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

November 26, 2012

Hello everyone,

This week has been awesome. We met a guy on Saturday and he wanted us to come back and help around the farm on Tuesday  We came back and he wasn't there but we met his dad. By the time we had finished helping his dad, the guy had come back and we were able to teach him. 

The next day he called us and wanted us to come out and butcher a sheep. So we got right out there and by the end of the day I had my first experience with Navajo mutton and intestines. It was pretty good. Both he and his mom invited us out for Thanksgiving which was a nice surprise. We hadn't planned on having one this year. We went out and I worked on building a fence and leveling land and driving fence posts while Elder Chavez helped out shima(the mother). We had lunch with their whole family and I am really hoping that all the time spent will turn into a golden investigator family. They are just an amazing family. 

Other than that we just tracted and tried to visit everyone we could even with the holiday. Holidays are the hardest time to tract and teach because most people don't want you there, but we did our best.

Training has been different and hard but I think I am figuring out how I should do it now and we are starting to hit our groove with how we teach best together. It has been a huge learning experience and will be cool to see how it changes in the future. That's pretty much it.

Love

Elder Alex Huff

November 19, 2012

Ya'ateeh Shakis's(not sure how to make that plural)

This week has been a crazy week. I got my brand new companion on Tuesday morning, straight from the mission home and MTC. It is really odd to have a trainee as a companion. It takes a lot of work to adjust. His name is Elder Chavez and he is from Peru where they are building the temple. He moved here when he was 7 and lived in Bountiful since then. He reminds me a lot of Brandon sometimes. 

We have spent a lot of time hogan hunting, which is pretty much what tracting is once you get out of the nha(government housing) around here. Just pick a dirt road and see what's down it. Not the most effective way to find but we have started teaching 3 new people this week, which is really cool.  

After we washed the truck we went up the mountain to do service again and it is all muddy again. Just not as bad as it was last week. We spoke in Sacrament Meeting and I will be teaching Sunday school again next Sunday so that is good. 

I can barely remember what happened this week it has been so crazy. I know that the gospel is true and that the Lord is running this mission and this companion ship, as it should be.

Love, 
Elder Alex Huff

November 5, 2012

Ya'a'te'eh

This week has been good. We have been working hard, and still having fun, which is how it seems to go most of the time. 

My companion Elder Eging has been in the area 8 months now and has been 13 months of his mission on the rez, so he says funny words all the time like 'sit on the floors' or 'lets go chop some woods'. Its almost like he's barely speaking English now. 

We started teaching the children of this less active family this week. Even if people never come to church they always want their kids to be baptized. We taught them twice this week and the kids were at church. It sounded like part of their family will be there next week, I hope that us teaching the girls will bring the family back, because they are just wonderful people. 

I got the chance to teach Sunday school again this week, which is still an odd experience  No one really ever wants to answer questions so there will be times when I ask a question and sit and wait for an answer and no one will answer so i just end up saying the answer and some other stuff. I do kind of like teaching it though, it gives me a way to serve the people and also to express some thoughts that I wouldn't any where else. 

We are starting another scripture study class during the week on Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays which will be really good. We will start with the Book of Mormon and go from there on. I am so excited about this because I know it will be a blessing to these people if they are able to understand the scriptures better. I have found a true love for the scriptures and the doctrines out here and I simply want to share what I know and what I have gained with everyone.

I know that I have a Father in heaven who loves me and knows me perfectly. My Savior and My Redeemer is Jesus Christ, who died and now lives for me. And I know that they have put me here for a reason and I will work until they tell me 'it is finished.'

Love, 
Elder Alex Huff

October 29, 2012

ya'ate'eh

This week has been interesting. As I wrote last week I was out with food poisoning, and the really hilarious thing was that on Monday night a member brought us dinner. I got a burger and Elder Eging got some octopus. He was sick until Thursday  A rough little while for us out here. 

We did get to meet with some people who we haven't talked with for awhile. One of them even came to church. He was there for part of our Sunday school lesson. After we finished it he came up and was asking about the lesson. He wanted us to come over on Saturday and talk about it with him. Which was really awesome. 

On Friday night we got a call from our Sunday school teacher who wanted me to teach the lesson. Talk about kinda short notice, but said yes. I just prepped and gave the lesson like it was in the book, with my own Alex flair. It went really well I think, the Lord blesses those who rely on Him to teach. 

Other than that we just went to work. We did wake up one morning to find that our truck was scratched up by what looked like paws but there isn't anything with paws like that out here so that was kinda weird. We really have just been working and getting ready for this next week. We should have a really nice week.

love

Elder Alex Huff

Hey,

So I am out in a Branch again, and we only had twenty-seven people at church on Sunday. Which seems like it is less than usual for out here but I've only been out here for a few Sundays so far.

When I got out here I expected to be in small towns most of the time. When I thought small I thought like Stanwood back home (Stanwood is a 4A school for those wondering how big!).  When I got to Ramah I saw what a small town actually is, everyone was related and there were only about 5 streets! Compared to that Toadlena isn't even a town. It really is just a tiny community with a trading post, a couple churches and a gas station that is 12-ish miles from most of the people. Just a tiny little place, but from our trailer and the church, which is at the base of the mountain, we have the best view over the whole place. Some nights we can see the lights of Farmington from where here.

This week was very different from normal. P-day was way good. We climbed part of  Bennets Peak (way steeper than we thought it would be) and then climbed up the mountain behind us. It was also way steep but I just went up the side of it and the view from the top was amazing! Then on Tuesday we got to have a zone conference with Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy. He spoke on some really great things. Some of the most interesting was that they had been considering changing missionary age for about a year but didn't decide until now. Along with that age change comes another change. All missionaries, starting January 1, will spend only 2/3 of the time they do now in the MTC, so for English speakers its down from 3 weeks to 2 weeks. More responsibility will be placed on the trainers of those missionaries than ever before. Its going to be very different out in the mission field in the next few years. And I have already started to see the change in peoples' decisions. A friend from school wrote to tell me she was putting in her papers in the next couple of months. I never thought that she would serve but now she is and she will do a wonderful job out in the field. Then after our zone conference I had exchanges with Elder Vawdry from back home (Arlington 3rd) which was pretty fun and really different from my last exchanges. When I got back to Toadlena I got pretty sick, I think I threw up 5 times on Friday and wasn't really able to work or go out till Monday. We think it might have been some lead poisoning cause I found some shot in the venison I ate the night before, but whatever it was it was not fun. And so i didn't even get to teach in Toadlena this week because of that.

Those days you are sick feel like such a waste of time. Other than that it was a really good week and I can't wait to get back to work.

The gospel and the priesthood truly will and do bless our lives so much.

Love
Elder Alex Huff

Baptismal Font

Hauling wood with our truck.

Old Zuni Mission

Hahhahaaha

Look close and you will see the "roads" on the reservation!

Kachinas painted on the walls.

Sunset over Ward building in Ramah, NM

A Good Place to Be

Ya'ate'eh

This week has been awesome! We spend so much time out doing service, usually up in the mountains hauling wood for the people and trying to get people back to church. Its hard work but it is satisfying to see the change come into peoples lives as we work and help them realize what the gospel can do for them and why it is so important.

My companion and I are starting a diet this week :( no sugar and lots of veggies and chicken. We are also doing the Insanity Asylum workouts in the morning, which is nice since I left the weight room we had in Ramah.

We were hauling wood Friday and Saturday and got way up on the mountain behind us and got some amazing views of the flat lands and of the mountains. Today for p day we are gonna climb a lone peak out in the desert in our area and then take the rest of our district on a hike up the mountain. It should be a really nice day.

We finally met with one of our investigators, who is very different than most people out here. He is a white guy who is rather involved with his faith, both of those things are the rarities out here in the rez.

I have really been noticing the land this last week. I can and have literally seen places that make the scriptures about rough places becoming smooth and smooth rough and cities being swallowed and destroyed, come to life. You look at them and you just know that it couldn't have been like that before but that it is like that now. I love seeing the scriptures like that.

I am way excited for tomorrow we have a general authority(one of the ones I got to listen to at the Stake Conference we had last month) coming down and speaking to us, Paul V. Johnson. It should be really good.

I finally had my first sacrament meeting out here in Toadlena and it was different. The schedule was backward and Sunday School and one of the talks were in Navajo.  I couldn't understand those. I am trying to learn it but it is way hard with all the little differences that it has and how none of it makes sense.I have to say it is the language that makes no sense to outsiders and very little sense to the natives. But it is fun to learn and to figure out and to make a little progress with. Teaching would be so much easier with some of the people if we spoke it already but I see why they don't teach it, since not many people speak it fluently any more.

Daily study is so awesome! I have been learning so much from the scriptures and seeing so much more of the connections that is in them already. I wish I had been doing it at home already.

Something funny that happened this week was that we noticed a rock we always drive by is shaped like a thumbs up, and its funny cause that stretch of road has a crapton of hitch hikers!

Everything is getting cold here and all the leaves on the mountain are yellow or orange by now and tons of them are on the ground already. I am grateful the Lord chose to send me here, its a good place to be.

Love

Elder Alex Huff

New Area

Hey
The new place is really different. The Navajos are completely different than Zunis. Finding is really hard out here once you tract out the government housing, after that you have to go "hogan hunting" which is pretty much taking a dirt road and seeing if people live on it.

It is way hard to find out here. But I like it, it is great! I just have to be real careful with eating fry-breads otherwise i will gain a ton of weight. We usually eat them with powdered sugar or honey, which tastes awesome but when they are the size of a dinner plate you can really be putting on some weight if you aren't careful. I will make some for everyone when I get home.

The people are great, and crazy. It seems like most of them love the missionaries but will never follow through with much. We will go over and talk with them and they will tell us they know the church is true but then they will never show up, which is kinda odd. And if they offer you something you pretty much have to say yes or you will offend them, which is different as well.

The area isn't to much red sand just brown sand. We went up in the hills on Friday to go chop some 'woods', as they say out here. We took 3 axes with us and we broke one, lost the head off another and threw a huge splinter off the third(we didn't have anyone with us, so no chainsaw). I felt pretty bad that we broke 'em but Elder Eging doesn't care. Elder Eging is great, i have been getting along with him really well, although it was a little odd with the change. He cooks really well so we eat pretty well and people just give us food too.

We watched conference with a less active and in Shiprock, and in our district the news about missionaries caused quite a stir. Oh and you will never guess who I have in my district. Nick Vawdry from back home, he was friends with Ash and from one of the Arlington wards. That was quite the surprise to have happen.

The transfer stuff wasn't bad at all, I just went into Gallup early and spent 4 or 5 hours with my zone leader and another elder who was being transferred. We taught a lesson and tried to find some refferals. Then the transfer van came back from Holebrook and picked us up and off we went. We probably got to Farmington around 8 and to Toadlena around 9:30-10 pm.

We had some surf and turf yesterday with the less active which was pretty cool, big ole steaks and some crab legs. We also helped rescue a golden eagle. The eagle had a broken wing and we called the ranger and helped get it into a box and stuff, that was fun and I got some great photos. The views out here are amazing, my camera cant even do them a little bit of justice.

This p day we are going into Farmington and gonna check out some trading posts and jewelry shops that give us killer discounts.I'm looking for a keyboard to start spending a good amount of time practicing when we go home for the night. I have been working on learning Navajo from elders and from the people we visit but it is slow going so far but its only been a week. I would really love a Navajo to English dictionary for Christmas.

I can't think of much else that is going on except we will be climbing Shiprock and Bennets peak on p day next week which will be way cool.

Love
Elder Alex Huff

My First Transfer

Hey Family,

So, I have kinda stopped trying to learn Zuni since I learned that I am getting transferred this week. I have to be in Gallup at 12 Tuesday and will work with one of my zone leaders and another elder as I wait for the transfer van to go out to Flagstaff and Winslow.  Then it will come back for me, and take me up to Farmington. Once I get there I meet up with my new companion, Elder Eging, and will ride back down towards Gallup again to get to my new area. I will be serving in Toadlena, which is deep in the Navajo Res, I will have a real hard time understanding the people. But I will get to go into Farmington for most of my pdays which will be nice, and it will be nice to talk with President a little more often.

 

President is sending me out there to help the elder and the area, I guess. The elder is a little homesick (he only has 6 months left so it is kind of understandable). I guess the area is right on the edge of being super productive, so it will be a really big change and it will nice to have it be different. The area will be super different, out here they have trees and sage and a little bit of grass but out there I guess it is just red sand. If you can think of some of the more desolate places in the John Carter movie then you are probably pretty close to imagining what it is like. They will live in hogans which are their houses, which are circular and one room and dirt floor usually. I have heard there are no cattle fences so livestock: sheeps and elks and cows and deers(as the navajo say), will be all over the road and everywhere else. 

 

This week has been amazing. The baptism went through and both President and Sister Batt were there and they both spoke. On Sunday we got to confirm and ordain him to the priesthood which is amazing. Then he got up and bore his testimony of his own choice which was so cool.  President Gibbons asked me to sing the closing hymn in Sacrament meeting. Everyone knew I was leaving so it was kinda special. Then right after that our Sunday school teacher asked me to sing a song for Sunday school to help her emphasize the lesson which was rather fun. I love being able to share my talent so much with these wonderful people.

 

On Pday Elder Bankhead and I went out to some natural bridges above Ramah. As we were hiking up I split my pants in a big way. I had been patching them with ducktape till I could get another pair but President Gibbons gave me a pair of his which was pretty nice. So I am good for pday and service pants right now. On Saturday we were doing service for some folks fixing a fence on one of their fields and we heard some elk bugling. We went to take a look and I saw a couple but Elder Bankhead said he saw 6 or 7 bulls and a bunch more cows, that was pretty cool.

 

President Batt said something about me training in the future so I have that to look forward to in some of the next transfers. I think that would be really fun but also really hard to teach someone and our investigators at the same time and also to be in charge of an area. Being in charge of an area is kind of a scary thing to look at. I dont know how I'd be able to do it but I know that the Lord will never ask me to do something that he won't support me in.

 

It is so amazing to read through the Book of Mormon slowly and to be praying to learn what I need to know each day because when we do that we get things that we never would have seen or even noticed before, and it just reaffirms my knowledge that this church is true and that Christ is at the helm and that he is teaching us what we need to know as we need it and as we will accept what He is teaching. Christ is my savior and my redeemer.

Love 

Elder Alex Huff

Gamilli

Singing in Sacrament Meeting

Hey,

This week has been good. I sang A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief in Sacrament Meeting this week. It was great, President Gibbons transposed it and truly accompanied it. I feel we did a real nice job. I think it really helped the people of the branch. I will speak on recognizing the Spirit on the fourth Sunday of the month. 

I feel rather adjusted, although please don't ever ask me to be able to understand a Navajo giving directions!  It's a lot of lip pointing and odd distances and semi coherent words. I try hard but they never make much sense with their directions. We talked with four people trying to find this less active and they all gave us different directions, and in the end we never found her, just got what we needed from someone who knew her. 

We were helping out an investigator this week with cutting down a tree. The tree pretty much looked like one of the trees in Hatari (John Wayne safari movie). The Zunis who were with us were kinda going crazy with planning it all out, they went to a lot more effort than I would have but I guess that's just the culture. The trunk of my neck got a little burned that day and it has made wearing white shirts real fun the last couple days.

We have been working real hard to try and get people to accept the gospel but we hardly find anyone. When we do they always have a problem committing, usually to the law of chastity. No one gets married out here, its really sad to see. Our guy with a date for baptism didn't show up this week. We don't have to push his date back yet but he really needs to be there, you can really tell a difference when they come and when they don't. 

This is the last week of the transfer so it's kinda strange feeling, I kinda feel like Elder Bankhead will be going somewhere else and I will have a step trainer but I don't know. 

We are having a sweet potluck this Sunday in Zuni for Branch Conference. There is gonna be brisket and turkey and ribs, so good. They have some of the best fruit down here, melons are way good and the grapes as well. Green chile is really not that bad, you just want to eat it with something cause it can have a boring taste before the heat. For some reason we eat quite a bit of orange chicken in members houses, I don't know why but they seem to really like it. 

Well, that's all!

Love, 

Elder Alex Huff

Keshay!

keshay(hello in Zuni)

The weather you have isn't hotter than down here, it gets up to 90 everyday usually before the storms roll in. We have had some pretty big storms the last couple days! Our truck was all nice and clean then the storm hit and we slipped and slidded all over the road and got mud all over the truck. Elder Bankhead cleaned it all up this morning. He never really lets me do any of the cleaning. 

We got a date this week for one of our investigators. He decided he wanted to get baptized on his birthday, which is guess what? the 28 of September. Talk about a crazy coincidence! ( That is Taylor, Alex's brother's birthday.)  We talked with him on a night when Presdident Batt went around visiting with us, which really helped. He has come so far and will still go really far in the next 2 months. When we act in faith THEN miracles happen, just like with prayer. When we ask for something we have to have enough faith to act as if it will happen and it will. 

Our pday today is going to be laundry in Gallup since we are already up here, then lunch and some sports with the zone at the stake center here i believe. After that we will head back and have home evening with a family in Ramah. 

We went to church in Ramah this week and I have to say I kinda like going to Zuni better. Although I have to talk in Zuni on High Council and Branch Conference Sunday I believe. Then I sing the Sunday after. 

Elder Bankhead and I went through a wolf sanctuary this week and saw some pretty cool wolves. 

They actually ask us to plan service on days other than pday for some reason, but we should be taking down a tree for one of our investigators soon. We never really have enough miles but we try not to do stuff that we don't need to. They never really call us on it. 

We have 5 new investigators this week. A family in Zuni and another single guy in Zuni, as well as a young man in Ramah.  We haven't met the father of the family yet but everyone else seems really interested but we will see. I also went on exchanges this week out to Fort Wingate. It was a hard day for us because it was the first of the month on the Navajo Res. Everyone was in Gallup shopping or drinking. 

The MTC wieght has changed more from fat to muscle with our workouts every morning. President Gibbons really pushes us. Well I can't really think of anything else, so I guess that's it for today.

love

Elder Alex Huff

Oh and if you want to send me some talks from general authorities and such, you can. I have really been enjoying reading them and learning from them. You could invite others to do the same.

July 30, 2012

This week was quite similar to last week. I sent home a couple things. The letter in the package is kind of my ramblings so read at your own risk ha ha! 

I haven't been driving the truck yet but I got the nod of approval from President Batt this week at zone conference. That was pretty cool, President Gibbons came up to meet President Batt and President Batt had him speak to us. Hahaha, I think that I surprised President Gibbons. I did gain some wieght at the MTC but I think I have most of that off and exchanged it for some muscle. The morning lifting with Elder Bankhead and Pres have really done the trick, as well as the change of how and what I eat.

The people we teaching is a weird story. We have been teaching the same people for a looooonnnnng time I guess.  We haven't really found anyone new to teach, which is really hard, but from what I have heard about Zuni there has been tons of people taught but they always stop when it comes to one thing whether its drinking or getting married. Something always stops them from making the step to baptism. 

Again zone conference was great. I got to have a nice talk with President Batt. He explained a question I had quite nicely. He explained that when someone has always done the right thing and is still doing it the Spirit is always with them and they really feel it when it goes away but others feel it in bursts and lose it quickly as well. That just really helped me because I always thought something was wrong but it wasn't. That seemed to be the case with a lot of people I've talked with out here in the field. President Bednar said in a talk that when you have the Spirit always then it doesn't have to shout at you to do something, you do it because you think its right. We see another example of that in 3 Nephi chapter 10, I believe, when Nephi is walking home and pondering. 

President Batt said we can go to the temple with investigators or reactivated members if they are going to the Snowflake Temple. That's pretty much it. Send another one next week.

Love

Elder Alex Huff

Pioneer Day in New Mexico

On Saturday we were manning a booth during the Pionneer Day celebrations, and some girls from Utah came up and said that it was a tradition of theirs to send pictures of missionaries to their parents so that they know everything is alright. And so thats what happened. The other guy is Elder Bankhead. That was a rather fun celebration, a pagent and then a tiny parade and booths. It was really quite cool to see how, as a missionary, you don't have to worry about food or drink too much, people were bringing us water and snocones and burritos. The promise to missionaries to take no thought for food or drink is really true when out serving these people, especially the Zuni, always giving us food or drink.

Today was not much of a normal p-day I guess. We went to work out at 6 in the morning with President Gibbons(really cool guy). Then we ran out to Zuni to help this older brother who can barely see put down some roofing and to switch out some sheets of plywood. They don't really do shingles out here, its rolls of stuff and if not that, then its sheet metal. Parts of the places we go look like a 3rd world country, its kinda crazy. But most people live in mobile homes with some houses in Ramah and more houses in Zuni. After the roof, we ate lunch in Zuni and then came back for a bit of study and to wash our truck cause we have zone conference on Friday. 

Zone conference is in Gallup (NM) which is 45 minutes away going about 65 the whole way, and its just our zone, and the Zuni Branch(which only had 45 members there this week)  are supposed to be feeding us. Elder Bankhead and I have to leave our apartment at 7 that morning to get there in time to meet with President Batt. I did learn that one of the guys from my district in the mtc is out in my zone with me, Elder Meng, the one who's shoulder I messed up. Its pretty cool to see him at zone get togethers. 

Our normal day right now is wake up 6:15 go work out till 7:15ish then come home eat oatmeal and drink some protien, shower then study from 8 to 11, with 2 of those hours being companion study, that's part of the 12 week in-field training. Then we have been eating lunch in our apartment with a little bit more study til we leave at noon. Our apartment is tiny by the way, take a couple feet off every direction in the garage and that"s pretty much it. I'll send some photos of it soon. then its out to work, and we have to leave Zuni around 8:30 to be back by curfew, its 30 minutes out. 

We have been teaching this one family for awhile but as seems to be the case with Zunis the committing is one of the hardest parts. We also have this man who is ready to commit he just doesn't think he will be able to be ready before the end of the year and that will be too much time, cause he doesn't really have any major things he has to change. Another guy is probably only 35 and he will get baptized as soon as his probation is over. Then another guy who is just not sure he wants to give up the Zuni religion entirely because he likes the Zuni dances, but he doesn't have to give that up just as long as he realizes it will become culture instead of religion. Not much else in the way of investigators but we spend lots of time with less actives just because there are so many who have been baptized but chose to be offended or just quit coming. 

Yeah most days kinda feel long but looking back its hard to see it as a month and more that has gone by. Every day is just so similar you can't really keep track. The worst days are when all your appointments fall through cause you know they are there but they just aren't willing to talk with you that day. 

I got the card from grandpa and grandma, make sure my emails get forwarded to them, and also the wedding announcement, nothing much else comes hahaha. It has been way more of a sauna down here, mom haha, especially since its monsoon season for a little bit more, but supposedly then it will all quit raining most afternoons.

I will be singing 'A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief' in Zuni Branch a couple of weeks from now. President Gibbons is pretty good on the piano and a music teacher so he will be playing along, he is the one who suggested I sing. 

Its pouring rain and thunder right now, I can hear it. That is really all I can think of right now, maybe I'll think of something later but that really is pretty much everything.

love
Elder Alex Huff

Oh and I ate a halepaeno (Mom's translation-jalapeno) green chile the other day and it wasn't that hot!

My First Area

7/11/12
I got the package that you mailed when I left the mission home on the 10th. My Trainer is Elder Bankhead from east of Pocatello.  He is a farm boy and that is what he wants to be when he goes home.  We are in Ramah, New Mexico, which is 45 minutes south of Gallup, which is where our district meets and the zone leaders are.

We drove 3 hours last night to get here.  The area holds Ramah, all the Zuni rez and all the Navaho rez but we mostly work with the Zuni.

Oh, and my trainer is only at 4 months.  Gotta go.

7/16/12

Yes, I have more than just Ramah, we have the whole Zuni res as well and a part of the Navajo res around Ramah. Yes, I got the water pictures in the package and I got the candy and thought that it was kinda funny.

I love the area. The people are so kind, the Zunis will give you food or water when you go into their homes, as a show of respect for what you are doing. We met a man who is kind of a perpetual investigator, and he does lots of stuff with the culture and stories down here, which will be really interesting and helpful to talk with him. 

Most of the work we do is down in Zuni, simply because the people of Ramah are baptized or they don't want to be at all. Most of our appointments fall through though. We had a whole day that was full of appointments and then we had none of them go through. And the ones we have taught always have the one thing that is holding them back, like common law marriage or the priesthood or other stuff, but its always just the one thing.

And 78* is a very cool day out here. Most days its up in the 90's if not more. Almost every evening there is a rainstorm or lightning and thunder, although they somehow miss Zuni and Ramah. 

My companion gave me a letter that Wilford Woodruff wrote talking about the natives, that said most of the Pueblo Indians are actually Nephites and that the other tribes that were raiders or nomads were usually Lamanites. When I see the people and the attitudes and the history, I really believe it. There is such a difference between Zuni and Navajo, in looks as well as in work attitude and focus. Zuni jewelery is way better than Navajo stuff, usually. 

My companion, Elder Bankhead is cool. He is a farm boy from Malta, Idaho area, worked as a diesel mechanic for years before he came out. He's 26. He and President Gibbons have got me heading to the gym and working out in the early morning. I don't know what else to say about him. 

I have really been working hard to do everything like I should and be exactly obedient, its not that hard but you have to work for it. President Benson once said that "When obedience ceases to become an irritant, and becomes our quest, then will God endow us with power." or something really close to that. That is my goal and my quest. I began reading Jesus the Christ by James A. Talmadge and I really like it. There is so much knowledge there to learn and to have brought to my understanding, I may want a copy sent out later. 

I have eaten more beans than I would really like to have in the past couple days but that's what the food is down here so that's what I'll eat. Oh, and I ate sheep stomach but that's no biggie. Well, that's all I've got this week.

Love

Elder Huff