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

3 July 2012

What´s uppp family!!!
I can´t believe that it is already Tuesday and I am writing you once again.
The time is going by even faster now. We are already in the middle of the
transfer. Pretty much, we only work 4 days out of the week so time just
flies by. I feel like I am just starting the week out when it´s Sunday
again.  This week we were absolutely soaked by the rain. Somehow we both
forgot our umbrellas and in the afternoon it started to downpour. We kept
working like it was normal. There is no earthly force that will stop us.
Haha. But we were completely drenched. We got to an appointment and an
investigator gave us a towell to dry off with and hot chocolate.
So we were able to have some investigators in church on sunday for the
first time since I got here. It was interesting because a week before our
ward mission leader gave us the ward mission plan. Part of the plan is that
two new investigators come to church every sunday. The first sunday two new
investigators came. It was so simple. We know that missionary work is for
the members to do and when they start doing it, the Lord blesses us because
we are doing it in His way. We as missionaries can put goals, and plans,
and do the work, but really, our only job is to teach. The Lord blesses us
more when the members do their part.  The two that came are named Yolanda
and Salma. It is a single mom and her 11 year old daughter. They are super
good.  They loved the church too. The members did a great job in
fellowshipping them and at the end of the services, they didn´t want to go
home. They have a baptismal date on July 14th. Yolanda even asked us if we
could visit her more often so they can progress faster.
My mission president is officially President Valadéz. Nobody has met him
yet except for the assistants. They say that he is super nice and shows a
lot more love. We are going to meet him on Friday in a zone leader meeting.
Elder Bodine explained what President Valadéz wants for the mission. He
wants us to work hard, be strictly obedient, and have the Spirit. He is not
going to change the things that President Chavez has done, unless he feels
like he should. I am pumped to meet him.
I feel that every week my letters are getting shorter and shorter, but it´s
just all going by like a blur. So I am pretty sure that this is the
happiest that I have been in my entire mission. The area is awesome and
it´s beautiful. My companion is a boss and we never have any problems. They
gave a pozole to eat twice this week. So good. We are teaching some
escogidos.  Jimmer is a stud. My family at home is happy.  I am glad to
hear mom and dad are spending their entire vacation on the road. Life is
good. That´s all I got from Contreras. I love you all and I miss you!!!
Love,
Elder Hubbard

 The picture of this bum could be the best picture I have taken in my entire mission.

26 June 2012

Hey family,

It sounds like you had an awesome week. Shayla´s married. Mark and Bree are staying in Reno. Oliver turned 1 year old. I turned a year in the mission.  What a blessed life we have! I really didn´t deserve such a good family, but I needed it.

This week we had the farewell for President Chavez and his family. On July 1^st President Valadez will be coming in a bus from Puebla. It is really close to here.  I will definitely always remember President Chávez and be grateful to him. He taught me things that will help me for the rest of my life. Saying goodbye was pretty sad but I know the President Valadez will help me just as much.

So I can´t believe that I have already hit my year mark in the mission. It has gone by really fast but at the same time really slow. I would tell you all of the things that I have learned this year, but I don´t even understand how much I have learned yet. I know that these experiences will help me for the rest of my life.

We had some really cool experiences this week. I was able to go with one of the Assistants to his area to go work with him. The assistants right now are Elder Black and Elder Bodine and I have a lot of respect for them. They were both my zone leaders when I was in Leandro Valle.

In two days, Elder Bunker and I placed 8 baptismal dates, all for July. We are teaching some really cool people. One of them is named Sol. She lost her leg to cancer a few years ago and little by little we are helping her get out of her house and into the real world. She is already in Enos in the Book of Mormon. This week she described feeling the Holy Ghost as little droplets of light raining down on you. One of the most powerful lessons happened when Elder Manning from Las Vegas was with me. We had our first lesson with Jose Luis. A couple years ago, his wife and son were shot. It is super sad. We talked to him about eternal families, and how he can find the peace and happiness he is looking for. Afterwards he said he felt a lot of peace when we were with him. He accepted a baptismal date on July 28^th.

I know that we are all on this pursuit of happiness and we are all on different levels getting there.  But whoever wants it is free to do it. You just have to choose. It comes without money and without price. You just have to try to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Savior and walk part of the path that he walked.

Right now I am loving working with Elder Bunker. We have a lot of fun together. We keep really busy going on interchanges, to the mission offices and to district and zone meetings. 36 missionaries to be an example for. Last night we went to a district meeting that is made up of Sister missionaries. It was definitely a lot different. They just have a different manner of acting. 

So I hope all is well in Fallon. I really miss that puny little town. Thanks for all of your letters and prayers. They really mean a lot to me. Love you all!

Con cariño,

Elder Hubbard

 Mexico City (What a handsome boy!)

 the Telcel buildings

19 Junio 2012- Weddings? I love weddings...

Hey familyyy!!!

So sorry it took me so long to be able to write you. My p-days will now be every Tuesday instead of Monday.  I hope you weren´t worrying too much. I can´t believe Shayla and Jeff are getting married today! I am really happy for them. I hope it will be the best day of their life.  And Happy Father´s day to my dad! Father Sam. It doesn´t get much better.

This week was insane! We had transfers Tuesday morning. We left from the stake center and it took about two hours to get to my area.   We went up in a hippy van with no seats. Haha. My companion is Elder Bunker. He is from Rockton, Illinois which is pretty much Chicago. He will finish his mission in September so he has been on the mission for a while. He is really calm and speaks good spanish. So far I have loved being his companion. We get along really well and have seen a ton of miracles this week. Being a zone leader is a lot different than being a normal missionary. We definitely spend a lot more time making phone calls and on bus rides.  With all of our other responsibilities, it´s pretty hard to focus on our own area.

So I am in a ward called Contreras. It is city, and a little bit of little pueblos. If you want to see part of it look up the Magdalena Contreras, or San Nicolas, La Cruz, and El Gavillero. The area is huge and it is mountainy.  The people give us a lot of the fruit that grows in their yards- pears, mangos, ciruelas, peaches. They are sooo tasty. It has rained almost every day since I have gotten here and I am no longer dying from the heat. I really love this area.  I still don´t know the investigators and the members very well but the ones that I have met are really good.

There is a huge bike path that goes through our area. A ton of people are always walking on it, with the ocassional car or motorcycle that can´t follow the rules. Anyways, this week Elder Bunker and I have studied a lot about vision. In this scriptures it always talks about it. Before we do something, we have to have a vision of it or we will never accomplish anything. I am also making the vision of my life along with the plans, goals, and tasks to complete them. Anyways, we applied what we learned this week. At night during our planning session, three times we tried to imagine a person that we would find the next day that would be prepared for the gospel. We shut are eyes every time and tried to see the person. Then we agreed on how the would be and wrote down the time we would find them in our agends and where(the bike path). All three times we found the person and set up and appointment with them. Yesterday it was a lady with purple pants and slightly over weight. When we saw her walking we immediately recongnized her and she accepted.

So Elder Bunker and I have to direct a Zone Council every Sunday night. There are about 180 missionaries in the mission and 10 zone leaders. So sunday nights, we look at the results with the district leaders. My job is to help them to be able to help their missionaries. So we talked about having a vision of the future and also of the present. Because we can´t get better unless we really know our weaknesses.  Anyways, I though it went pretty well. We also have to go to the mission offices every monday to report to on of the Assistents. I have to report to Elder Bodine who used to be my zone leader. I look up to him a lot and he always teaches me something. Monday nights we go to one of the district meetings in the zone to see how the district leader is doing. This time we went to San Pedro, where I used to go when I was in Topilejo on p-days. It was good to see it once again.

This week I have learned so many things, I am not even going to try to tell you everything. I am definitely a better missionary now than I was a week ago. Somebody told me that serving 1 year in a mission equals 25 years in serving in other church callings. I have felt like I have definitely matured a ton in this year on my mission.  And by maturing a little bit, I have seen how much I still have left to be able to be a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a never ending task, and I will never reach anywhere close to perfection in this life. But I can´t definitely try.

So I hope everybody enjoys the wedding today. It makes me happy to know that my sister will be married in the temple for time and all eternity and be on the track that leads to exaltation.  It´s a tough one. I hope mom and dad don´t cry too much, unless they are tears of joy. I guess I´m the only single Hubbard left! Haha.  I love you all! Eat a ton of cake! Give Shayla a big fat kiss on the cheek from me!

Love,

Elder Hubbard

11 June 2012 T-t-t-t-trrrransfers!!!!

Family!!!!

¿Qué dicen?! It´s been a great week and it was so good to hear from all of you once again.  Last nast we found out the transfers because once again 6 weeks have past. They could be the most anticipated part of the mission, full of drama, disappointment, anger, relief, and wonder. Haha. Not really. But I´m outta here. I have been called to serve as a zone leader in Contreras with an American named Elder Bunker. That was the zone I was in when I was in my first area and I remember going to Contreras to times with Elder Vial. I honestly can´t wait. It´s on the west side of the city, up in the hills. I know Elder Bunker and we will definitely be a good companion. I am also a little nervous to be a zone leader since I will be in charge of like 30 missionaries now. But we´ll just do work.

This week I was able to go to Granjas with my good old friend Elder Leyva.  We have both gotten to be a lot better missionaries than we were before in every part. One of the things that we focused on was the Book of Mormon. We used it in contacting, in teaching and everything. The Book of Mormon is the key to everything. If it´s true, everything is true. That´s why it´s important for everyone of you to read the Book of Mormon every single day and ask Heavenly Father if it´s true. It doesn´t matter how many times that we have asked Him before, He is always willing to confirm it to us once again.  If you want to know anything about this Church, start with the Book of Mormon. I know it´s true.  Elder Leyva is still a really good teacher, and just like old times, we got drenched by the rain. I was standing on the curbed and a car came out of nowhere and sprayed me. I just laughed.

I also went to an area called Iztacalco with our zone leaders for interchanges. I went with Elder Mata from Ciudad Juarez. Kid´s such a gamer. Such a stud. We contacted pretty much non stop. In one of those contacts some guy told us that he has exactly 17 translations of the Bible. Pretty impressive. We told him that we know that the Bible is true but that the Book of Mormon was only translated once. I had the book in my hand and after hearing our contact and giving us his direction, he literally took the book out of my hand and walked off. Robbed. Haha. That was a first.

Yesterday was the best day of the week. Fernanda, a 15 year old girl that we have been teaching for a few months and Arturo, a 50 year old weight trainer, were able to be baptized. Most of Fernanda´s family are members of the church and her uncle is the stake president. She never wanted anything to do the the LDS Church and liked to go to the church that her mom goes to. We were able to help her see the truth and simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was an awesome baptism there with all of her family supporting her. Her brother, Joel, baptized her. He is about to go to Oaxaca, Mexico on a mission. Arturo has came to church for a long time with his wife who has been a member for all of her life. He finally made the decision to carry on and now they are on track to having an eternal family.  It was a great blessing to see this right before leaving Leandro Valle and Agricola Oriental.

So that´s how my week was. I am really enjoying my mission right now and still trying to be better every day. That part will never end. I now understand that missionary work only works if the members to their part. They should live their lives as an example of the believers and talk to their loved ones about the Plan of Happiness that only a few people in the world are blessed to know. The missionaries should only have to teach them. The members live with their family and friends for a life time while the missionaries are there for a few months. I invite you all to share this message with the people that you love most and remember that it´s getting late.

Love,
Elder Hubbard

 Baptism of Fernanda

Baptism of Arturo. He is big.

4 June 2012

Hello Hubbard´s,
So as I went to the mission offices this morning to renew my visa I realized that I have actually been in this place for a while. It seems like I just got here and I have to go sign for it again! I can´t believe it. And then this month I will have a year down. Elder Herman was there and he is also pretty amazed.
We did something super fun this week to find new investigators. In our area there is a huge market in a street called Sur 16. The market is almost all inside a building but there are a lot of people passing by outside. So we bought ourselves some sidewalk chalk and drew the Plan of Salvation right there on cement.  We just had some circles thrown down, some lines, and then a huge sun, and a little star and moon. Then we just started teaching anybody that would stop for a few minutes. Right there in the street we taught the plan that Heavenly Father made especially for us. The same plan that comforts us when everything seems like it´s lost. The Plan of Hope. The Plan of Eternal Families. Nothing is more valuable to know than the circle and lines we put there. When we know it, our afflictions can be swallowed up in the joy of Christ.  It got me so excited to be teaching these things to anybody that would listen.
We also had an experience with the Book of Mormon this week. We have been teaching the Cruz family every since we have gotten here. They are really nice and always accept us but never really progress. Never come to church and just don´t understand very well. But the dad, his name is Sirilo, has been reading the Book of Mormon in first Nefi. He told us when we came this week that he thinks he knows for himself which church is the great and abominable church. He told us who it was and was exactly right. Then he told us how that ever since we started coming there and he started reading the Book of Mormon, he has felt a huge change in his character. He used to be in the army and was pretty rough around the edges, but now I can´t even imagine that. He is way nice. We helped him recognize that he already knows that the Book of Mormon is true and he is progressing lot.
This week we went and visited Fernanda. She is a 14 year old sister of a future missionary from our ward and isn´t a member of the church. He is leaving in July. We have been teaching her for a while and she always comes to church but something has held her back from being baptized. This week her brother talked to her and helped her out. When we went to visit them she told us that she had some news for us. She wants to get baptized this Sunday. It was such a blessing to hear.  It shows how much more important the members are than the missionaries when it comes to sharing the gospel. So give the missionaries at home some referrals!
One of my favorite parts of the week was being able to see The Testaments with some investigators. It is such a powerful testimony that God love´s the whole world, so he sent Jesus Christ to the whole world, not only to Jerusalem. I can not wait for that day when I can see Him and kneel at His feet. Then everything that is not fair about life will be made right. That is the simple and glorious truth of His atonement.
I love you all! Have a good week.
Con cariño,
Elder Hubbard

What is that? A chicken foot? I don't know!

28 May 2012

Hubcaps,

This has definitely been an enjoyable week. I went and got the birthday package that you sent me today in the morning. I loved all of it! Thanks for the tie, the twistables, the shirt, and the journal. I am going to make the cake next monday with the relief society president. I love confetti cake. Doesn´t exist here.  So Elder Ferrin in my district finished his mission this week and went home today.  I have never seen a missionary so sad to being going home. He was a great example to me. But the good news is that Elder Leyva had special changes and is now in my district! Haha. I am pumped. It is going to be good to be able to see him again. 

I got sick on Wednesday and woke up with a fever. I felt so week all day. Since then I have been sick in just about every way possible. But we just kept working and popped a few pills. Today I feel way better and I will be ready to go for the week tomorrow.  It is funny when I get sick here because all of the members tell me how I look so sick and every one tries to diagnose me and give me pills. Haha. They worry a lot. I think I may need to take a pill to flush my system out.

We contacted the poorest, most humble street in our whole area on Tuesday. We knocked every door. Not one of them rejected us. We just went from one to another for like an hour and a half. We have already started teaching a few of them and they seem like they will be really good.  It felt like I was in Topilejo again.

The lesson that I liked the most this week was with Clara. We found her when I was still with Elder Gutierrez. She has had a baptismal date for June 2nd for a while now and we are still planning to have it. We taught her this week really in depth about priesthood authority. I know that the true Church has to have authority given to them of Jesus Christ to act in His name for the salvation of God´s children. This authority is greater than any king or president can possess. This authority was given to the Apostles, lost in the Great Apostasy, and then restored through Joseph Smith. That is what makes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints the only true and living church upon the face of the earth.  Clara understood the lesson and at the end teared up a bunch. I really want to see her recieve her answer and have a testimony.

Yesterday an investigator came out of nowhere and showed up to church. She contacted us to start off with. As soon as she showed up, the members finally did their job and sat down next to her and started talking to her. Afterwards she said that she loved it, and asked where she could get a copy of the Book of Mormon.  I have never had an investigator that does things by herself so much. I can´t wait to teach her this week.

Alejandro and Marcela are still going strong. Every week they are there on time even though the other members show up half an hour late. Alejandro got the Priesthood and is now a teacher.

This week I have been studying a lot about the Liahona that only talked about the Book of Mormon.   Elder Bednar talked about holding continually fast to the rod of iron. This means that we have to read it and study it every single day without fail. I know for myself that there is great power to resist our weaknesses and there is great knowledge in the pages of the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true and that Joseph Smith was the prophet that translated it. I know that if we read it every day we will never stray for the straight and narrow path.  I know that life is hard and it is a struggle. But if we get through all of our useless cares and do what really matters, we will earn our great reward.

Have a good week in Rexburg, Reno, Fallon, and Las Vegas.

Love you like a love song,

Elder Hubbard