7/28/14

Hey everyone!

This week has been incredibly amazing. And it all starts with Belen and her nine year old daughter Ashley. We´ve been working with them since I first arrived in Tungasuca (about two months now). They have been going through some really hard trials. Belen´s husband cheated on her and left her, and as it would to anyone, it turned her world upside down. In Peru, it´s even worse, because there´s no such thing as government help or child support. So she was left without family and income and well, of course it´s been really hard. Well, she´s been preparing to be baptized with her daughter Ashley for about a month now, but before being baptized you have to go to church at least three sundays (amongst other things) and for some reason (Satan, lol) every single sunday SOMETHING happened and she wouldn´t come and we had to keep postponing her baptism. Well, finally, two sundays ago, she came to church, even after going to the hospital at 4 in the morning because her daughter had an asthma attack. They went straight from the hospital to the church and finally were going to be baptized this saturday!!! We were SOOO excited! Well . ..  the next day, she told us that she wouldn´t be able to because all of the money she had for that week she had to spend at the hospital, and if she didn´t go find work this weekend, she wouldn´t be able to feed her daughter the next week . . . I´ll tell you what . . . I´ve never been in more conflicting situations in my whole life than on the mission. In the teaching appointment, I had no idea what to do or what to say, and my Book of Mormon fell open to this scripture: 

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

 32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 

and all these things shall be added unto you.

 I literally had to ask this woman to trust in God, and instead of going to work, to be baptized. I honestly don´t know what I would have done if I was in Belen´s situation, but I know that I wasn´t teaching alone that night. The Holy Ghost bore witness of my words, and as a representative of Jesus Christ, I promised her that if she was baptized this saturday, she would never go a day without food on the table. . . this saturday, she was baptized, with her daughter, and every single day they have received miracles, and God has fulfilled His promise to her. She was brave, put her trust in God, and not only sacrificed the things of the world for Him, but sacrificed her own physical needs, relying completely on God to feed them. 

Living the gospel of Jesus Christ is completely priceless. Sometimes it´s really hard to ask people to make sacrifices that I don´t know if I would have been able to make before serving the mission, but I´m so grateful for the opportunities that God gives me to learn from these people and their example to me and their courage. It´s such an amazing experience serving the Pioneers of South America. I´m just so grateful for this gospel, and to be here and serve my brothers and sisters. There really is nothing else like it.

I love you all so much and I know that God loves you and knows each and everyone of you. It doesn´t matter what race or religion you are, you are a child of God, and He has a plan for you. I hope, if you´re wondering if living the gospel really is worth some of the sacrifices . . . make the sacrifices, pray with FAITH, and LOOK for the blessings, because I know they´re there, and I testify with all of my heart that it is all worth it. 

Thank you for all your love and support!! I can´t wait to hear from you next week!  In case you need my address, here it is :)

cassandra.hulse@myldsmail.net

Love,

Hna. Hulse

7/21/14

Hey Everyone!

Sooooo this week has been awesome and the next week is gonna be even better! We´ve been seeing a lot of miracles and the Lord has been helping us SO much. We´ve been working hard and my companion is SO awesome. Even though she´s not officially a missionary she´s more prepared to be a missionary than a LOT of people. She´s an awesome teacher and is gonna be a great missionary when she leaves for bolivia. 

I am so super sorry that this week´s email is gonna be kind of lame, but I´ll make it up to you by sending pictures! I love you all and I hope you all have a great week! Keep working hard and being happy and doing what´s right. Don´t let the summer fly by too fast. Take advantage of it! Love you all!

Hna. Hulse

7/14/14

Hey everyone!

So, this week has been super insanely . . . I don´t even know, haha. Wednesday I had one of the BEST days with my companion. It was amazing. One of the best teaching experiences on the mission. It was that moment that we finally clicked so well with our teaching. We were completely guided by the spirit and completely in synch with our teaching . . . it was amazing. And then, that night, we got a call from the President´s assistants saying that Hna. Luna had an emergency transfer and we had to be in the Offices the next morning to get my new companion and for her to go to her new area. I was so sad! We had such an amazing day and right when things were perfect . . . well, I guess that´s how life is, lol. 

So, we got to the Offices in the morning and it turned out that one of the sisters was going home, and I was going to be with a youth from one of the stakes of the mission so that they could serve a mini mission before leaving on a real mission. So . . . I had a lot of thins on my mind that morning. My companion, Hna. Luna, left with her new companion, and I waited in the Offices with the sister who was going home until the mini missionary showed up. It´s amazing how everything is so perfectly coordinated in our lives, if we´re paying attention to the whisperings of the spirit, and if we´re living in a way that we can be led to where God needs us to be. I had a really good conversation with this sister who was going home. She had a lot of fear and a lot of doubts about herself and what was going to happen when she got home 5 months early (we have the same time in the mission), but as we talked, I helped her understand that feelings of doubt and fear do not come from God. Fruits of the Spirit are peace, love, joy and assurance. God does not speak to us through feelings of doubt and fear. It truly was a blessing that we were able to have that hour together before she went home. It´s amazing how much God loves His children, and the people He puts in our paths to help us get to where we need to go. I´m so glad that I was able to help her a little. With my companions who have had to go home and other friends who have gone home early  .. .  I guess I just understand a little of what they´re feeling and what they´re going through, and I encourage all of you, if you hear of someone who came home early, please do not judge them. Don´t even ask them why they came back. Just love them, and help them to be happy, because I garuntee you that, no matter the reason they went home, even if it was honorable, they will need help feeling better again. Some people go home because they´re physically sick, others go home because they´re spiritually sick, and either way, they need our help and love. 

So  . . . my new companion. I was super nervous because I´ve only heard negative things about having a mini missionary (they´re not set apart, they don´t where mission tags, they can call home whenever they want, etc.) so I´ve been trying really hard to not let that affect my views. Well, so far it´s been super great. Her name is Hna. Sedano, and she´s from an area close to my first area in San Juna de Lurigancho (the more poor part of the mission). She is 23 (I thought she was 13 when she walked in the office, lol) and she´s leaving on her mission in September to Bolivia. She is super awesome, super prepared and she´s already a great teacher, and she´s gonna be a great missionary. I´ve learned this week how much God really does love His children. If He didn´t love me, He wouldn´t give me trials and opportunities to become better and prove my faith and dedication. I know there was a reason that, out of the 80 sister missionaries in the whole mission, I was put with her. It´s gonna be a great transfer, and I know I´m gonna learn a lot and I´m gonna be able to teach her a lot as well, as she prepares for her mission. I´m already learning a lot from her. It´s definitely a humbling experience being a Peruvian´s companion, learning about her conversion and how she lives and the trials she´s faced. I honestly don´t know how my friend Pamela is handling being in the States in the Provo MTC right now  . . . Anyway, it´s all a very humbling experience.

I love you all so much and I hope you have a GREAT week. Keep me in your prayers, please. I need them :)

Love,

Hna. Hulse

7/7/14

Hey guys!

(I thought I´d get away from the Hey Everyone, this week)

I had a super great week this week! Monday started out awesome because it was my birthday and the six sister missionaries, we all went to one of the sister´s houses to make French Toast!!! It was so exciting. Then we went to work and we had family home evening in a member´s home and they fed us pizza and put balloons up for my birthday and it was so sweet. THEN I got a call that night from the bishop´s family in my first zone of the mission!!! They´re so awesome. It was great to hear from them and they all sang happy birthday to me over the phone. THEN the other companionship of sisters in our ward stopped by our room that night and brought me strawberry cheesecake!!!! I didn´t know it existed in this part of the world! It was wonderful!! So yeah . . . I had a good birthday. Then my fourth of july consisted of coloring an American flag in my agenda above the date, and listening to Mormon Tabernacle Choir´s America the Beautiful before bed. But hey, how often am I gonna spend 4th of July in a forgien country?

The rest of the week went super well. Especially because the other day, we went to bed before 10 o´clock. The missionary schedule has probably been the hardest thing for me in the mission. I¨m SO tired, every day, and we read in the book Adjusting to Missionary Life, that we could go to bed at 10, and we did our nightly planning and got in bed at 9:55 and it made a world of difference. I woke up a changed woman, lol. So yeah . . . that´s my exciting story of the week. Sorry it´s kind of lame. 

I hope the pictures will make up for my lack of awesome emails these past couple weeks. 

Our zone when we had a service activity in a park.

The other sisters that are in our zone. 

Jeni and her family, investigators that we´re teaching (she made us Juanes . . . giant leaves with rice, chicken, a boiled egg and purple olives).

The last one is me and my companion Hna. Luna

I love you all so much and hope that you can all do your part in building the kingdom of the Lord. Remember that it all starts within our home. We build up ours so that we can strengthen others. I hope you have a wonderful week! I love you all!!! 

Love,

Hna. Hulse