March 17th, 2014

Hey hey!! Another crazy week down and transfers are here AGAIN! I can't even believe how fast they are going. Every transfer gets faster and faster and it needs to stop! BIshop was real worried about his missionaries leaving so he called president pingree this week and told him that he needs me and sister ae to stay here because things are seriously HAPPENING!! So I'm prettyyy sure we are gonna stay together again :) He looked at us when he got off the phone and was like Well girls, all I'm gonna say is roll up your sleeves and keep workin! haha. We have the best bishop in the world to work with. 

After a rough little bit, we were blessed with an amazing week this week! I really believe it is because we kept pushing and didn't ever give up even when it felt like most of our efforts were doing absolutely nothing. I think we are always being tested with faith and patience! Its the only way we can progress! 

We are teaching a girl named --- and taught her the 3rd lesson this past week. She was a referral from the Conroe sisters who met her while doing service at the food bank up there. This girl is one of the most prepared people ever! When we were teaching about baptism and the holy ghost, she was saying how she was baptized when she was a baby and she doesn't remember it and how much she wants to be baptized again so that she can understand and remember the promises she is making to our heavenly father. She reads all of the assignments we give her in the book of mormon and comes back with really good questions and comments about it. She hasn't been coming to church because she is scared and didn't want to do something like that by herself, but once we told her we would be with her the whole time she was totally excited about it! The date set right now for her baptism is april 19th! 

We set another baptism date yesterday with ---! Her whole outlook and attitude has changed from when we first met her and was working with her, and she has been a lot more serious about it. She received a really amazing answer about the truth of the book of mormon and this gospel that really helped her testimony become more firm! There are a few things that need to be worked out before she gets baptized, so the date we set with her is for may 3rd! We all felt strongly that this is when she will be ready, and she couldn't be more excited! We are going over all of the lessons with her again, and this time her parents will be there as well :) 

We got into another less active's home this week that we haven't been able to see in almost 2 months now! I don't know what changed, but she was so much more open than the other times we met with her, and she completely expressed to us her desire to come back to church! She was one who would always make excuses and wouldn't ever try to get work off or anything. She made sure that she got next sunday off and said that she would be there! She is definitely making changes in her life to help her come closer to the savior and its always so amazing to see the hearts of these people being softened! I remember when we very first got to this area, bishop said that the day he sees her at church, will be the best day of his life haha. 

We are like way beyond excited about all of the AMAZING miracles that the lord is bringing to this ward! I can't even think of anything more rewarding than being able to watch these people grow and change through their conversion in this gospel. Its definitely been a week full of blessings and it's only going to get better! 

LOTS of love from your woodlands sisters <3 

Rodeo!

Our Friends from the South side!  Our mission is definitely better than theirs ;)

March 10th, 2014

HEY! so we are emailing kinda early today cause we got permission from president to go downtown to reliant stadium with one of our members to the RODEO! Its absolutely hugeee here so we're pretty excited :)

not too great of a week this week but I learned pretty quickly that a mission is full of amazing weeks and some not so amazing weeks even when you are working your absolute hardest! And I'm okay with that! I went on an exchange up to montgomery this week which was SO fun. Its like complete opposite from the woodlands. Its all country up there and the people are so great :) I was pretty excited to go back to working in the trailer parks haha. their bishop told me that he's gonna put in a request for me to go up there next ;)  Me and sister ae were talking though this week about serving in the woodlands and how its the wealthiest area in the mission and how our district is one of the lowest baptizing districts in the mission cause we cover all of the wards here in the woodlands and how difficult that can be sometimes. I actually went from my last area which was in the highest baptizing zone and district in the mission to the lowest. haha. funny how that works sometimes. But we were talking about how much we love it here and wouldn't change it for anything! Its definitely hard. Harder than I ever expected it to be. But we know we are here for a reason :) I love it here because it has helped me to grow and to strengthen myself as a missionary. It has taught me so many lessons that I have needed to learn, that I don't think I would have ever learned in my last area. Its all about working hard, having faith in christ, and following the spirit in everything it tells you to do. I wouldn't say we have had tons and tons of "success" here, but we feel successful here because we know at the end of each day that we did exactly everything that the lord expected of us and everything is according to His will. And this is His will right now! Its His work not ours! I have worked harder here than I ever have in my whole life. Its a really amazing feeling :) And I absolutely love it!! 

We were able to do more family history this week with the coffee ladies! They were getting super into it which was fun to be able to help them :) we are gonna be working with them every week now! One of the ladies has met with missionaries before and has been taught the lessons so we are working on hopefuly getting those started up again with her and her family! 

--- talked to bishop this week and said that after our visit with her, she has been praying about having her daughter be baptized. So prayers are with them this week!!!! We are reallyy praying that she will finally take that step with her. Cause she is so ready!

--- went out of town for a couple of weeks for spring break but her parents have said that they are wanting to come back to church when they get back, and --- will hopefully be ready to set another baptism date! She is in moroni already in the book of mormon and is soaking it all in! She is probably our most progressing investigator right now. 

We reactivated another family in the ward, and they met with bishop and are preparing to go through the temple next month!!! how exciting is that?! This is what missionary work is all about!!!

There's a quote in pmg that says the key to missionary work, is work. It really is that simple! Work hard, and by the spirit, and miracles happen!!! No matter how big or small they may seem, miracles are happening every single day :) The lord is guiding every single step!

I love you sooo so much and hope you have another great week!! lots of love from the woodlands! <3 

sister huber

March 3rd, 2014

Such a miracle week!! I don't even know where to start! It has been one of the best weeks that we have ever had here :)

So to start off with last monday, my dear companion got pulled over and didn't get a ticket which we don't even know how she got away with it! Then mamma sevy came and picked us up and we spent the day at her house with the magnolia sisters and we were outside on a walk and decided to weed her neighbors yard who was an old investigator that we were working with when I was there, and while we were doing that, 2 of her other neighbors who we had been teaching came out and saw us and we were able to talk to them again and get them to meet with the new sisters that are there now! Like that is definitely not a coinsidence!

Tuesday we had our lesson with --- with president and it went SO well! Except her new puppy was a littleeee distracting so president had to shove pamphlets in its mouth the entire time hahaha. The spirit was definitely there though. We committed her to read the book of mormon and she agreed to getting baptized once she finds out for herself that it is true. We had been fasting monday night to tuesday night with another family in the ward and their friend who they invited that day to take the missionary lessons said yes! Her name is --- and we are meeting with her and her family this week to teach them the restoration :) Another huge testimony builder to me! Miracles seriously happen when we work together with the members in the lords work! It really is an amazing feeling when us and the members are so unified and are always working and fasting and praying together for the people in our area. That truly is when we see miracles! This is how the Lord wants his work done :)

We had zone conference this week and we learned a ton about incorporating family history into our missionary work. President has asked us to spend an hour each week doing our family history and learning more about it so that we can take family names when we go to the temple, and so that we can help others to do theirs! We went with sister prince to lunch with a group of her non member friends and showed them indexing and family history and its crazy how excited and interested they were about it! So we have another appointment with them this week to do more family history. That spirit of elijah is real! Its gonna be huge in getting people to develop that interest in the gospel.

We are working with a less active family in the ward, and working especially with the mom and getting her to the temple. We actually just recently reactivated her, and she got her patriarchal blessing and was so excited this week to tell us about it and how much more she is wanting to get to the temple! It is so cool to see her progress and where she has come spiritually and the changes she is making in her life to follow the commandments. There is another less active in the ward named sister --- who was baptized about 3 years ago, and she was way active for a while actually. She went through the temple and was going really strong but recently has been going through some things and totally disappeared. No one in ward council has been able to get in with her and she hasn't been responding to calls or anything. We were able to meet with her a couple months ago and started teaching her daughter who isn't baptized, but then she even stopped responding to us. So yesterday we felt that we needed to stop by and she if she would answer. Both of us were just expecting to go knock on her door and not get an answer but she actually answered her door and let us in and we were able to visit with her for a while actually! She was acting totally normal with us too it was actually really weird but really exciting!! Huge miracle!!!! No one could even believe it. We are really hoping to be able to work with her daughter again and be able to get them at church.

Our investigator --- was at church yesterday and brought both of her parents! That is probably the biggest miracle ever! Her dad went from being totally anti, to telling her she can get baptized, to coming to church himself. The lesson in sunday school was on tithing and both of the parents were making comments in class on how much they agreed with it, which is amazing! We are going to start the lessons over with her and include her parents this time so hopefully they will want it for themselves as well!

There are so many great things happening here! The lord truly is blessing us and these ward members for their efforts and dedication to this work :) I love my calling more than anything in this world! Keep up all of your amazing efforts and include the lord in EVERYTHING you do and you will be blessed more than you can ever imagine!

love you!!!! have a great week! :)

xoxo sister huber

nothin' like cleaning out some pig pens for service! I <3 texas!

Zone Conference

p day with mamma sevy and my girls!

Sister Williams and Sister Huber - half way mark!

February 24th, 2014

HEY!!!

Another crazy week down! These girls took a turn for the better and things are definitely happenin here! We spent almost all week during our companion studies reading talks about consecration and really evaluating what more we can do to become better and its amazing the blessings that we have already seen by making those little changes that might be holding us back!

As a zone we have been keeping track and reporting our ITL's (invitations to learn) because obviously the more people we talk to and the more people we invite the more success we will have! We didn't really realize how awful we have been at it. Its kind of embarrassing actually! The goal is 35 per day and right now that's what we are at per week. Haha. So we put our pride aside and started knocking doors again! what what! I have to say some of our best stories are tracting stories so it makes for some good fun :) Plus if anything, it shows the lord that we are putting the effort in and He will bless us in other ways! We have already gotten 3 new referrals since then!

President Pingree came to our district meeting on Friday and oh my goodness we probably had one of the most spiritual experiences we have in a longgg time. We were doing our practice teach with some other sisters and president came over and sat in on it and was teaching with us and we felt that we needed to practice teaching ---. We have been working with her for forever but she just is really struggling with making commitments and acting on what we have been sharing with her. We are on a really good friend level but we need to get out of that whole best friend thing and buckle down on the whole conversion thing. So we went through and taught the whole first lesson, which was the most inspired lesson I have probably ever taught. Afterwards we were evaluating and they were telling us their thoughts and impressions on what they think might be holding --- back, which was totally inspired because they have never met this girl but what they said what exactly what makes sense as to why she is so hesitant. President made some really inspired comments as well. Its amazing how strong the spirit was there and was working through all of us to help us to know what exactly she needs! I have never really gotten that much out of a practice teach before cause we usually are all just doing it because we know we have to but those things are real! Sister Ae afterwards was totally joking with president and was like "so you are coming with us to our appointment with her on Tuesday right?" And he pauses for a sec and was like "Can I please? Tell me what time and I will be there! I really want to come teach her now!" hahaha I don't think he takes those things as a joke because now we have him teaching her with us tomorrow! Talk about intimidating! We are really excited though and really feel that it is going to be a turning point in her conversion! We are praying for some serious miracles this week :)

The Lord is definitely there and is mindful of ALL of His children! It always is so amazing to me that He works those miracles through us as His servants and how much it changes us! He is no doubt my best friend!

I love you allll and hope you have a great week :):)

xoxo sister huber

February 17th, 2014

First of all THANK YOU everyone for all of the sweet birthday wishes!! :) I definitely am a lucky girl to have such amazing people in my life :) I'd say 3 birthday cakes makes turning 20 not quite as bad ;) hahaha. Everyone went above and beyond to make my day special!

I've really done a lot of reflecting back this past week on the start of my whole mission journey til now. Exactly 1 year ago I opened my call to find out I would be serving the people of Houston for 18 months, and I swear I blinked my eyes and now here I am starting the second half of this amazing adventure! 9 months can you believe it?! I wish I could just stop the clock for a little bit! I have to say how much I love being a missionary. I love it more than anything in this world. Its harder than anything I have ever done in my whole life! Its hard work and it pushes you way farther than you ever thought you could be pushed. But I've learned that when you are put in those situations, thats when Heavenly Father can work through us the most. Those are the times where I have really developed and strengthened my relationship with Him, and found out who I really am and who I am meant to become. And it is only through the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ that we can become like Him. I always grew up understanding the Atonement as the way we are forgiven of our sins. But I have learned that it is SO much more than that! It cleanses us, it heals us, it strengthens us, and it enables us. We become closer to Christ and learn of Him as we develop his attributes and characteristics, and all of that comes through us applying His atonement in our lives EVERY SINGLE DAY. It truly enables us to become even as He is. That is His desire for each one of us! We simply just have to model our lives after His and apply His amazing gift He has given to us. It is available to every one of His children! A mission has taught me that every soul is great in the sight of our Heavenly Father. He loves us equally, no matter our circumstances. I have been blessed with the knowledge of this gospel in my life and the knowledge of my Heavenly Father's love for me, and I want every one of His Children to know of it and feel of that same love for them. That is why I am here and I cant think of a more amazing calling than that!
Probably the most important thing that I have learned though, is to have complete faith in my heavenly father. I will be the first to admit that I am a stubborn girl who hates it when things don't always go as planned. Even when I was deciding to go on a mission, I was too scared to pray to get an answer because I didn't feel like I was ready to act upon whatever answer the Lord gave me. Then when I decided to put my trust in Him and align my will with His, I asked Him what He wanted of me and recieved my answer. It wasn't what was ever part of my plans, but it was in His, and His plans are always much MUCH better. I know that now after being here. I am happier than I have ever been in my entire life! and it is because I acted on my faith and trusted in Him. We have to put our full trust in our Heavenly Father. I know without a doubt that He truly knows us more than we know ourselves. He has a plan for every single one of us and each of those plans are to make us the happiest we can be! All He asks of us is to LET GO and trust in Him! Its hard sometimes. Its not easy to give up what you think you want and go through things that you have no clue as to why you are doing them. But if you live worthy of the spirit, and most importantly act upon the promptings that you recieve, everything falls into place. My faith is tested daily being out here on a mission. I have had to trust more than I ever have before. But it is so comforting to me to know that my heavenly father who loves me unconditionally has a plan for me, as well as those I am serving. 

I love being the Lord's servant <3 It is the best thing I have ever done and I know I wouldn't be here without yalls support :) I couldnt be more grateful that the Lord gave me this experience and that I still have 9 more months to give him everything that I have! 

xoxo sister huber

February 10th, 2014

So I'm staying in The Woodlands! Sister Andersen is leaving so it's just me and my brown sister now! We tell everyone we are exactly the same person just different colors haha. I swear we are like long lost twins or something. I think its going to be really good for the 2 of us though. We work together really well and both have the same drive in us. There is so much potential in this ward and there is a lot of excitement here and I feel like things are really going to be picking up! We have already seen SO many miracles in the past few days. Oh my goodness its been so great! Service has definitely been our biggest tool here and we see so many cool things happen from it. We went with Sister Chappell to a retirement home for some service this past week and we were visiting with some of the residents and a visitor of one of them stopped us and said she had heard us visiting with this man and how impressed she was with us and with what we were doing and we had a really good conversation with her and she is actually a new investigator now! She is the one who approached us about it and its all because of the service we were giving. We know the Lord definitely placed her in our path that day! Huge miracle! Then we were at interfaith doing service and a mother and daughter were there as well so we were getting to know them throughout the day and they told us how they have church hopped quite a few times now and how they are always looking for a church so we are getting with them again this week! They're like the sweetest girls ever. Definitely a lot of potential with them as well!

We taught a lady named --- this week who was a referral from a member in another ward. She is crazy religeous and has always wanted to know what we believed in. We had a 2 hour long restoration lesson with her but it actually went really really well. She got all excited when we were talking about the Book of Mormon and when we committed her to read it and pray about it she was so energetic about it and was like I'm gonna go home and start reading it right now! She said she had a friend that she wanted us to get with and teach too so people have been just poppin out out of nowhere! We have about 3-4 who are kinda progressing right now. They have all been on and off for like forever now. Which can be frustrating at times but they will all get there one of these days :) We are workin on them!

The best week EVER is right in front of us and I am so excited!! :) pray for the woodlands! hahaha love you so so much!!!

 

xoxo sister huber

Sister Le, Sister Huber and Sister Andersen

Working in bishop's taxidermy shop! He told me that I needed to be a surgeon one day. I might just have to pursue it!

Best Sushi I ever had!

February 3rd, 2014

dear family,

 

it was such a spirit filled week this week! i was blessed with so many experiences that really increased my testimony. we had one of the most amazing experiences teaching the restoration last night to president and sister chappell. he is a counselor to president pingree and they are in our ward and have asked us if we would teach them the lessons! we have been teaching that lesson a ton this week, to both members and non members. i dont think i have ever taught it so much in one week ever! like we were teaching it at least twice a day every day in the past week. and we have gotten into such a routine with it that sometimes i wonder if the spirit is even there or if we have just been saying a bunch of memorized words. but the spirit that was in that room last night was seriously stronger than I have ever felt it before. i think even for me it was a huge conversion moment. the spirit that was there as we were teaching about joseph smith and the book of mormon was something i cant even describe. my love and understanding of joseph smith and this restored gospel was increased more than it has ever been before. how blessed am I to be able to share this amazing message with people every single day! It was also a huge testimony builder to me on fasting, and how in tune with the spirit you can be when you are fasting with a purpose. I don't think anything is more powerful than that! We did a FHE at a members house last night with their non member friends and we had been fasting and praying with this family for them to have missionary opportunities and to find people to be taught in their home and the Lord responded to their righteous desires! They have been really looking out for people they know who really needs the gospel in their life and HF placed these 2 amazing women in their path. Their names are --- and --- and boy are they prepared! We shared a message with them and then had a testimony meeting and those girls have the most amazing testimonies ever. It was just one of those days where you go home and are so spiritually exhausted you can't go anymore. Its probably the best feeling in the world! I'm definitely striving to have way more days like those.

Nothing is real new here in the woodlands! It sure is great though! :) We have transfer calls again on Sunday. I don't really know where the past 6 weeks have gone but they have gone wayyy too fast thats for sure :) I hope you all are doing well! Love and miss you!!!!

xoxo sister huber