18 marzo 2013

Suprise! I'm writing on Monday today! The transfer ended yesterday. Mom said that the elders went over to their house to print their transfers off. That would be really nice. The APs just tell us the transfers via cell phone. The monoply cell phone company Telcel here in Mexico doesn't really rep but that's alright. So we took the transfers of the whole zone and then called the district leaders to let them know. Thankfully, Elder Lee and I will be staying together for another transfer! He's a good friend so I'm happy.  I can't believe that I only have two transfers left. It doesn't feel like it at all.

The missionary work in Churubusco should be at full steam in April. That's when we have planned to baptize all of these people that we are teaching. The Ramirez Flores family is still progressing a ton. Only the mom went to church yesterday because her husband couldn't. She stayed for all three hours and is loving the family history class.  We stopped by their house everyday this week to at least say hi to them and keep their minds on the Gospel. They still haven't accepted a baptismal date. That is the plan for this week.

We also found another family this week as a result of some service that we did in the street when I first got here. It is the Capistran family, who, as all families, has a ton of problems but who are also humbling themselves.  There is the gramma, who just got divorced after 46 years of a happy marriage, the mom, the dad, and they have two teenage girls. As we left the first lesson, the bishop said that they will for sure be baptized and we talked about them in Ward Council on Sunday.  We have a cita with them later today and with be taking the Relief Society President along with her husband who is in the stake presidency. It's an all out blitz.

So things are looking up. We should be able to destroy our baptismal goal in Abril. It's three.

To answer some of mom's questions, the diference between a zone leader and a district leader is that the normal missionaries report to the district leaders, the district leaders report to the zone leaders, and the zone leaders report the the APs.  It's just so the mission stays organized. Every Sunday the district leaders all meet us in the stake center and we go over their key indicators and see what their districts have been up too.  Every Monday we go to the offices to report to the APs and to bring materials back to the zone. Nothing too exciting.

I love every one of you! I love Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Nothing is more important than living the Gospel that they have always given the to the prophets. I know that the Gospel is on the earth today and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the kingdom of God.

Elder Hubbard

12 marzo 2013

Familia,
This was my best week so far in Churubusco! For the first time since I have gotten here, we have investigators that are progressing! There are five of them.  I don´t know if you´ve noticed, but I haven´t had almost any baptisms since I left Contreras and I am not really liking that. I have hope for this month though. We have the goal of three baptisms and we are on track to get it. We are teaching an awesome family named the Ramirez Flores family. The mom, Lourdes, is the motor of the family and her husband is kind of along for the ride, but also a good man.  We were at church on Sunday after ward council waiting for church to start and I told Elder Lee that I just wanted the Ramirez Flores family to come. We walked outside and they were coming into the entrance. It was a tender mercy of the Lord.  They paid attention in church and in the family history class were really interested. Lourdes´ mom passed away a little bit ago and when she found out that she will be with her again she started crying. Our plan is to visit them every day even if it´s just for a few minutes and baptize them on March 30th.  That was the best part of my week but I know that this week will be even better.

The other good part about this area is that I eat really well. A lot of the members give us money to eat with instead of inviting us to their house. I don´t like that too much but at the same time, we can always choose what we want to eat.  Last night Sister Mares gave us some empanadas and I thought of Aaron and how much he likes them.  And mom, I have never in my life eaten chimichangas in DF but I have eaten a ton of rice and beans. Mexicans also love jello and abc soup. Who would have thought?

We gave another Zone Training this week, this time with the Book of Mormon. I think that will be my last one of the mission because more than likely I will end as a junior companion, normal missionary. All of the missionaries in our zone trained the ward councils in all of the Churubusco stake. My assignation was to work with the stake president and the bishoprics. So we practiced how to give a BM away, how to invite someone to a family home evening, and how to fellowship someone in sacrament meeting. I know that the members are blessed when they do their missionary work. It is so easy to do. Just do it. You´ll love it.

Anyways, I am doing good. Elder Lee is a stud. We learned how to "bailar el trompo" this week. I´ll show you what that means when I get back. I am a little disappointed with my family because it is March Madness and they haven´t mentioned one thing about it. But I still love you! Have a sweet week.

Elder Hubbard

Sister Mares and family

5 marzo 2013

Hola hola!!
It has been another really fast week. A year ago today I left my first area in Topilejo! I am glad that Lucy Mae is still doing well.  She is a cute little girl. I feel like I haven´t heard anything about Shayla in about 6 months! What ever happened to her?
This week was full of baptismal interviews. The zone had 11 baptisms to start the month off, which is really good. I think I interviewed about 5 people for their baptisms, and one of them I had to do twice.  One of them was for a family of five, so me and my companion did all of them. It´s been a while since I haven´t had a baptism. I don´t know what I am doing wrong but I am still trying. Our goal for April is 3 baptisms which means that I will have to find about 36 people this month if I want to reach the goal. It´s stressful sometimes. My plan is to contact like crazy whenever we are in the streets.
As we were on our way in a micro bus to some baptismal interviews, the police stopped us and told all of the men to get off. They made us all put our hands on the bus and they searched us. Luckily, the only thing that I had was my daily planner and some chapstick. Haha. Mexico is the best.
One of my favorite parts of this week was on Saturday night. We had invited some members to go with us to an appointment but it fell through. Elder Lee thought we should visit a less active sister and her husband who isn´t a member. When we got there we found that they were moving from their apartment to another one in the same building. So for the first time in my mission, I got to help someone move! Down two flights of stairs and then up one. We said a prayer with them too to bless their new home. I have been so sore afterwards. I am seriously weak sauce. Elder Lee and I always go running every morning but that just doesn´t make me ripped. I have stick arms.

We visited our bishop this week and had a lot of fun with his family. He has two little kids and we practiced giving a BM away with them. It was so funny. Little kids are so blunt. The 10 year old took a BM and is going to give it to a friend at school. I want to know what will happen.

Oh, we passed by Aztec Stadium this week when they were about to have a soccer game! That place was nuts!!! América vs. Cruz Azul. It brought back FIFA memories at BYU. And the train that we took was packed. There was no "Book of Mormon space between you and other people" rule. Awkward.

So I hope yall have a good week! Thinks are great here, as long as I find my 36 new investigators. It´s game time. I love you!

Elder Hubbard

26 febrero 2013

Hey familia!!!

I am loving my new area right now in Churubusco. (Choo roo boo scoh) Now you can pronounce it like a Chilanga, mom.  On Tuesday we had to go to the church to help supervise the transfers. We have to make sure that everyone knows where they are going and help them find their companion and then we annoy them until they go back to their areas to start working. The hardest people to get to go back to work are the sister missionaries. Haha. There were a ton of transfers, as always.

On Wednesday we had a Zone Training. We have 37 missionaries in our zone and 7 of them are sister missionaries. We started off with some announcements and then split them up into two groups. I took one of them and Elder Lee took the other. We taught and did a ton of practices. At the end, Presidente Valadez came out of nowhere with a sweet announcement. With all of the new missions in the world, our mission will be affected also. (But not until July 1st.) 3 of our 9 stakes in the mission will be going to other missions including 40 of our missionaries. The best mission in the world will be left with only 6 stakes. That´s a small mission.

The work in our area is really slow right now. We are just doing all we can to find new investigators. I have some ideas that we are going to use this week. We did find a new family of 4 this week but we need much more to be able to accomplish our baptismal goal.

One funny thing that went down was when we were teaching an old lady who is less active. Out of nowhere she just started praying to José Smith. Nooooo. I´m not gonna lie, I laughed a little, and then we taught her that we should only pray to our Heavenly Father. Haha.

So I know that the Lord is hastening His work and we should all see what we can do to help Him. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands is rolling full speed. But I know how it feels to see His work progressing so much and we feel stuck in our own challenges. Don´t believe it though. We are part of His work and glory.

I am going to get on the BYU website and sign up for some classes, Presidente Valadez said I should look at it. Love you!

Elder Hubbard

Lucy Mae Hubbard!!

Welcome to our family Lucy Mae Hubbard!! Lucy was born on Sunday, February 17 weighing 6 lbs 10 oz and measuring 19 1/4 inches long!! We are so grateful for this sweet little angel!!

18 febrero 2013

Welcome to the world Lucy Mae Hubbard!!! I was so happy to see the pictures of her. Congratulations Aaron, Lynze, and Oliver.

Thursday at 4 o´clock I had my transfers and came to my new area. They did the transfers of all of the zone leaders early. I am still a zone leader surprisingly and I am with an elderazo named Elder Lee. He is from Pleasant Grove, Utah and finishes his mission is September. He is a genius who was studying Chemistry at BYU and will most likely be helping me study it after my mission. We get along pretty well. There are about 38 missionaries in my zone. My new area is sick. I´m in the Churubusco ward, in the Churubusco stake. I love it. Still in la delegación Iztapalapa. It was one of the first stakes in Mexico. The members here are spiritual giants.  Our bishop is like 30 years old and the elder quorum president like 26. We live with a member named la hermana Mares. Well, we live on the same plot of land at least. All of the houses in DF are like 3 houses in one. She is awesome though and gives us food whenever we need it. The bad part is that I probably won´t be here for a ton of time because every missionary usually finishes as a normal missionary and as a junior companion. I am looking forward to that. In the area there are almost no investigators right now. They have worked a lot with some less-actives but it seems as if we are starting from scratch. We found a sweet less active family this week and taught a family with about 4 little girls about the Atonement. They understood it perfectly. We also taught a lot of active members and helped them in their missionary work.There are some huge apartment buildings in our area named U.H. Valle de Luces that is completely thug. It is so huge! There is a ton of work there.

The gospel is so cool and if people understood the blessings of it, they would never leave the church. The real blessings come after baptism. I am so glad that Aaron can lay his hands upon the head of Lucy and give her a blessing with the very power of God. You can´t receive those blessings anywhere else in the world. That is what the Plan of Salvation is all about. I know that God is in the details of our lives and he takes care of his children. Keep the faith remember that "grace shall be as the day." Love yall.

Elder Hubbard

p.s. This is a picture of DF´s most dynamic duo.

12 febrero 2013

Familia!

It´s been a great week here in DF. I definitely learned a lot. I was so excited to hear that Travis is going to Melbourne! When does he leave? A missionary couple that was in my mission here is serving in that mission right now. They had health problems so they had to leave. Their last name is Oillataguerre, so if you meet them, tell them hi for me.

So this week I am living in a house with the APs and secretaries in the mission. One of the APs is in my area with Elder Herrera. I got here Sunday night and I am going to be here until Thursday morning and then  will find out where I will be going. I already know that I will be transfered and I have all of my luggage here all packed up. I feel like a nomad right now. This could be my last area which is insane. I am working with Elder Mata who is from my generation. I have known him for about a year and it is always fun working with him. The area that we are working in is really nice. It´s called Coyoacán. There is a lot of turism, there are no hills, and all is well. In my next area I am thinking that I will no longer be a zone leader since I have been one for 6 transfers. I hope I can be a district leader again or just a normal missionary.

My trainer, Elder Leyva will be going home this week. I am going to miss that Peruvian.  Time goes by so fast.

Yesterday I had a Zone Leader´s council  here in the offices that was really good. I feel a little bit overwhelmed with all of the things that we need to remember to do every day. The mission is struggling right now in our leadership. There are not a lot of elders that can become district leaders or zone leaders.

Later today we are going to pick up the package that you sent me. I think that it´s been there for about a week so I hope it´s still there.  I think this is a boring, short letter once again but I promise that the next one will be a lot better. But anyways thanks for all of your emails and for always remembering me. I know that God is in the details of our lives and He gives us the challenges that we need to keep progressing.  I know that He has watched over me and protected me and all of His Children.

Love you!

Elder Hubbard
ps. Here are some good maps of my mission.
https://missionary.lds.org/mcore-ws/Services/rest/mission-map/detail
https://missionary.lds.org/mcore-ws/Services/rest/mission-map/overview