White Wash Training! DEL MAR 2/3/14‏

Hello! So first off I will talk about my area. I am serving in Del Mar. It is honestly the most beautiful place you could ever go. I can see the ocean and beach everyday and the houses are incredible. I am constantly cold though :( I live in my coat and tights. I don't even like tights so that is proof of how cold I am.)The ward is awesome and I have loved getting to meet them and start to teach with them. The place does have a rap though for being really hard and low baptizing just because of the money and lifestyle. Bring it on!! Set me free in the hardest area right out of the MTC and I will give it my best effort. It’s been a party. We actually share the ward with a set of Elders. It’s fun because we eat dinner with them so we get to interact a lot. One Elder, Elder Redford reminds me of Jake Hatch. Jake if you ever read this, please know I found your twin (he even looks like you). I just laugh everyday about it. He will do something or say something and I about die. He is a great missionary just like I know you were! Second my trainer is great! She has been out a year and I feel like we are kind of the same person. We have a lot of things in common. She has had a rough go on this whole mission thing, with companions, areas, and personal things. I feel like it’s great for us to be together. She tells me I'm pre-trained and I feel like that's true because I feel like I have been doing this forever. Honestly it all seems very natural to me. I feel like I am giving her a fresh start and she is teaching me the details I don't know. So new beginnings for everyone! Third the area. This area/ward hasn't had sister missionaries for three years. That is a long time! We are white washing (meaning neither of us knows the area) and opening it for sisters. I know without a doubt that God has been preparing this place for miracles. I can just feel it. There are so many single moms or women that the Elders can't teach. I feel so honored that I got chosen to be the missionary who gets to start it all out. I don't know why it is me but I do know that God gave me this place. I was praying one night and just thanking Him for all the people that the sisters can now reach and teach and I felt the spirit very strongly. I don't want this to be taken wrong, I know a large number of missionaries could do just as good a job here and that it is all about God, but I heard myself saying the words: Thank you for saving this place for me. As soon as I said that I got a confirmation that it was true. God saved this ward for me. I know that the reason it was so important for me to come on my mission now and not wait another semester is because God has been preparing this place and needed me to be the one to help move the work forward. I have a testimony that God knows how hard things are for us and He will always give us more blessings then we can imagine for moving forward when it is hard. Leaving for a mission was the hardest thing I have ever done. I had to give up a lot and really trust in Him. I know because I did that and I followed the promptings and answers I had received, He in turn is now trusting me to find teach and baptize in this special area. I proved to Him I would always try my best and so in turn I got some of His best. It is a very humbling situation and I just hope that I can be the best possible vessel for His spirit so that I can do what He has prepared me to do. In the last week, I have been able to bear testimony to people of things I only know because of the hard times I went through growing up. God really does give us trials to move His work forward and prepare us. We just have to be willing to learn and then to keep looking to Him. Never doubt in the power of the Atonement and a loving Heavenly Father. One special moment I will share with you is about Maribel. The first night I was in the area I was going through the area book and looking at potential investigators. Out of the whole list of them I picked one name, Maribel. I just felt like she is someone we should visit. I didn't know anything yet about how missionary work really works but I knew that we needed to see her. We went over one evening and knocked on her door. She and her boyfriend answered. They were eating dinner and invited us in. Her boyfriend has a brother who joined the church many years ago so they knew about the church. Maribel has cancer and is dealing with everything related to that. The LDS brother had brought the elders by to give her a blessing earlier that week. When we were talking to her she mentioned the blessing and said that she felt so much better after it was given. Her swelling had gone down and her sadness went away. We gave her a Book of Mormon and asked to come back and teach the lessons. The spirit was so strong in the room and I know all present felt of it. She accepted and we set up an appointment to return later that week. When we went back next we were able to teach her the restoration and testify of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. My companion let me be the one to relate the first vision and after we asked her if she thought it was true. She had tears running down her face as she answered our question and said that she believed it was true. She said I know that happened. It was a very special moment and the spirit was there as we told her that God understood all her pains and sufferings and that she could find peace through his gospel. I will never forget that lesson because it was the first lesson I ever taught in the mission field to an investigator. What power I felt when I let the spirit speak through me. I have a very deep love for Maribel and I cannot wait to see where we can take her. Sister Huber p.s. Please send me written mail! p.p.s. Seth get stoked! Missions are RAD (see I now talk like them) p.p.p.s. It is not just a dream. It is really really hard but there is enough good (see above) to make it all worth it. Just to be real with y'all