July 10, 2012

¿Què dicen familia?

I can`t believe that it is already Tuesday once again!!! Where does all of my time go? This week was really really good.  I got the package that you sent me! Thanks a ton. Elder Bunker has been enjoying the Starbursts. You really don`t have to send me that many packages. Save the money to spoil me after the mission. Haha. I saw something funny on my way to pick up the package. All of the buses here have their destination written on their windshield. I saw one that said that it was going to Cristo. I wanted to get on it but it flew by. That was my shot. Bummer.

I knocked a ton of doors this week. Un buen. On the 4th of July I was with Elder Paxman from Arizona. We were in his area that is here really close. He and Elder Sanabria actually serve in the same ward as us.  We had some really cool experiences. We found 12 future investigators and at the end of the day taught somebody named Flor. She told us how she recieved her answer to knowing that our message is true.  To celebrated Independance day, we bought ice cream before going home at the end of the day.

I met President Valadez this week!! We had a zone leader`s meeting with him. He is about the exact opposite of President Chavez. He talks really fast and about several subjects. But he is really good and I felt the Spirit a lot when he was teaching us.  He is pretty young and has his wife and a 13 year old kid with him.  He talked to us about the basic things that we need as missionaries and about really making our purpose of inviting others to come to Christ a part of us.  I am really excited to be able to learned from another mission president.

We were walking down the Ciclopista this week when a kind of drunk guy called out to us. He was sitting down on some steps of an abandoned house. This guy had some problems.  He told us how he was from Nicaragua, his family had been shot to death, he still had some bullet wounds that hadn`t healed by his stomach (he showed them to us), he had no food, no money, no home, the rats try to eat him when he is sleeping at night. Nooombre. I felt pretty bad for him and thought he was being sincere. We invited us to meet him at church so we could help him. But he never showed up. We also bought him some water, juice, and peanuts.  We`ll see if find him this week what happened. Things could always be worse.

What else? On Saturday, all of the young men and the priesthood got together and went to do some contacting in the streets. It was nice because the mission leader came up with the idea and we didn`t do anything. The relief society made us breakfast and La Comida. I think we recieved about 19 references from the activity.  I contacted for about three hours with a 13 year old. He was nervous but things went well. I tried to get him excited to serve a mission.  I think he liked it.

We found some really prepared people this week also. It is interesting how many times that I have seen in my mission that the Lord puts us in the exact right place and the right time to be able to find His children.  Sometimes I feel like I should knock on a door and nobody comes out. But about twenty minutes afterwards we find ourselves exactly were we need to be. If we had gotten there 20 seconds later or earlier, we wouldn`t have found the right person. He is all knowing. His plan is huge, but he works in the simplest ways. So I have no problem when I knock on a door and get rejected because it is the Lord`s way of carrying out his plan.

This morning I studied about the Anti-Nefi-Lehitas. Those were some cool converts. They are a group of people that had been converted to the Gospel after years of being really wicked.  I read how their king lead them as they buried their swords, never wanting to shed human blood again. When their enemies came up against them to battle, they came out to meet them, knelt down, and prayed. Their enemies killed many of them but afterwards had compassion on them and were also converted. I want to be this kind of example. They would rather die than sin.  Like Elder Uchtdorf said, we are always in the middle of an eternal journey. The end doesn`t come until our Savior says it`s over. There`s always time to be born again and to give up everything so that we can gain everything.  I love every day of this mortal life, the good and the bad and I am trying to enjoy every second.

Anyways, enjoy the scorching heat of Nevada as I am chilling in the 70`s. Love you!!!

Elder Hubbard

el Gavillero