and he told us that he knows he needs to get back on the right path & that he wants to take the missionary lessons. SO COOL!!! It was such a neat experience and it is such a good feeling knowing that the Lord was in control of the entire thing. He leads us to those who are prepared and who so desperately need the gospel. Every day my gratitude for having this gospel, this truth in my life is increased. We are so blessed! 

We had quite the experience going with Kwaku to the temple for the first time! We were all sitting there by the font, watching a group of people be baptized who were before us. So Sister Loo and I are just reading our scriptures, and Kwaku was sitting by some members that came with us. We heard the usual names that you hear at the temple, like people who were from england, and some that were more hispanic sounding, and then out of no where we hear "Broken Arm". We all looked at each other and was like, did we hear that right? So we all look up at the screen where they show the names to the person who is doing the baptizing in the font, and realized that we definitely heard it right. Following Broken Arm was Willie Big Head Man, Mister Sage Woman, Yellow Hair, Tall Tree Looks Behind, & Red Bird Hairy Man. And that was only the beginning haha. No one could contain themselves so Kwaku and them had to all run into the bathroom because they were laughing so hard. It was probably the funniest thing to ever happen. Welcome to the temple Kwaku! hahaha. We found out later that those names were American Indians from some tribe in Montana and South Dakota. Pretty cool! But definitely unexpected haha. One of those moments that you will never forget :) 

We had zone conference last week and my brain is STILL fried. President is really drilling this master teaching into us! Its hard because we have had to completely reprogram our brains to this new method of teaching and completely forget what & how we have been doing it since the very beginning. We did an hour and a half long practice teach and all had pounding headaches after haha. But it was really good :) President keeps telling us that its supposed to be hard and awkward and we are going to really struggle with it, but the more we do it the more I really am grateful for it and realize how powerful it really is! 

I know that there are people here who are prepared and ready to accept this gospel. I also know that God has a plan not only for those people here, but for us as His servants. Miracles happen when we give up our own will and accept His :) I want y'all to know that I love this gospel with all of my heart & I love this work just as much! This is His work, and there isn't anything greater or more important that we could be doing :)

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

... I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.             And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.      And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.  And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever;  (Mosiah 2:17-24)

Transfers are next week so we'll see what happens because something is bound to happen! ahhhh!

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

xoxo

sister huber

August 18th, 2014

HEY!!

We had another amazing week this week!

Despite all of the objection from his family, Kwaku was baptized on Saturday and it was such a great day :) A lot of YSA's get it when they tell their family and friends that they want to join the church. It always amazes me how strong they are when they have everything and everyone against them. They are always so committed to their testimony and don't let anything get in the way of doing what they know is right! Its such a testimony to me! I really think that all of these investigators and recent converts that we've had have strengthened my testimony wayyy more than we could ever strengthen theirs. 

He got confirmed yesterday, and also received the priesthood and got his temple recommend! We are going to do baptisms with him this week :) Bishop really likes to get them going fast around here and I think it really helps them a ton!

Sister Loo and I have been struggling to know how we can help Mike, our southern baptist friend :) He came to church for his confirmation, and hasn't come since. We have felt really down and discouraged because we don't know what went wrong! Its always sad to see people stop coming to church, but especially when its one of your recent converts! We stopped by his house yesterday, and his roommate Dennis told us that Mike is avoiding us. Its really sad but we are trying to not let it get to us because we have so many others who are progressing so well in the gospel! He needs all of the prayers that he can get. He has such a sincere heart, and he has a testimony of this gospel. He has just let all of the opposition get to him and its really hard to see! 

I really had my eyes open up even more to the atonement this week. I was thinking back to when I was in a family ward, and the problems that we helped people with. There were so many broken families, dealing with divorce and adultery and pornography and all sorts of heartbreaking things like that. Here in the singles ward, you deal with people who are upset over a break up or just because they aren't married yet. I'm not gonna lie, after a while I was like are you kidding me?! I have seen way worse problems out there and we are listening to people cry about how they dont have a boyfriend! As I was comparing the 2 different situations, the thought came to me that just as much as Christ's atonement heals those who have addictions or who have had their spouse cheat on them, it covers those who are hurting because they simply don't feel loved or wanted by a boyfriend or girlfriend, no matter how silly to me it may seem at times! Christ is there for & cares about ALL of His children- and His atonement covers every problem in this world, no matter how big or small. He wants to comfort one just as much as He wants to comfort the other! And there isn't anything that anyone is going through that He doesn't think is significant or important. I have really been praying to see these people as Christ Himself does, and that was the answer to prayer that I was needing. I am here to help all of God's children, and love them as He would- no matter what their situation may be. 

Well Sister Loo and I are back to finding, finding, and more finding! We've had a lot of our really solid investigators fall through the cracks and we really don't even know what's happened to them. The adversary is a real thing! He is out to stop all of these people from progressing in the gospel and unfortunately sometimes there isn't anything else we can do about it :( So we'll see how this next week goes! We are hopeful that God has lots of amazing miracles in store for us! :) 

I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

xoxo

sister huber

Julia- one of our most favorite members! She made us these darling pillow cases :) We love her so much!!!

FHE :)

Lesson at the temple with Kwaku

The reason we gain so much weight! 

The Shack with Natasha

Kwaku's baptism :)

temple baptisms with our recent converts!

August 11th, 2014

hey y'all-

sorry its going to be a short one this week! We were stuck at the eye doctor for hours! Long story short, this girl's got glasses now hahaha. A mission ages you like 20 years I swear!

I was starting to get headaches every day and everything was getting more and more blurry so we decided to get it checked out and who knew they had gotten so bad?! I honestly think its cause of all of the lessons we have in dark houses and reading from my small scriptures with hardly any light has been quite the struggle! But we got it all taken care of now thank goodness! My eyes are suuuper dilated so I'm struggling to even type this at the moment so I hope you can read it! 

I'm extra grateful today for being in the states :) 

Then momma sevy took us out and we spent some time with her which is always THE BEST :) I am grateful for my mission moms to watch out for me- especially here in the singles ward where you just dont get that! They're definitely tender mercies from the lord! 

Another really good week! K... is getting baptized this weekend and we're so excited! We passed A... off to the sisters in the family ward because she likes it there better- which is totally fine! We were sad but we told her we would still be there at her baptism :) Matthew came to church yesterday and then left straight for Ohio! I am so grateful that we have missionaries everywhere in the world! They are already onto him so he's excited! He sent us the sweetest text saying how grateful he was for us in his life and that he hopes that when he gets baptized we can be there :) he's a good guy! And then of course we are still working hard to get those 25 contacts every day! Its been hard but It's really helped me to rely on the Lord even more! 

President has been bringing in so many great new ideas to the THM and we are seeing so many blessings already! We have been having trainings on becoming a 'Master Teacher'. Basically president told us that as a companionship, we shouldn't be doing more than 50% of the talking in our lessons. Let me tell ya- this was an adjustment for us!! We can teach and preach for dayssss. But that's not how the lord taught. And that is our goal :) 

He said that the truth is in every son and daughter of God, and it is our job to help our investigators to find that truth inside of themselves. So we tried out this new approach and oh my word. It seriously changed my whole mission!! We had the most incredible lesson with our investigator Miguel. I say this all the time- but I have never felt the spirit so strong in a lesson before. He started out asking us if he's already been baptized if he needs to be baptized again in the mormon church. So instead of just rambling off and answering his question ourselves, we helped him to find the answer in himself. So we read from the scriptures, and would ask him questions from the scriptures that we read. As he pondered the question he had, and then pondered the scriptures, he would start to share his thoughts and feelings and the answer literally came to him as we asked him those inspired questions. 

It was the COOLEST THING EVER. 

I'm really excited to continue to practice this approach. I know that its not only going to help me and those I teach as I missionary, but its going to help me for the rest of my life! The Lord is our perfect example of a perfect teacher, and we can help more people to come closer to Him as we do it just as He would!

I love being a missionary :) Helping to bring people into this gospel is the most amazing thing in the whole world. & in return, all of these amazing experiences that I get to have every single day has blessed me and my life in ways that nothing else could! I had no idea how great this really was :) The Lord has blessed me way too much! 

I love you all so much!!!!

xoxo

sister huber 

last week's p-day watching 17 miracles at erika&jonathans :) we wanted so badly to just lay on a couch and watch a movie so they helped make it happen! :) 

a member took us for korean food. best thing you'll ever eat!

matthew & amanda (she's been so amazing at our lessons with him!)

August 4th, 2014

Baptisms and Breakups

This week we went from 100-1000 haha. If we weren't stressed enough! I guess we must be doing something right because the Lord doesn't ever stop adding things to our load! 

It was really wearing on me for a while because I hit this point of total exhaustion and literally felt like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. I feel like there is never enough time in the day to accomplish everything we need/want to. Its probably one of the biggest blessings I could ever ask for- but at the same time I feel like the Lord has too much trust in me sometimes! President even sent me an email today saying "Don't stress" haha. He has really helped me to remember that I don't have to always feel like I have to accomplish every little thing by myself. This is the Lord's work. I am simply His tool. As I rely on Him & allow that revelation to come into my life, and as we as a companionship turn to Him as we plan each day, He will guide us in the things that He wants us to accomplish that day & to know those things that matter most. There is always going to be way too much to do, but I feel like I need to do every little thing all at once! There is just not enough time left!

It reminded me of Elder Bednar's talk from last conference. Another amazing talk that really hit home to me this week!

"It was the load. It was the load of wood that provided the traction necessary for him to get out of the snow, to get back on the road, and to move forward. It was the load that enabled him to return to his family and his home.

Each of us also carries a load. Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints. Two guiding questions can be helpful as we periodically and prayerfully assess our load: “Is the load I am carrying producing the spiritual traction that will enable me to press forward with faith in Christ on the strait and narrow path and avoid getting stuck? Is the load I am carrying creating sufficient spiritual traction so I ultimately can return home to Heavenly Father?” Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness."

We had a week full of setting baptism dates, and helping girls deal with their breakups. haha yep that just about sums up our week! Thats how you know you are in a singles ward!

We went from having 0 baptism dates this week, to now having 5! Holy miracles!!!!!

At FHE last monday night, Paige (a member of the ward) brought her friend who has been interested in the church to meet us. His name is K..., and he is leaving to go to school in San Fransisco at the end of this month. We taught him the restoration and plan of salvation this week, and set a date for him to be baptized on August 16!!! He is one of the most prepared people I think I have ever taught! We sat down at our first lesson and asked if he had any questions before we started, and the one question he had for us was "So do y'all really wear magic underwear?" What a great place to start hahaha. He has so much faith, and is so excited to keep learning more!

K..., E..., and T...: 2 sisters and a friend. Taught the plan of salvation this week, and when we were talking about Jesus Christ and the Atonement everything just clicked with them. E... was like, "So in order to return to live with God and receive that exaltation, we need to follow Jesus Christ exactly, which means getting baptized like He did. He wasn't just sprinkled with water. He went completely into the water. So that means that's how we all have to be baptized. I NEED TO BE BAPTIZED AGAIN! When can we make this happen?!" Sister Loo and I both were just in shock. The spirit was teaching that lesson 110%. It was one of the most amazing lessons I have ever been in! They all 3 set a date for August 30th :) It was sad though because they asked if they become apart of this church, if they have to leave their old one. Its going to take a lot of faith for them to leave their church that they love so much, but they said that they are willing to do what God asks of them! My faith grows so much each day as I see these people completely change their lives as they put their trust in Him.

R... set a date for September 27! He just barely got a job, and he has to save up money because in order for him to be baptized he needs to move out of his girlfriend's apartment. He has A LOT of changes to make in his life, but slowly but surely he will get there! 

A... (I know we aren't supposed to have favorites, but she's my favorite) :) Every lesson we have with her, the spirit is SO strong! She loves church, loves the Book of Mormon- she takes it with her everywhere she goes. As soon as she started meeting with us and started keeping the commitments we left with her, she immediately came to know for herself that this church was true. She told her mom of her decision to be baptized, and it was such a miracle that her mom was so supportive. She never stops talking about the joy that she has knowing that she can be baptized again, this time the right way! She is praying about what day she wants to be baptized :)

I love my calling more than anything in this world! I am eternally grateful to the Lord for giving me this amazing opportunity, and for placing these people in my path who have changed my life forever. The Lord can make such greater things out of you than you could ever make out of yourself! Every experience in life, we are given to make us be a little better than we were before :) We just have to allow them to change us :)

I love you all so much! 

xoxo sister huber