31 Diciembre 2011

Happy 2012!!!

This has been such a great but fast year. Definitely one of my favorites. Minus the years when I used to be able to wear boots and suck my thumb. Those years are priceless.

For the new year I now have a new companion. He is from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuaha and started in the CCM on December 7. He is so cool and we have started out really well. 

On Tuesday morning we had our transfers. We always sing "To bring the world His truth" in spanish and in english. That fits because I have been singing that song since I was a little kid.  I love it even more now. I said goodbye to Elder Leyva and went with Elder Perea back to the house. He is nineteen, is really obedient, and wants to work hard so he is a perfect companion. I am really lucky. He is pretty funny because he never wants to eat. He buys two bags of Pringles every day or an apple and just munches on them all day. He never wants to eat La Comida so we got to work on that or he is going to offend somebody. Haha.  We moved all of his stuff in and taught a few lessons and contacted a bunch too. I don´t feel like I know anything to teach him but he is doing really well.  I will be happy to be in Topilejo another few months.

On Wednesday we taught 6 lessons. It was a really good day.  We taught Fransisco about the law of Chastity and he took it really well. He is already married so that will make life a lot easier for us to baptize him. His date is set for January 14th. I can´t wait, I love that guy so much. One of our lessons was with Alvaro and Taide. It was really good about the Plan of Salvation and they realized why we should not baptize little kids. Perfect. Just a little bit more and we can set a date with them.

On Thursday we had a class in Taxqueña for the people instructing and the new missionaries. It took all day but was so good. Presidente Chávez is such a beast at teaching. Every time I listen to him I just want to do every little thing I can to serve. We talked about the vision of our mission- to be, to do, and then to have. And then all of the parts of to be. If you´re lucky I will teach it to you someday.  He also talked to us how we are preparing for the rest of our lives and Satan is just waiting for us to leave our mission to eat us. He said now is the time to prepare for the rest of our lives. It is our first estate.  There are so many returned missionaries that don´t go to church it is sad.

Yesterday we taught Fransisco again and this time about praying to overcome temptation and then repentance. It is the first time that I feel happy about the way we taught repentance because Fransisco felt that he should change and he knows why. He always refers to the Church as "our religion" like he is already a member, I love it. The rest of the day we didn´t have much success. All of our appointments fell through but we contacted a bunch. And we ate chile rellenos which is always a plus.

Today the Elders from Ajusco ate breakfast with us and then we went and played basketball and fútbol for like 3 hours. It was so much fun and I am getting better at soccer. Elder Perea is a baller so he is going to teach me some moves. It´s starting to rain a little bit now. For New Years tonight we don´t have any plans. We can´t work so I think we might go to bed early. The rest of México will be shooting off their cannon balls and fireworks and partying. 

We started running this week in the morning and I feel about 6 billion times better.  My legs are a little sore and I am a little more tired than usual but I feel a lot better.  I feel a lot more excited to be a missionary again with Elder Perea.  We ran out of water yesterday, so if you smell something that would be me. The trucks take like a month in the dry season to deliver water. I think Hermana Lulu is going to give us some though.  Wells are so underrated.

So I am glad everybody had a good Christmas. It sounds like a lot of sewing machines were involved. Thank you so much for the ties and the shirt and the pants. Elder Leyva says thank you for the hymn book too. Happy New Year and be of good cheer.

I love you a ton!

Con cariño,

Elder Hubbard

 Elder Perea is my new companion! with Elder Leyva

This is Elder Perea, Malpica, and Garcia

Christmas Eve phone call!!

Thought I should let everyone know it was wonderful talking to Tyler on Saturday!! There were seven of us here and we all got to have a turn visiting with him. He sounded like Tyler only with a slightly thicker tongue. He is already having difficulty remembering some English words. He would say something in Spanish and then try to remember the English word he wanted. That was funny. Oliver started fussing when I was holding him and talking so I said to Sam, "Grandpa come get Oliver." Tyler said, "Grandpa," and started laughing. He also got to hear Oliver for the first time. He said he was glad to know that he really existed. He wasn't sure. He was allotted 40 minutes to talk to us. We went over the limit just a little; 1 hour and 45 minutes later we hung up! The call quality was fantastic. There was no delay and he was very easy to hear. Although I miss him terribly, I know that he is where he needs to be at this time of his life and that we as a family have already been greatly blessed for his service. We just love him!

26 Diciembre 2011

Merry Christmas!!

I hope that everybody had fun with their families this weekend remembering the birth of Jesus Christ.  The primary sent me some Christmas cards that I loved, especially the one that said, "I love baby Jesus!!!" Haha.

So we find out about transfers last night. Elder Leyva is going to a zone called Iztapala in the area Ejèrcito del Oriente. That place is ghetto, I feel kind of bad for him.  He is kind of bummed and hasn`t said much about it. I am staying in Topilejo and recieving a brand new missionary. I don`t know who it is yet but I will find out tomorrow. I am kind of nervous and don`t feel like I know anything to be able to teach him. I just got here! I am going to try my best to be a good example and show him a lot of love. This means I will be in Topilejo for three more months! I probably will serve my whole mission here. That is what the family downstairs wants. Haha.

We had our p-day on Saturday but we are just writing you today because we didn`t know we were supposed to on Saturday. It threw off my groove. This week was feeled with way to many days of activities and not teaching. I feeling like something is missing. I can`t wait for tomorrow to start working again.

I am just going to keep it short because I will write on Saturday again for p-day on New Years Eve. So write me before Saturday.  It was great talking to you this week and to kow that everything at home is good. I have such a good family. 

And Elder Stockard, good luck this week. The MTC is a lot of work but it get`s so much better in the field. Just study hard and be obedient.

Love,

Elder Hubbard

 

p.s. Somebody please drink so egg nog for me!! (Dad)

 Six month tie burning (He purchased a tie he didn't like to burn)

 President and Sister Chavez

 Topelijo (Tyler's home away from home!)