Hey Family!
I'm glad everything went well this week with the bithday and everything! Its kind of hard for me to believe that Riley is already sixteen too! Good luck on the driving test! And Mom dont worry, nothing wrong with having a little missionary mom moment. Sometimes out here the missionaries have well.... "Missionary" moments sometimes also. And thanks for sending letters from Matthew and Spencer, I enjoy reading them. Sounds like everyone is doing really well.
So this week was.... wow a little crazy! We continue to work really hard in our area. And with a trio right now we are able to do divisions and get more done at one time. Its kind of hard for me sometimes because there is just no reasonable way I can describe all the experiences and things that I see on my mission. So alot of things go to the Journal to be reveiwed later Ha! Well the week starting getting a little different on Wednesday. Elder G had to go to the area of the Zone leaders to do 7 baptismal interveiws for them! Which took pretty much all the day in their area. Since we are in a trio we left Elder O with a member to visit and teach all of the appointments we had planned. Since Elder G had to do all the interveiws I played with all the little kids for hours Ha! So that was actually pretty fun, I honestly love the kids here in Guatemala. They are a bit different than kids in the states! Not that kids in the states are bad but when you grow up in poverty, and all the conditions they do. Just pretty tough little guys.
Well sometimes I'm not sure what kid of details you guys want to know...ie mom Ha! But I'm just gonna tell you how it is. Went to bed Wednesday night and around midnight my stomach woke me up! It all began Hahahah! As Brian Regan says it best "my insides feel like they want to be on my outsides". I spent the rest of the night throwing up and sitting in the bathroom. I dont think I've ever had it that bad in a really long time. To be honest there was a moment where I just started laughing at myself. Just the image of myself kneeling in the middle of our little house throwing up in a pan just made me laugh. Kind of like the time we got food poisoning on the way home from Utah. Just the image was pretty funny. So the next morning I stayed in bed not feeling too great. My goal was to get to our interveiws with President Watts and Sister Watts later that Thursday. Which thankfully I was able to do Yay! I was dead but I went and had some awesome interveiws with President and his Wife. I love them so much! They always give me such great advice and encouragement! Honestly this kind of stuff is a rite of passage here! We are pretty sure it was something someone gave us to drink. Because Elder G and O got sick on other days. But definitely hit me the hardest Haha.
The great thing about this week is we BAPTIZED! I baptized F on Saturday in our big ward baptism. The ZL`s baptized a mixed family of brothers, sisters and their kids which was 7 in total. The Hermanas in our ward baptized a man named I who is in a wheel chair which was super cool. And we completed a family with F. I love this man and his family so much. I think I talked a little last week about the changes he has made in his life, wow such a cool story. It never gets old at all to have the opportunity to baptize someone. When I lifted him up out of the water he was just overcome with emotion. Nothing but tears from the moment he came up. I just gave him a huge bear hug!! Nothing sweeter than being a part of the Lord's work. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. The Lord's kingdom has been restored back on the earth through a living prophet Joseph Smith. The saving ordinance of Baptism is critical in out lives. We return every week to renew our baptismal covenants during the sacrament. There is no gift more precious on this earth or in the heavens than the gift of the Holy Ghost. We receive this gift when we are confirmed a member of the church after our baptism. I know and have seen the redeeming and changing power of the Atonement work in my life and the life of these investigators. I feel so blessed to have been able to be just a part of F´s life. It was so cool to see 9 get baptized! We are really blessed all the missionaries in our ward area great and everyone is working super hard!
Days like Thursday on the mission are tough. But I can tell you that days like Saturday make everything worth it! Life is not easy for anybody. The most important thing that we can control is how we respond to our problems, afflicions, pains, and even sicknesses. We have been given a perfect example of how to respond. Jesus Christ took upon himself all of our pains and afflicions and at his moment, he responded. "Not my will but thine be done". We have all been given the gift of agency. We cannot always control what problems we face, but every problem brings another oppourtunity to respond with courage, diligence, and faith in Jesus Christ. For this I'm grateful for tough days sometimes. They test us, but the beautiful thing is to watch someone respond like Christ would.
I love you Mom, Dad, Riley and Zach! I'm doing great! I'm so happy to hear how well everyone is doing. I love you guys so much. Enjoy every day in life! We only get so many here on the earth so make them count. Read your scriptures and say your prayers!
Love Elder Hughes
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