Julio 15, 2011

¡Qué tal familia!

How are you doing? I hope that your trip to Las Vegas to see Oliver was great.  How long will you be there for? 

This week seems like a blur and I don´t even know where to start writing from.  I remember on Friday night I didn´t write in my journal because some smart missionary burnt his popcorn and the whole building was cleared via fire alarm.  There are 200 missionaries in my building.  They are a lot like Helaman Halls at BYU.  I live on the fourth floor and my building is called the Joseph Standing building.  It is one of the farthest ones from the cafeteria and main building.  I remember that day that one teacher, Hermano Cragun taught us about faith in Alma 32.  He made it so simple and so powerful.  The key to getting any knowledge is to experiment on the principle.  He also said that when his testimony needs strength, he asks himself simple questions like Am I better or worse because of the church? and Am I happier or sadder because of the church?  The church does makes us happier and better people and I know that it is true.  He also said that the worst feeling he has ever had is guilt.  I think this is the worst feeling any body can have, physically or spiritually.

On Sunday Elder Herman and I were able to bless the sacrament in español!  It was a really cool experience.  The words have to be exact so I had to go through the prayers before hand to make sure I could say them correctly.  Even though the prayer was in another language and I didn´t understand all of the words, I could still feel the power and sincerity behind them.  For every Sunday all of us have to prepare a 5 minute talk in español about an assigned topic.  In Sacrament meeting they call us up to give them.  I haven´t been chosen yet.  Sunday is the day I allow myself to highlight scriptures in my new spanish ones.  I think I did like 50 last time.  We went on our temple walk that night and took a lot of pictures.  I am going to send them to you today or tomorrow.  We had a fireside that night by a guy who wanted us to view repentance as a good thing, not something to dread.  He said  all repentance means in Hebrew is to sigh and turn around.  We don´t have to experience a lot of pain because of the Atonement.  If we don´t repent, then we will have that pain.

On Wednesday our whole district made it a goal to not speak english so that´s what we did.  It was actually pretty funny.  We came up with some funny body language to get the message across.  Things are way more funny in spanish for some reason. Especially stories.  We fasted on Tuesday to get some help with it and I think we all did a great job.  It is so tiring to have to translate all that you need too. 

The gym is still closed so we´ve been playing some softball.  I think I have finally fixed my golf swing so I can actually hit it out of the infield now.  Me and the Hermanator found that if we go to the floor below ours after gym, we can have the showers all to ourselves.  Nice and warm.

Two of the members of our district left on Wednesday for Perú.  Elder Jones and Elder Dickson.  They are loved, but I´m not gonna lie it´s good to have some extra room in our packed classroom.  Haha.  We sungs God be with you till we meet again and they bore their testimonies the night before they left.  Good experience.

So Elder Herman and I now have 3 out of our 5 investigators committed to baptism.  Mom I wrote down, translated, and told your conversion story to help my investigator who´s family didn´t want her to join the church.  It was sweet.  You should write it down for me.  See, you are already a good missionary!  And Dad you should write down your stories about tithing.

I wish I had learned to floss well before I came to the MTC.  It´s so hard and my hands are so big and awkward.  I also wish I had learned the lyrics to every good song ever made so I could sing them when I felt like.  It is so quiet without music.  And sing sessions in the shower only go so far.  Haha. 

So here are a couple things I would like.  I feel needy asking for stuff every single week and thanks for putting up with me.  I enjoy your packages and I think I have enough food to last me for the rest of the MTC! Kay, the pocket watch isn´t cutting it for me so maybe you could go to walmart and get a calculator watch for me.  They have so much swag.  And it would also be nice to have a tiny spanish dictionary that I could carry around with me.

So the thirty minutes is up and I wish I could write more.  The last letter I sent you was a buzzer beater.  I barely hit send before it closed the program.  Haha.  I know that this Church is true and that Jesus is the Christ.  Because of the miracles that he worked on Earth, we can still have miracles in our lives today.  He loves us and wants to be happy.

I love you all! Keep writing me please.  Have a great week!

Les amo,

Elder Hubbard