Walk in Sunlight‏ March 3 2014

Hello all!,

 

I hope that every single one of you had a great week. I hope that you found so many reasons to be happy and so many opportunities to help others be happy. ( secret: if you are helping other people be happy, you end up being happy!! )

 

First off, I am going to be tan. Well I sure hope so because right now I am just burnt. It is like 85 and the sun shines off that wonderful ocean all day. Warm weather is good and bad. Mostly good. I still turn the heat on in my apartment though. My poor companion. I really think I have something wrong with me and my temperature control.

 

Mom! You will love what I did. So I ask everyone and their dog, which in California is everyone because everyone has a dog, if they will let us serve them. Nobody says yes. I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and find some service. I asked my ward and got a phone number for the Community Resource Center. We now volunteer every Thursday for 3 hours and work at the bread line. We get to unload trucks of food, organize, do paperwork, gather food for people, give it to people and help them to their cars and so on. It is wonderful! I love it so much. We also get to wear pants and sweatshirts which is lovely. I want to be able to work at a place like this when I get home from my mission. The people are fun and the workers are so kind. Some of the best people a person could ever meet.

 

Mom this one is for you as well. Signing....apparently if you are a sister missionary everyone atomically assumes you are a wonderful singer. Ha. I now find myself in ward choir and singing with any group who needs a little extra support. For instance, I sang with the Young Women on Sunday in Sacrament Meeting. I just feel bad because they thought they were getting singers and instead they got me. My companion is great so I just stand by her and move my mouth. At least I am very willing to try.

 

Miracle story!!!! I get to knock doors every single day. That is just one of the beauties of a mission like this. I am a little different then most missionaries though, because I really like knocking doors. I am always in the best mood when I am done getting rejected over and over. Its strange but it really makes me happy to knock and try. We knock 100's of doors and get a no but sometimes we get a yes. That always makes you so happy and willing to keep on knocking. This week we knocked a door and got a return appointment. We went back the next day and taught a women and her 5 (wait till I explain this family...so cool) children. It was a lesson straight from preach my gospel. It was a lesson that you would think never happens. The mom accepted a baptismal date for her whole family in the 1st lesson. She promised to read and then we knelt down and she said her first ever prayer. What a amazing experience. So I said she has 5 kids. Of those 5, 4 of them are twins. It is like my dream family. They have a 10 year old boy, 8 year old twin girls, and 4 year old twin boys. Right? Its like out of this world. I'll keep you updated on them for sure.

 

One of my investigators is really struggling with the whole idea of us needing Jesus Christ. I could write a whole email on that but I am going to run out of time. Maybe next week I will share my own personal thoughts and insights on why we need Christ. Just trust me when I say we definitely do need Him.

 

President Hinckley said: " Walk in the sunlight of that peace which comes from obedience to the commandments of the Lord." D&C 59:23 says: He who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.

 

I can testify to each of you that I know there is a literal light that comes to our lives when we follow the Lord. The peace that Christ can offer to us is incomparable to anything else (see John 14:27). He is the one who is waiting to encircle us about in the arms of His love. He is the one who is begging for us to turn and accept Him once more. Turn to Him and lay your burdens and your worries and your doubts on His shoulders. I know He lives and I know He loves us.

 

I Love You All,

Sister Huber

 

 

Baby Steps ‏ 3/10/2014

Dear all,

We sang in church this week! Well I played and Sister Grover sang. It went well and we did have investigators come! Margot is the 87 year old lady from Germany that we have been teaching. She is just my favorite. She came on Saturday to a baptism in the singles ward. It was a spiritual experience and she loved it. After the baptism we went in the chapel and taught a quick lesson and talked with her. We asked her to pray about her baptism. She told us she is old and needs to take baby steps. We told her that is just fine with us as long as she is taking constant steps. When she came to church the ward just embraced her and took her in. It was so awesome to see. She loved the simplicity of the chapel. Our next goal with her, is to get her family to join in her learning. Her daughter has a Book of Mormon and thinks Mormons are the nicest people. I would love if all her grandchildren and great grandchildren could join her at church. What a neat thing that would be for her family. Erin also came to church with Robert and Sara.  It was fantastic to see people go up and embrace Robert. People that were his old leaders and bishops. They just welcomed him back and told him how much they missed him. I forget what I have told you, but Robert is a less active from the area and has struggled for many years with smoking.  Now that his girlfriend Erin is taking the lessons, he is trying to come back cool stuff.

We taught Pepper a lesson. Have I told you about Pepper? She lives in a hippie trailer park and is so funny. She is old and loves to smoke and read. We were trying to do family history with her, but now we are actually teaching the lessons. She says she has felt better and been happier since we have come. She said something that really stuck out to me, she said, “you girls just have a light inside of you. It always shines and comes out of your eyes. I want to be around people like that. You are just so bright” When she told us that, we were having a really tough week. It was a hard week to be a missionary. But she reminded me that even when I feel down and don’t have energy or drive, I still have the spirit. It truly is with me always. That is a great reminder to us all. Be the light that others seek. Let it shine out of you. Let it shine through your cracks and imperfections so that other people can find Christ by looking at you. I love that she said the light was inside of us. I hope that the more I learn of Christ and God, the more they can be an actual part of me and cause me to have light and goodness inside of me always.

We had some awful experiences on the bus and contacting this week. A record for sure. Man some people really hate the missionaries. One night we sat down and a man goes, “in the next ten minutes of this bus ride I will destroy all of your faith.” Not a good start to a bus ride. He continued to bash and throw every single thing possible at us. He really knew his stuff. It was awful to hear some of the things coming out of his mouth. When he started talking about the temple my companion got so angry and I thought she might lose it. Turns out he was a member and then really super fell away. He calls himself the spawn of Satan…..great huh? Well not much you can do so I just sat there and sang hymns in my head. That was just one experience of many this week. I got hugged by a drunk gay man who was being very rude. I got told to get out and see the light by an older women in the parking lot. I got swore at and laughed at and on and on. Prepare yourself Seth. The mocking and ridicule is very real. Another man just pounded us about gay marriage, something we deal with ALL the time. Seriously, I think we have at least one conversation a day about why the church doesn’t support it. It is so sad to see how many families have left the church over that one issue. Anyway, it was crazy but I’m all good. Can’t destroy my faith in ten minutes that’s for sure.

This week was also a week of lots of questions. It is totally ok to have questions but it is also so important to remember that we can’t let the questions get in the way of us remembering what we already have answers for. Some things that I have learned have just lead me to really try and understand some of the points of the gospel better. I have such a desire to understand and better root myself in truth. Over the week I have better learned that I don’t need all the answers. God will always give us enough light for the time. I just took some time and wrote down all of my questions. It took over four pages back and front. Then I closed my journal and said: “one day I will know and for now I will just preach what I already do know”. I am currently doing an extensive study on the need for Jesus Christ. I read at lunch, in the car, any time I can. I’m working on better grasping this whole plan and how we all play into in. I am so grateful for my testimony and my Savior because I know I do need Him. The more I study the more I know He truly is the way back to God.

I love you all and I am so grateful for your testimonies and your examples. Another thing I learned, you never know when you are being someone’s rock. I realized I was being someone’s this week and it floored me. I had no idea how much they were struggling until I learned how much I was keeping them going. It’s funny to think that as I am just trying to figure it all out for myself, someone is using my testimony to not lose theirs. We are all truly on a personal journey that forces us to grow and learn constantly. Good thing we have the gospel to guide us and never let us down.  Keep moving forward, even if it is just baby steps like Margot.

 Love ya lots,

Sister Huber

If you work it easy- it's hard, and if you work it hard- it's easy 3/3/14‏

Dear All,

What a fantastic week! I feel like every week just gets better and better. My new saying is: if you work it easy- it’s hard, and if you work it hard- it’s easy. So it is with everything in life.

I feel like I am totally in the swing of things now and I don’t really stress anything but being on time…..I hate being late and missionary schedules cause you to be late a lot. I just always breathe and try not to care. So next Sunday I am doing a special musical number with my companion in church. We have been struggling to get people to come to church with us and we are soaking this for everything its worth. It has become a PACK THE CHURCH opportunity. I literally invite everyone I know to come hear us perform because coming to church is so important. I invite less actives, investigators, and even random people at the gas station. Good thing God made me fearless in that aspect. I will talk to anyone and invite all to come learn of Christ. So far lots of people have responded in a positive manner and say they will come. Cross your fingers and check back next week for an update


We had some amazing lessons and really moved our investigators towards baptism this week. I am getting so excited as we get closer and closer to someone taking that step and choosing to be baptized. We started the week with zero baptismal dates and now we have 2 going on 3. Best feeling ever. They are still going to take some time and work but it’s a huge step for them to say yes and pick a date. I has been so great to ask them if they would be baptized and then to testify of what it will do in their lives. I know the invitation to be baptized is so much more than just the event. I am literally inviting people to come unto Christ. What a powerful question. I try and remember that so I want to invite everyone and not get scared.

One miracle happened last night as we picked up another investigator. The story begins last week when I went on exchanges. I was not in my area but serving in the singles ward for the day. We went to visit a new move in to the singles ward and it happened to be a mix up and was a couple that lived in my ward! We talked with them and the women gave me a referral for a former that had been taught three years ago. She couldn't remember his last name and told me to look for an Andy in my area book. I went home after exchanges and looked through every single former. There was only one Andy and it wasn't where she said he had lived. Me and Sister Grover decided to stop by anyway. It turns out it is a man and his wife and 6 year old daughter. They were taught by the sisters 3 years ago and welcomed us in. They love the missionaries and were so excited to see sisters. We gave them a Book of Mormon and taught a lesson. We are going back later this week to start teaching them. I just know that God had His hand in directing us to these people. So many things happened just right for us to decide to visit them. I have a testimony of this work and the power of the spirit in directing my efforts. I love being a missionary more and more every day and I feel so grateful and blessed to be serving in this area that I love so much.

We lost a dear dear investigator this week. It was a hard blow but I know that she will keep in contact and we will be friends for a long time. I hope that in a couple of months she will be ready to learn again. I know she will eventually join this church and I am just glad I got to be a part of the journey, even if it wasn’t the end we wanted. I do know that God loves her and also is aware our companionships love for her. He has given us more people to teach as we turned around from her dropping us and worked harder. Bottom line is: You have to just be determined and willing to do everything you don’t want to do. If you have the attitude of working on God’s time, you will be willing to keep going and you will see God trust you with His miracles. I love the song: It is well with my soul. I listen to that a lot and I feel the power of the words because I know that all is well and that God has His hand in everything.

I got to go to the temple! Such a wonderful day. So California is going through a terrible drought right now and needs rain. We have all been praying and fasting for it. God answered those prayers on temple day…….it was pouring and the wind was incredibly strong. We had a blast getting pictures and not being blown away. One day I will go and get pictures in front of the “Mormon castle” with a sunny sky. Everyone loves our temple around here. I got to be part of a sealing and it made me so grateful for forever families and the grace of God.

1st Nephi 17:13- And I will also be your alight in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.

I know we all have a personal wilderness that we must pass through in this life. I also know that we can be led by a perfect being who loves us unconditionally and is willing to be with us always. I take comfort in the last line that says we will know it is by Him that we are led. Follow Him and let His light direct your life.

Love ya’ll forever,

Sister Huber