Teotihuacan!

9 Abril 2012

This was another weird week for me. I don´t even know what to write about. It feels like I am doing something wrong because nothing has been working out right. I just have to figure out what it is. We just haven´t been having any experience and not a lot of progress in the area. I know it´s just something that I am going to learn from and it´s nothing that you should worry about. The baptismal dates that we had fell this week. They said that they want to be more sure and don´t want to be married until July. I really think they will get their answer faster and still be baptized before then. The worst part of the mission is definitely when you feel like you aren´t making a difference. But the one thing that get´s me over any problem is that I believe in Christ.  And His work will go on.
We had an instruction from President Chávez this week for the leaders of the mission. He talked to us about following the Spirit and never going to extremes. He also taught us about the organization of the church a lot and how we should never want to be leaders in the church. I agree. Haha. I always feel pumped after the instructions but the trick is applying it to the area and to my life.  After the instruction, a missionary named Elder Stringham came to my area with my companion too. Trio. Tons of swag. We taught to lessons. One to Clara, Karen, and Regina. They are the ones who went to church the last two weeks. They are progressing and Clara said that she will be baptized when she knows the Book of Mormon is true.
This whole week in Mexico was the "semana santa" or holy week. They celebrate and have parties that focus on the death of Christ. I never saw anything that had to do with the resurrected Christ. They also walk around in suits and they look like death eaters. The streets were pretty empty and there aren´t a lot of people in town. It was pretty weird. I never want to see an image of Christ on a cross again.
We also found another family this church. The single mom contacted us and brought her two boys to church on sunday. Her boy of 15 years old is a little depressed. They loved church though. We are going to start teaching them this week.
Today we did a lot of cleaning, washed the clothes, and Clara gave us La Comida. Right now we are getting ready for our district meeting. I am getting a lot better at doing them.
So I promise you all in my next letter I am going to have some experience for you and I will sound a lot happier. I am going to dominate this week and win every day.   I hope you enjoy the pictures! I love you all and have no doubt in my mind that I am where I am supposed to be. And because Christ lives, I can be a better person every single day. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Hubbard

2 Abril 2012

This week was pretty uneventful.  We watched conference this weekend in the Oriental stake which is pretty close to my house. A ton of investigators came which is always good to see. A lady named Clara and her two daughters came. She is a single mom and divourced. Elder Baxter talked to the single moms and Clara ended up crying, she felt so good. On Sunday we had a little family of four come to the morning session. Fabiola, Rodrigo, Osneli, and Ana. They really enjoyed it and are still preparing for their baptism on April 24th. They were even able to see a baptismal service after conference. General Conference is so good for the investigators. The general authorities teach about a million times better than I ever will. Always nice to have Elder Holland just hitting your investigators with the Spirit. I watched the Conference in English in the high council room with like 5 other Elders. One of them was Elder Call for the second time in a row. 

Besides that for this week, I got nothing. We went to the pyramids this morning in Teotihaucan! That was sweet. They are probably the biggest pyramids on this continent but I am not sure. Ever time I see them I just have a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon. We went with my district and with Elder Call. A couple of members took us in their car.  I am so sunburned and worn out. Next week I will send pictures. Right now, my camera stopped working. Actually it hasn`t work for  a week. That`s a little depressing. 

So, sorry this letter was so boring. I know that there are prophets and apostles on the earth today. That Jesus Christ directs His Church. I know that His Church is living and I know that He speaks today. What the apostles and prophets said this weekend was true. We have to study their words and live them if we ever want to be truly happy. 

I love you all a ton. You should especially listen to the advice about hand written letters;) 

Love from gangster`s paradise,

Elder Hubbard

More Hub Pictures~

Elder Rosales and I right before the quake.

Burro-T

26 Marzo 2012

Buenas.

I have a new companion now named Elder Rosales.  He was baptized about 5 years ago and is from Ciudad Madero, Tampulipas right next to Tampico where Tommy will be. He has been on the mish for 14 months and was also in Topilejo for a little bit of time. Tuesday is when we had the changes. President Chávez talked to us about David and Goliath and how we should let other people have the oportunities that should be ours. It was really cool. We were chillin in the parking lot afterwards, all of the missionaries, waiting for our rides to go back to our areas.  All of the sudden, I thought that I was getting really dizzy and about to fall down. Then I realized the whole earth was shaking. Haha. It was the weirdest feeling. Straight power. Haha. It wasn´t that strong though. I never saw one building damaged or one person hurt. Just the stop lights stopped working so the roads were chaos. But that´s normal too. So stop worry Mom and Dad. Everything is fine. Nothing´s going to happen to 150 missionaries outside of the church with their mission president.

On Tuesday we ate molé for La Comida. I wish you could all understand molé. It is about anything that they feel like mixing, mixed together. Chocolate, chile, car parts, who knows what. But it does not make my stomach too happy. That whole night and part of the next day I was suffering. I had to sleep in a members house for a couple of hours during the next day too. But after that all was good. I just hope that they don´t give me molé to eat again.

I went on interchanges with Elder Bentley this week. He is from Wisconsin and new in our district. It was pretty funny working with him. I think we scared a few people but sometimes that happens.  We got reject so many times. So many. But every time I asked him if he had enough faith to find a person ready to hear the gospel. And he always said yes. We were beating a door down and a lady walked by to go into her house. As she was going in, I stopped her and talked to her. We found out that her in-laws and husband are all members and they just came from Veracruz. She was super nice and I know that she was the person we were looking for. She invited us back easily and we are going on tuesday. Her name is Anayeli.  I love that in any moment we can find a person that is prepared to hear the gospel. President Chávez said that there in any given area there are 400 people ready to be baptized that we have to find.

We had another lesson with Fabiola and Rodrigo and their family this week too. We taught them about the Restoration of the true church of Jesus Christ and they loved it. Fabiola already started reading the Book of Mormon.  We invited them to be baptized on April 28th and they said yes easily. Their mom, Leticia Hernandez went to church yesterday. We are also teaching Carmen, whose daughter was baptized a few months ago and is almost ready herself. We are just working out a few problems.

This morning we all had interviews with President Chávez. I love talking to him.  He just smacks me up side the head with the Spirit. I love it. I brought some questions for him and he answered them perfectly for me. That was my last interview that I´ll have with him and then a new president will come. Bummer. 

So I hope this week was great for you. I got my package and my pictures and I loved them both. All is well in Mexico City. Don´t even question it. I love you a ton and pray for you too.

Love,

Elder Hubbard

 Elder Rosales and Elder Hubbard

 Modern plumbing?

I love the closet!

19 Marzo 2012

¿Qué dicen?

This week was about a million times better and more productive than last week. I figured out how to plan the days out a little better with a color coding system in my agenda.  I looked in future investigators, old investigators, and current investigators and we started teaching 12 more people this week.

We had interchanges three times this week. On Wednesday Elder Bodine, who was here in this area right before I came, came to help show me the area and where people live. It helped me out a ton.  I learned a ton too. We practiced being really direct in the contacts and in teaching.  Contacting has become one of my favorite things to do. You never know what you are going to run into in the street or knocking doors.

I also went to an area named Granjas this week with Elder Ferrin in my district. He lived most of his life in Elko.  We had some good lessons together. One of them was with a 13 year old girl. Her mom was telling us how bad she was and how she wouldn´t listen to anybody and asked if we would teach her. She came into the room and really didn´t want to talk and just wanted to go eat. We starting asking about her life and what she likes and found out that she likes art and helping people because it makes her feel good. She obviously couldn´t be that bad. We made an example of the art and taught a whole lesson about the plan of salvation with it. She really liked it and had a completely different attitude afterwards.  It was really cool to see. Sometimes parents just need to explain to their kids why they can´t do something or why they should.

On Saturday Elder Garcia from Colima, Mexico came with me to LV. We were teaching a family that we started teaching last week. The parents are Fabiola and Rodrigo. We were teaching them about eternal families when Fabiola´s mom walked in. She sat down quickly and joined in the lesson which is weird of anybody in Mexico to do. Haha. After we asked if they had some questions for us she said that she did. She wanted to us to explain what it means to be an Elder and she wanted us to explain the Libro de Mormon to Fabiola. Not the normal questions. We found out that she had been talkin to the missionaries in another state and that she and her boyfriend were going to get married and baptized in October. Some things happened and she moved to DF without being baptized. She testified that the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is too. She said she had been talking about going to the temple so she could find the missionaries again when she found us sitting in the living room of her daughter. She is really excited and knows that God loves her and knows what she needs. I do too.

So tomorrow, Elder Gutierrez is going to leave the area and I will get a new companion. I don´t really know who it will be yet but I will let you know next week. Good news from Topilejo is that Esmeralda got baptized yesterday! I wish I could have been there.

I love you all a ton. No sean fritos y echele ganas.

Love,

Elder Hubbard and Elder Gutierrez

12 Marzo 2012

Leandro Valle. Not Topilejo but still gangster´s paradise. Haha. This week was one of the harder ones of the mission. It was easy starting in Topilejo because I didn´t have any responsibilities, just work. Now I am the one who has to plan everything plus worry about two other areas. It´s a little bit more work.  I spent a ton of time planning and looking through the area book for people to go visit this week.  My area is really easy to learn, it is just a square and really organized.  It felt weird on the legs to not be climbing hills the whole week.  I have felt a little lost and unsatisfied but I know it will get better fast. The people seem a lot different here too. In Topilejo a ton of people accepted us when we contacted them in the street but here this week we got rejected a ton. There are not as many catholics but we did teach a Jewish lady this week.  That was interesting. Praying in hebrew always cool. Ha.

In my district I have Elder Herpel who was in the MTC with me. We had interchanges together this week. We got called all sorts of funny names. I had to do a baptismal interview that day too. It was my first one as a district leader. The guy was like 50 years old and has had a pretty rough life. I really liked doing the interview because it was like I was looking at the repentance process through Christ´s eyes.  I felt the love that He feels when he sees us return to Him through the beautiful path of repentance. It was also a good teaching moment for me too. I explained some of the things that he didn´t understand as well. He was able to be baptized on Saturday.

On Saturday we had a stake missionary activity. My stake is called Oriental and there are about 16 missionaries in it. They had been practicing before I came. They did a play about finding our friend that we knew before we came to Earth and sharing the gospel with them. We also sang a few songs that were really cool. It was a great activity. Afterwards we had the baptism of Alexa, Mahonri, Jared, and Hanna. They were all pretty much children but all converts. The water was nice and yellow. The family asked me to baptize the three little kids. The last one I had to do three times because his foot kept coming up. The kid is a little punk though so he deserved it. Haha.

Yesterday I had my first sacrament meeting in a church since I left Fallon, Nevada.  It felt pretty good to see a ward with a bishop and everything. We have Priesthood at 9 and sacrament at 11. During sunday school they asked me if I would give a talk in sacrament because the speakers didn´t show up. I guess I can speak spanish now because I did it with no problem. Oh but the word King Nebuchanezr in spanish is really difficult. Haha.

We only have two other people that are close to being baptized so I just got to do work. Esmeralda and Jauna Romero are getting baptized this saturday!

This is a great area with a bunch of people that are willing to accept the gospel. Don´t be nervous for me, Mom. It is really relaxed here. I live right across the street from a huge mall that even has a Wally World. My companion is super quiet and studies his Preach My Gospel in every free time that he has. Yes, Durango is a state in Mexico. This morning I washed my clothes Little House on the Prairy style by hand because we don´t have a good family like Hermana Lulu to take care of us. Which also means that I am going to lose like 100 pounds here too. Haha. I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in spanish this week and I know that it is true.

I haven´t heard from many of you lately (slackers) but I hope life is good. I love you all! Be happy and choose the right!

Elder Hubbard

 Baptism of Alexa, Mahonri (like the brother of Jared), and Jared

 The water was lemon flavored!

 Elder Gutierrez just dominating his PMG

 The new desk

Doing laundry