Catching Up!! Mom style.

I looked back today to see how bad I have been.  Yep, pretty bad.  We hear from Alex pretty much every week.  I don't get on the big computer much anymore so I don't update any blogs.  I guess that makes me terrible but I am turning over a new leaf.

Alex only has a year left on his mission.  I know he wants to share his experiences with all of you.  So from now until whenever I am redoubling my efforts to keep this up to date.  I can't find the email  earlier than May ( not so computer literate ) so I will hit some of the highlights before then and just continue  with what I can find.

March 18, 2013

Sorry about the last 2 weeks and email.  All the places that we email from were closed for Spring Break.

These last weeks have been very busy.  No changes for me with transfers but the district got a major overhaul.  We lost 2 elders and gained  4.  They have split Shiprock Area and maid it 2 areas now.  And I am now the person who has been here the longest and I am one of the oldest missionaries in the district, which feels weird.

We have been working very hard and have found a lot of new people  to teach most of them are families, which is wonderful. However, we keep running into the problem of giving all our copies of the Book of Mormon out, which is wonderful but also not very good at the same time. How will they become converted and accept what we are trying to teach them if they can't real what it all weighs on because we don't have a Book of Mormon to give them!  So we are going to do a lot to see if we can fix that problem.

The sandstorm season has rolled in so it will be interesting.  The season is supposed to last til monsoon season which begins in July and lasts till September.  I am ready to shake the sand out of my hair and shoes every night from now on and have baby smooth skin!! hahaha

I can see the branch growing since I have been here.  It is tiny, almost unnoticed growth but it is there and the work is rolling forward.  It truly is like the mustard seed, which is small but in the right conditions (the  gospel) it will grow to be a great plant and a blessing and help those around it.  I know the Book of Mormon is true.  It will change the world and our lives, if we let it.

April 1, 2013

This week has been very good.  We have been working with a less active family in our area and they were at church on Sunday.  He is working on receiving the priesthood so that he can baptize his daughter later this month.

We had so many people at church on Sunday, we barely had room for them all in our little chapel.  I believe there were 48 people there.

We have been very busy these last 2 weeks.  We have found a few great people and started talking with them. Now all we have to do is get back with them so that we can actually teach them.

Not much in the way of sandstorms but every now and then one blows over us.

I was digging out some irrigation ditches this week and realized the phrase "Called to Serve is really the most important thing for the people that I have worked with here. That love for them and the patience to help them come to Christ is only something that comes with that service.  If you don't love them you can't help them because they won't feel it when you teach them.  I just pray I am able to help a few of them to receive the blessing of the Atonement in their lives. Help them to see that this is what their people believed before.

February 3.2013

Hey,

This week has been fast. We have been working really hard. Just going and going. I chopped some more wood and we talked with a ton of people.

This week is also transfers. We got the news on Saturday when President Batt called us. He told me that I would be training again in Toadlena and that Elder Chavez will be opening up Fort Wingate, which has been closed for six months(i went there for exchanges my first transfer out). Elder Bankhead is still my zone leader which is awesome.

I have been really tired this week. It just seems to catch up with me more and more. 

My branch president did give something cool. He gave me a paper that has the sacrament prayers in Navajo.  I am going to be working the next couple weeks with my new companion so that we can say them for Sacrament Meeting one day. I am getting better at reading Navajo but don't understand all the words. I am still working on that. Someday I will get it.

President was down at our church yesterday which was fun, so we got to ask him questions about what areas got opened and stuff, which was nice.  I can't think of too much else to say. It's been really muddy.

 

Love,

Elder Alex Huff

BTW--Alex will be returning from his mission on his birthday June 18, 2014.  Because of the influx of new missionaries all the missionaries from his mission will be coming home two weeks earlier than originally planned.  He is totally excited to be able to come home on his birthday! That means he will only have one birthday in the field so if you are wanting to make his day, plan ahead for this June.--Sheryl

January 28, 2013

This week has been a very interesting week. Some in our district called it our Super Exchange Week. On Wednesday I had Elder Openshaw go to Toadlena and I went to Shiprock, with Elder Davis. Elder Davis has been out for a transfer less than me and rather likes the military. Like the last time I was in Shiprock on exchanges, all of our appointments fell through. But we had some fun tracting and taking with some less actives. 

The time I spent with Elder Davis was pretty cool. I learned a lot and I also learned about some future career opportunities that are available. The more time I spend talking with teachers our here the less I want to have to deal with the bureaucracy that comes with public education. 

After that exchange our zone leaders came out and spent the day with us and Teec Nos Pos(four corners area)elders. Lucky for me my trainer is my zone leader so we got to spend the day with him out in Toad. It has been so muddy out there and kind of drizzling for the last few days so it felt a lot like home. I washed the truck in the rain and came in wet and Elder Chavez was like "you are wet!" I said "I haven't been this wet since I left home!" 

We found a new family to teach and the first lesson went way good so we will see how it goes next time, too. Things are going in some places and others its not but we just keep going.

Have you heard the story of John Tanner before? (note from mom: This is how Alex has heard the story.  IF you want to read a more accurate accounting google John Tanner and read the article from the Ensign magazine.)

Back when the church got started he had a problem with his leg that was gonna kill him, so he decided to let it be and try to do all the good he could. He went to protect the Baptist faith from the Mormon missionaries.  (He took home a Book of Mormon and read it.  Later the missionaries came to his home.) He had faith was healed and baptized that night. Then sold his businesses and wealth and moved to Kirtland, where he paid the mortgage on the temple ground  and loaned over 50,000 dollars to the church and the church bank in Kirtland or Nauvoo. He lost it all. While traveling to Nauvoo he was so poor he had to beg for bread. The prophet had given him a note saying he would pay back the loan for the temple ground to him in any way he could. in Nauvoo John Tanner was called as a missionary. As he was leaving he met with the prophet and talked about the note. When Joseph asked how he could repay the note(knowing that he had no way to do it) John said ' the only debt is my debt of gratitude' and tore up the note. When he did this the prophet told him his family would never beg for bread again. Today John Tanner's descendants own many of the milling companies and trading posts in this area. The milling companies grind the flour the people here use to make frybread.

Love 

Elder Alex Huff

January 14,2013

Yaa'tee'h

This week has been pretty good.  It's been hard work and some good fun, too.  We had a tri-zone conference this week which was awesome.  We got to learn from all the zone leaders and President and Sister Batt, again.  Sister Batt left us with a challenge to update and keep our area books in better condition.  We have a lot of paperwork and filing and all of that to get ours in order. We have also been visiting  a lot of people this week.

The Book of Mormon class that we hold 3 times a week has been going really well.  The people that come every time are starting to really ask questions and to learn and grow.  It is beginning to fill their hearts and not just be a church they "go to."

On Wednesday we went out to visit  a lady.  She had us help her catch, tag, mark, and rubber band some sheeps and lambs.  That was way fun!  We were using shepherd's crooks most of the time then we decided we should just run them down and catch them.  That was way fun!  We have dealt a lot with sheep and goats out here.  I am starting to not notice the smell of them anymore.

I had an experience this week that really taught me about prayer.  I had been praying for some things to happen.  I got the answer to go ahead and try.  When I did, I realized that it wasn't going to happen but I also saw that it had answered another prayer I had asked for.  I really learned that God won't always give us what we want but He will always answer our prayers, and lots of times He will hit two birds with one stone  answering many prayers with one answer or through one act of our own faith.  "Faith isn't always saying to the mountain 'be moved' and it gets up and walks away.  Sometimes it's asking 'Where is the shovel?'"

Love,
Elder Alex Huff

"Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven."

December 10, 2012 (sorry they are out of order)

Hey everyone,

This week has been pretty cool. But also a time of a lot of reflection. It is kind of weird to think I will only have 18 months left on Christmas day, it is kind of a scary thought, it doesn't feel like I have been here that long at all. But I am glad to be working out here among these people. 

We have really started picking up the work. This last Sunday we had a meeting with a committee formed in our stake that leads a program called Remnants of the House of Israel, which right now is dealing specifically with the house of Israel on the Navajo reservation. When they described the program and how we as elders would fit in the spirit hit me like a sledgehammer saying that this was what our work will be from here on in. It was so powerful, I can't wait to get this program really rolling and bringing these children of our Heavenly Father, less actives, actives and nonmembers, into a branch or ward that will truly bless their lives and is self sustaining. 

We have also seen miracles as we truly strive to reach all of our goals, whether personal, companionship or area goals, as we prayerfully set goals God will take care of it after all that we can do. Just like He promises throughout Nephi.

 I am so lucky to be here and to serve here.

Love

Elder ALex Huff

'Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven'

January 7, 2013

Hey,

Well, it has been quite a while since I emailed so I'm not really sure what to say.  The call home was nice.  We didn't have the ability to Skype so we didn't but it was really nice to talk with my family.

The Nez's , one of the family's in our area, gave us some pretty cool Christmas gifts.  They gave me a Pendleton blanket that is black and way cool, and a hat that is kind of like a stocking cap. but it is way fun as well. Grandma sent me a bunch of candy.

We are working hard talking with everyone we can and just trying to serve.  It is hard work here but there are really bright things, too.  Like watching as an active member comes to an understanding of the gospel and begins to do her own member missionary work.  It is so cool to see.

New Years was alright but New Year's Eve was pday and they told us to be in at 7 so we didn't get much done that day I can't really think of anything else so I guess its just Happy New Year to all.

Love,
Elder Alex Huff

December 17, 2012

Ya'at'eeh

This week has been very different.  We spent a lot of time splitting wood. As we split wood at the part-member less-active family's home the mom asked us if we wanted chicken and we said yes.  She told us to take the grey rooster.  She tossed it in a cage and put it in the bed of the truck!  And we drove off with a live chicken in the back!  Elder Chavez had a lot of fun butchering and cleaning it.  But now we have a bunch of chicken in the freezer.

Elder Chavez also made a bunch of Peruvian food called lomo sartado which was very good but different than I normally like.  It was way good!

We have been working hard and trying really hard to not just teach and convert investigators but to teach and convert members as well. With some it is really working and it will be something I think most elders on the rez will doing from here on in.  It is such a blessing and a step forward.

We are getting a senior couple sometime which will truly help.  They do so much good and are such a blessing to the work and the elders.

We had a bunch of snow this week and it has been pretty cold.  I actually started wearing my over coat.  The good thing about the snow is that its not so dusty any more but some of the bad things are that we get mud all over us and our truck. A lot of it!

It has been a good week with much in work and service for the people.  Its crazy to think I will have been out for six months on Thursday.  Time passes differently when you are anxiously engaged in a good cause   And this is the best cause any of us can be a part of.

Merry Christmas.

Love,
Elder Alex Huff