Changes! | week 22

Hola familia!!!

Well honestly I'm not quite sure where to start about this week! As a whole it has been, busy, crazy, and completely not normal. Sounds like everyone is doing well and warming up in Rocklin. So just to get things going we got changes last night........................ ( and on a side the mission is crazy we have so many missionaries coming in as we get ready to split)......... I AM TRAINING! I am staying here in Llano Largo for two more changes to train. I am in such a mix of excited and very nervous. I will go to the change conference on Wendsday to pick up the new Elder. Elder G has a change and looks like he is going to be a zone leader somewhere in the mission. Elder O is going to stay with me for a little bit. From what we have heard his visa should be here very soon. I have thought about Matthew recently because I know he trained after two changes also. It is definetly very humbling to have this oppourtunity to serve. I would be lying not to say im a little scared hahah. I know who the Lord calls he qualifies so I am going to do everything I can to ask for his help because I cant do it alone, especially here in Guatemala.

Sounds like all is well in Rocktown. Thanks for the sports updates and everything! Mom your photography is looking awesome. I loved the picture of Jordan how cool is that. The new camera is good. As you guys remember I have buyers anxiety haha It killed me to buy a new one but its a samsung with 16 mega pixels. I love you guys so much!

Well week "7" in this change was just insane. Elder G even commented this week that it was the weirdest, craziest week he has had in his whole 16 months on the mission. Im just going to start from the beginning and give you guys a small snapshot of what went down. To start our week we found a new family! The familia D C, these guys are golden. We found them through a reference here. Mom, Dad, and two kids are so sweet. One of them is special im not exactly sure if its Autism or what but she is the sweetest thing ever. What makes this family so great is they honestly have desires to change and learn. They commented to us in the second lesson we had with them this week that they felt we had been sent to them from the Lord. I also felt and mentioned this to them in the first lesson sometimes you can just feel that our path was guided right to them.

The first few days this week were just super hot. Its summer time down here in Guatemala and for the first few days we just roasted! One thing that I almost forgot existed was air conditioning. So when its hot the cement house just traps all the heat in the house hahaha. This leads us to story number one this week. Wendsday night we decided to sleep on the roof! So we brought our beds up a sketchy ladder and slept under the stars haha! When we woke up everything was super damp because of the humidity haha! On Thursday the adventure continued when a few of our afternoon appointments fell through we decided to go to a colonial in our area that we havent been to before. It sits way out on a ridge across a valley where we live. At about 5 o´clock we had to be back to meet up with a member. We could see our colonial across this valley haha. After talking to some of the local people they told us oh yeah you can cross the valley and get back to Hermano Pedro. Somehow we ended up in the bottom of this gorge with grass taller than we are trying to find our way out. After about an hour of climbing out of the gorge we found the exit! Then met a really mean dog that chased us through someones property and over a fence hahahah. By this time we were covered in grass and ash!

Im not sure if you guys remember the Family F-R. We have been working with them to get them married so I and his son B can get baptized. M and A the mother and daughter are already members. For the longest time it looked like they were going to separate. I just did not want to get married. We have seen just the coolest change with this family. After alot and I mean alot of lessons, and problems we have seen a new light in this family. We went over one day and everything changed. They wanted to get married and the family just had a unity and happiness that we have not seen with them. The gospel blesses families and they are the perfect example. We had them scheduled to get baptized this last Saturday but with the goverment here its super hard to get married if someone came from out of the country. The biggest headache in the world haha. They were missing a few papers still so hopefully we can marry them and baptize them next Saturday. The sweet thing here in the ward is the Relief Society President is a lawyer so we got connections baby!

To make a really sad long story short. We organized and planned a baptism for Hermana C this week. She was excommunicated from the church. We were in the church I was dressed in all white and Hermana C ready to have a small simple baptism for her. To make it really simple we found out at the last minute that she had not had a certain interveiw that is required. We have just been following the direction of the Bishop with her baptism and everything seemed ready to go. She has gone through alot to be able to be baptized and it just ripped our heart out to have to sit her down and tell her she had to wait to be baptized atleast a week. Thorugh a lot of tears dressed in white it was a tough time. Unfortunately the church doesnt work as smoothly down here in Guatemala. There are alot of leaders that are still learning and communication is key. We experienced the effects this week of bad communication. But we are going to keep working with her and the leaders.

Some more notable headlines this week include....Changing a lamina roof that hadnt been touched in 20 years in the poorest condition I have ever seen in my life!

The area here in Llano Largo is on fire we are prepped to baptize this next change which is so exciting. It is completely impossible to document this week. Just add about twenty other crazy situations and things that happened to us. I have just loved having Elder G as my Trainer I love this guy so much. I am going to miss him alot. I am still in shock that im training. The mission is getting so big and I really feel so priviledged to be apart of this great and marvelous work. The mission and this week was tough. As I look back on the experiences and lessons I have learned this week and in the past three months here I am amazed. Through the adversity and opposition in our lives we truly become refined. I love this church and I know that it is true. All you have to do is test it. Read the scriptures, read the Book of Mormon, obey the commandments that God has given us and the witness comes. This next week is going to be a big change. Alot of responsibility has just been put on my shoulders. Sometimes I wonder if im ready. But I know that with the Lord everthing is possible!

I love you Mom and Dad; Riley and Zach! I got the package from you guys this week thank you so much! Have a great week!

Love Elder Hughes