11/24/14

Hey everyone!

Not much has happened this week. I´m trying to work hard and not think too much about going home. I gotta stay focused! 

This week we had my last multi-zone conference and so I had to share my testimony with the president and all the missionaries. I´m trying to act as if this is like any other transfer and I just gotta keep working hard and focussing on the work of the Lord, but it´s kind of hard when I have experiences like that or my zone asks me how many days I´ve got left and my companion says 22! haha, I think they´re all more Trunky than I am (trunky is a mission term for a missionary that´s thinking about home a lot).

Anyway, This week not much has happened. In the zone conference I learned a lot of stuff that I wish I would have learned at the start of my mission instead of the end of my mission, but I guess that´s how life is, right? It´s better late than never. 

There´s a kid in our ward who was getting ready to leave on his mission in december, but he found out that they accepted his visa to go work in the States, and now, instead of going on a mission, he´s gonna go live in the States. There´s also another kid in our ward who is a pretty good pianist, and isn´t serving a mission because he´s afraid that he´ll loose his talent. 

I just can´t even express to them or anyone how incredibly mistaken they are to think that God would take away blessings for dedicating and sacrificing two years or 1 and a half years of serivce. I am so excited to see the doors that will open and the talents that will increase when I get home. I know that when we make any sacrifice, God gives back 100 fold. We can´t trust in the blessings of the world, that are few and short-term. God´s blessings are eternal, His guidance is perfect and sure. The way that He guides us are through keeping His commandments. If we keep His commandments, we will have the spirit with us and we will be able to make the choices and sacrifices necessary to have greater success and happiness in this life and in the life to come. 

It´s not a commandment for girls to serve a mission, but that in itself is a greater way to receive greater blessings! For young men, it is a commandment to fulfill the covenants and priesthood duties that they have. Whether you struggle with paying your tithing, loving your enemy, or knowing whether or not you should serve a mission, look to God, and seek to keep His commandments, and He will strengthen you and bless you with success in all things. 

I love you all so much and I hope that you have a great Thanksgiving! I just remembered it´s around that time, haha. I´m grateful to be serving a mission. I´m grateful for my wonderful friends and family. I´m grateful for the knowledge that I have of the gospel, and to know that we are all God´s children, eternal, dual beings of a perfect and glorified Heavenly Father. 

Love you all! Work hard and have fun!

Hna. Hulse

11/17/14

Hey everyone,

It´s super crazy to think how fast time is going by. It´s stressful. I have a LOT to do in very little time, and my number one goal is to enjoy every single minute and not let myself get overwhelmed or stressed or disappointed in the slightest. So that´s the goal . . . not being stressed. Fulfilling my calling as sister training leader and working hard to bring souls unto christ. 

This week was crazy and I don´t have much to say other than we made a lot of trips to the mission offices for the sister that was staying with us and a lot of trips and meetings and things like that. 

We are teaching MarcAntonio who studied at the University of Chicago, and his children live there, but he came back to Peru to spend the last few years with his mom, who has cancer. He has two little kids with his new wife, and they are adorable! He first met other missionaries in our zone by walking up to them in the street, and saying to Eld. Bulloch (from the US) ¨Hey, so what´s goin´ on?¨ You don´t meet people every day who speak english (other than, Hey baby! what´s you´re name? I love you!) So yeah, they invited him to church, and he came! He came to church and has been attending every sunday, three hours, ever since. We are super excited and he´s preparing to be baptized on the 29th. 

It´s amazing how the Lord really does prepare people and how He puts them in our paths. Also, Hna. Graciela (who was baptized a few weeks ago) is doing so super awesome. This last sunday, she did a 24 hour fast (because she wasn´t able to do it the week before), and paid her fast offerings and everything all on her own. I seriously can´t describe the happiness that comes from seeing someone that you taught the gospel, keep the commandments of God and become desciples of Christ. 

I´ve dedicated such a short time to the Lord, a year and a half. Some people might think that that´s a long time or that 2 years is forever. But compared to eternity, it´s nothing. The eternal joy that we will recieve from resting with our brothers and sisters in our Father´s kingdom, is worth more than anything else that this world has to offer. I love being a missionary and if I could waste away my whole life in this service, I would do it, because there is a happiness like nothing else, that one receives from sharing the restored gospel to those who are seeking the truth. 

I know that God lives and that Jesus Christ is His son. I know that they are two seperate beings, with physical bodies of flesh and bones, perfected and glorified. I know that the Bible was written by ancient prophets, as was the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is a record of God´s dealings in the ancient americas and that it was revealed and translated by a prophet, Joseph Smith, by the power of God. That book was part of the Restoration of the gospel, to bring back the fulness of the gospel, and things that had been lost during a time of darkness and confusion, called the Great Apostasy. I know that God called Joseph Smith as a prophet to restore His gospel and prepare us for the Second Coming of our Savior Jesus Christ and that He continues to reveal unto His children His will through a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. 

If you doubt these things, get on your knees, and ask God, in the name of Jesus Christ, having faith, and He will tell you if these things are true through the Holy Ghost. 

James 1:5

I love you all so much and I hope that you can take the time to share your testimony with someone this week. Whether it be in person or on facebook or however you want to do it. And if you don´t have a testimony of these things, that you can ask the Lord.

Love you!!

Hna. Hulse

D&C 15

11/10/14

Hey everybody!

This week has been super crazy. But I have exciting news!! I´M STAYING IN TUNGASUCA! 5 transfers in Tungasuca! And I´m staying with Hna. Ramirez! So yeah, we´re super happy and we´re working REALLY hard. This past week was insane. We did a LOT of praying, a LOT of fasting, and a LOT of searching. This week was the last week for people to attend church to be eligeable . . . eligible . . . for baptism this month, so we´ve been praying that God would put in our path those who were searching for the truth and ready to make covenants with Him. And we were super blessed! We had two new investigators come that we had invited, and we were super happy and excited. Our goal was to have 4, because the Mission´s standard of excellence is 4 baptisms each month with 2 families, and it´s super exciting when someone acheives it . . . and I´ve never achieved it and everyone´s always like, ¨wow, Hna. Hulse, you´ve never achieved 8-4-2?¨and I´m always like, No, thanks for reminding me. Sooooo . . . I´m kind of running out of time to be able to achieve it . . . so I was at first REALLY sad that the people who committed going to church were dead asleep when we passed by their house, even after calling them at night to remind them and calling them in the morning to wake them up . . . But then I remembered and realized that I´m not here to baptize, I´m here to bring people unto Christ. If these people weren´t prepared and willing to make a covenant with God, there´s nothing I can do about it. I know that I tried my best and that God will be happy with the work that I did this week. I know that the people who came to church this week with us were led their by God and that they will have the desire to make sacred covenants with Him and then KEEP those covenants so that they can have Eternal Life. 

So, Sunday morning, I ended on THAT note . . . and in the middle of our mission correlation meeting, we get a call from the President´s assistants saying that we have to do a week long emergency work visit with one of the sisters. So we had to run back to our apartment and I had to pack my bags and the other sister is staying with my companion until she gets transferred to another mission. She has problems with a stalker, so my companion is playing body gaurd and I´m playing the double . . . don´t worry about me. We´re called as Sister Training Leaders for our awesome karate skills.

So yeah, It´s been kind of loco, but we´re dealing with it and I´m excited to hopefully be back in my own bed with a working shower by next week. woohoo! bienvenido a la misión Peru Lima Norte!

Love you all so much! Hope you have a fantastic week!

Hna. Hulse

11/3/14

Hey everyone!

This week is gonna be lame with the email, but I´m sending pictures! 

I don´t know what order they´re in, but we´ve got Jeny´s baptism, Graciela and Yesenia´s baptism, a park by the Stake Center that is NOT in my area (because my area is full of dirt fields and garbage), and me eating Cuy (Guinee Pig). In this last month I´ve eaten Cuy, cow intestines, cow stomache and chicken blood . . . all with the same sister in our ward. If I have to leave to another this transfer, that´s the only thing I WON´T miss, haha. But hey, I´m alive and well and I´m still LOVING the mission. I can´t believe that I´m going into my last transfer today . . . It´s crazy how fast time is flying by. But I´m going to keep working as hard as I can every day! 

I love you all so much!

Hna. Hulse