Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Sister Goobs 12/30/13

This is Sister Goobs, or Narysa roberts. She's the best! we love her! she has such a strong testimony.




Happy New Year 12/30/13

Hello Family and Friends!
Christmas in Georgia was wonderful! Thank you to everyone for the wonderful presents and goodies! I loved hearing from y'all and getting your fun cards. We had such a great christmas! We pulled out our beds into the living room and slept by our little 2 foot tree with  millions of presents underneath it. On tuesday night we watched the Nativity, and Mr. Kruger's Christmas.. because they were the only ones approved, and we had such a fun night. On Christmas morning we woke up super excited and wide awake, it was very easy to wake up at 6:30 then! we started by reading in luke 2, matthew 1, and 3nephi1. Then we said a prayer and then busted open our presents! I loved them all. We have so much sugar and treats though, we are so sick of them and we giving them out like crazy. But i did enjoy some of them:) We visited three families that day, we had a breakfast lunch and dinner appts. When we got home we realized what a mess we had left in our apartments. It took a couple of days to clean up. 
It was sooo good to talk to everyone too! Next time we have to plan Skype or the calls better because apparently i took too much time and my companions were a little annoyed by it. I felt bad, but i have a big family:) We were really worried that we would have a hard time jumping back into the work but the next day we were excited, and it just felt natural, familiar to be a real missionary again. We noticed that because of christmas we had slacked off a little bit on the work and the rules, but we also noticed that it just felt so good to be a normal real missionary again. We sort of missed it.
We had a baptism on Friday for Karina.  She is such a doll and i love her so much! We met her by a family named the Wagner's. she is dating their son and came to dinner that night we had dinner with them also. WHat a coincidence! She became interested in taking lessons and lo and behold she is now baptized! She has come so far and we have just been here to witness the spirit do it's work with her. She was absolutely glowing on Sunday after being confirmed. We're pretty positive that she and the Wagner's son will get married but not for another year. That means they can go to the temple! They are working on that and i'm so happy for them. Karina actually pulled us aside on Sunday after church and thanked us for all that we did for her, this gospel and church means everything to her now, and she is so happy and grateful to be a part of it. She had known about it for a while from her boyfriend, the wagner son, but she didn't know what she was missing out on. This work really does bring so much joy and i'm grateful to be so involved in it all. (D&C 18:15-18) 
On Sunday we had one of our investigators come to church, her name is Dorian. SHe is 18 years old and lives in the same apartments as us. We met her last pday when we came up to email. SHe wants to find a church, (church shopping) and she was interested in ours. We had a lesson with her on friday, and we had our friend Narysa (sister goobs) with us, she is a member of our ward. (i'm telling ya, us members have a huge role and are vital to this work!) We found out that she lives with her sister who is 25 and their mom committed suicide two years ago. SHe wants to find peace and happiness, and she knows that her mom is telling her to find a church or something to help. When she came to church, she grabbed all sorts of pamphlets, cards, and in sunday school she was writing down notes on her program with a bunch of scriptures on them. She then asked to look at my PREACH MY GOSPEL book and asked if she could get one. I told her she could but she would have a cheat sheet for all the lessons we would teach her. nah, its probably better for her to just have the book instead of listening to us! She is such an angel. We wish transfers weren't' next week so we could all be here for her baptism. i know she will be baptized, cause she is amazing! 
We had to teach the lesson though in Relief Society, on Hastening the Work. We talked about the roles as missionaries and as members. Member really have the biggest responsibility. If you think of it as pyramid.. Members are the foundation, next is home/visiting teaching, then comes us missionaries, and last is the investigator, less active, recent convert. The most influential and biggest priority is the members on the bottom. They have the biggest responsibility in inviting, befriending, serving, and sharing the gospel with others. Each step of the pyramid leads up to the top, (the investigator, less active, recent convert). The missionaries are there to assist the members in the work. I felt like we pretty much gave a throw down to the relief society and guilt tripped them. But they were so involved and really enjoyed it. At the end we gave everyone a mormon.org card and committed them to give it to some one within the next week, and we would followup with them next sunday. AFter church we got home and already had one sister call us saying she gave it out! We were very proud of her. We also encouraged that they have people or a friend come over when they have us over for dinner. We thought of making it so we couldn't come over at all unless someone was there, but we might lose some of our dinners and those are too important to us:) 
I have such a testimony though of missionary work. Not because i'm a missionary but because as a member this is our calling and we must share the gospel with God's children. We have been so blessed to have our testimonies and have the gospel. But we must not take this blessing for granted. It is a commandment for us to share it. The only way to keep it and strengthen this blessing is to share it. I want to continue sharing it after my mission. After giving that lesson I plan on being a better member and representative of Christ by doing what the Lord has commanded us after my mission. There are so many blessings and it brings so much joy! Alma 26 will tell ya a lot of those blessings. 
I hope everyone has as happy new year! And as a missionary i challenge y'all to bring one soul unto christ by next christmas! it starts in our homes but get out of your comfort zone and find someone! Love y'all! Happy new year of 2014!
Christmas Eve.  


Our beds in the living room.  We were so excited!

Christmas morning.  What a mess!

Waiting for the font to fill for Karina's baptism.

Beautiful Karina.  I love her so much.

My umbrella broke and wouldn't go down so i had to sit in the front seat the whole ride home with a big umbrella in front of me. The sisters couldn't stop laughing. I was ticked. It seems like i have to buy everything twice at walmart cause i either lose it or it breaks.

Merry Christmas!! 12/23/13

I am just loving this time of year! And I first want to say thanks to everyone for the letters and presents. I'm excited to see what's inside. We have so many presents under our little christmas tree it looks awesome. I also got some christmas cards from families, y'all look so good! We've really been enjoying this christmas so far. We've been doing so much caroling! it's so fun. SIster anderson has a beautiful voice and so does sister Debry. We do a fun trio and everyone loves it. We love it too. We actually sang Silent Night as a trio yesterday in sacrament, and we joined in the choir program. It was so fun and the spirit was so strong. It reminded me of the fun program they do at my home ward, of course it didn't compare to wonderful talents we have at home. It was so fun to be involved with the ward though. We had at least 5 of our investigators come to church yesterday and they really enjoyed it. We have been teaching a family, a mom named Lisa and her two daughters who we tracted into. They have been really looking for a church to go to because the daughters have never been to church. They call it church shopping here ha. But we gave them a church tour and they seemed to really like it and be positive about it all. That was 3 weeks ago and they haven't come to church yet. The mom has been out of town for business for a couple weeks and on Friday she had told us that she was sick. We called them and invited them to church for this sunday, telling them that it was our christmas program and they would really enjoy it. But we were so bummed that they didn't show up. The mom did tell us that she's nervous because she still doesn't know what to expect and she doesn't like being the center of attention. We told her that the ward members were very nice and welcoming and they would help her. She obviously is very nervous and scared to show up. We are going to work very hard with them though. They are so sweet and this is just what they need,  This is what everyone needs but they are ready. Yesterday we went to visit Maxine and dexter. Ha they are two oooolllllddd people who live together. She's a member but he isn't. Maxine sounds like the old lady car with the gruffy voice off of the movie cars, who sells the bumber stickers. Dexter is hilarious!!! He wouldn't stop talking about how he loves to see us young beautiful girls and the special feeling we bring into their home. i'm pretty sure he's cross-eyed and has bad vision though. I had a hard time understanding what he's talking about and following him, he would say " and that there right there yep and this that yep and god is here and that's what i feel and that's what im going to say and that's what i'm doing. yep!" haha he's such a crazy gomer. WE sang them a couple christmas songs, and after wards we looked at them, and he would just opening and closing his mouth and nothing would come out, like he was speechless, shaking his head like a dummy. Ha my favorite was at the end we shared a christmas poem with them and we asked him what he liked about the poem considering he acted so amazed by it. He could only say "well, honestly i dont really remember what it's about but i bet it was just great! you girls are so great! i just love having ya here and that there!...." ya you get the idea. haha. I hope to see them many times again. Maxine did say though that she wants to come back to church but she doesn't own a single dress or skirt. We told her it didn't matter. Then she said Dexter won't stop yapping his mouth away. But we said that doens't matter either, as long as you come. 
I'm so excited for this week and what it has instore. I love this time of year here and i'm so grateful that we get to celebrate not only our savior's birth but what he did for us, His entire life. May y'all have a very merry christmas and remember the gift that our  father and Savior so graciously gave us. Also remember the challenge from conference.. bring one soul unto christ this christmas.. yep we are! this friday we have a baptism with Karina. She is so excited and we are too. Have a great week! 
And im super stoked to talk to the fam!!!!! love y'all!
Love, Sister hulme

Monday, December 16, 2013

Hello Ya'll!! 12/16/13

Dear Family and Friends,
    Everything is just going great in Sandy Plains, Georgia! The weather has been good, kinda cold, but not nearly as cold as home by the way it sounds. Sorry you have to live through that. At least you have snow, we miss that a lot here. The mornings have been extremely cold, we sometimes go running in the morning up to the apartment gym. But i remind myself that it's not in the negatives and i'm not running through a snow storm. We have been getting crazy rainstorms though. Obviously, because last week we lost our phone in one. It's bad though because in the mornings it freezes and its really scary to drive. And people in georgia don't know how to drive anyways. They claim that this is the coldest winter they've had in awhile, maybe because us from out west  brought it with us. 
    We have this family we are teaching, the parents are Fred and Pam and they are not married. They have three kids who are so cute, Asian, Lil' Fred, and Honesty. (Apparently all black males are named fred). We have been teaching and visiting them for a month now and things have been good but hard. THis tuesday we visited them and planned to teach them the plan of salvation, which i was in charge of. But we showed up at the wrong time.. Little did we know that we are also family counselors. THings sort of blew up between the parents and oldest child and we sat there not knowing what to do! The oldest child, Asian, has been a trouble maker and causing them so much grief. Quite a few words were said and some i wish to never hear again. I was ready to just stand up and tell my companions that we needed to leave because it wasn't good for us to be around contention.. yet i couldn't get myself to stand in the first place. Something told me to just stay. The dad, Fed, ended up marching off to his room like a little kid, which i was disappointed in him because he said the choicest of words. My companion eventually piped up and asked if we could say a prayer for the family and for some peace in the home. Pam was all for it, Asian on the other hand was sulking like a little punk but agreed. It was amazing by the time we had to leave though! The spirit changed dramatically and asian agreed to come to mutual next week with us. Who knows, if we hadn't stayed they could be fighting! Pam told her once that she had the choice of either walking to her grandma's or packing her stuff and finding somewhere else to go. I wanted to pipe up and tell her don't say that cause she will find somewhere else to go and it'll be the last place you'll want her to be! The next time we visited them was last night and they seemed to be enjoying their night. Pam was struggling with her reading which I wasn't happy with. But she committed to reading a quick couple of scriptures every morning for five minutes, or whenever she had the time. We're meeting with them tomorrow and we'll see how its been going for her so far. They are just a fun family. Last night Fred cooked us up some quick pancakes and breakfast stuff, even though we had no idea and we were not hungry in the least bit. They have so little yet they are always willing to give so much. I want to come back and visit them for sure after the mission. 
     On Friday we had exchanges, Sister anderson and I went to Woodstock with Sister Dunn, She's from Logan. We met one of their recent converts named Brother Henderson. He's in his seventy's but is the sweetest old man! He loves hunting and told us he bought some amazing night vision binoculars off of a black market. Haha He's a die hard. His backyard is chuck full of targets and looks like a shooting range. He told us his conversion story though. His wife died last June and she made him promise that he would get baptized, she didn't say which church but that he would just get baptized. Well the woodstock sisters tracted into him and soon afterwards he was baptized! He said that the book of mormon, the history, everything about our church makes sense. But moreover he has the strongest testimony i've heard about Joseph Smith. I'm so happy for him, and i can see how blessed he is for this gospel and the knowledge he's gained. The next morning we had a ward breakfast with santa that we went to and Brother Henderson came. Everyone was in their pj's except Him, He showed up in Slacks and a nice sweater.. I hardly recognized him from the day before when i met him! That time he was in the dirtiest of jeans and an old hunting sweatshirt, with a camo fishing hat. He was so cute though. The children just love him! Before we left the party i said to him, "It was such a pleasure to meet you Brother Henderson, I hope we see each other again!" ANd He just smiled his toothless grin and said "It's always such a treat to see you beautiful sisters and may God bless ya till we meet again." I wanted to cry cause it was so tender and sweet the way he said it!!! I miss that man already. I mentioned that i wish there were more people like him in Sandy plains, and he said there is.. we just have to find them. Ha He is right though, and find them we will! 
      We also have been teaching a girl named Karina who is a friend to a family in our ward named the Wagner's. She is getting baptized the 28 this month. WE are soooo excited and happy for her, she's our golden investigator. Everything has been so smooth and great with her. She's dating the family's son Grant and the mom told us that he's planning on proposing to her sometime soon. He is the one who is going to baptize and confirm her. Best love story ever! She's told us that she has been taking the discussions though and wants to be baptized for her, not him or the family, but because she truly wants to know. She sees how happy they are and wants to have a family like them. She's from ecuador and doesn't have much family here. She has found so much peace and belonging when she comes closer to Christ through the restored gospel. I love it, every bit! And i'm so grateful to have been a part of this and see the spirit convert her! 
    


The Georgia Sunsets are Gorgeous!

Sister Debry and I were twins today.  :)

Monday, December 9, 2013

Three days without a cell phone! 12/9/13

This week has been really good! We had a ward christmas party and us missionaries had to do a skit for part of the show. Ya that was fun.. we did that thing where one sticks their arms through and acts like the other persons arms.. i was the arms for sister Debry. They cracked up pretty hard. Poor sister, i had to put makeup on her and she looked like a hot mess. The christmas party was so fun though. We had a family come to the party and they enjoyed it so much. it was their first time meeting the ward and coming to the church. We were slightly nervous how they would feel. But of course the spirit was awesome and so is the ward, and they said it was amazing. The mom mentioned that she felt so loved and welcomed so that made me super happy. We also gave a church tour to a family that we tracted into on Tuesday night and they sounded so promising! The mom has a catholic background and her daughters have never  been to church and they have been interested in finding one they like. AFter having the first discussion with them the mom was so eager to set up a church tour. Well we finally had one and the father came too. He mentioned that he was there for moral support, but by the end he said he'd take baby steps. We commited them to come to church but they didn't show up. We were very  bummed after that but we are planning on visiting them soon. I don't want to see them turn away that fast, so im praying hard that they will accept this gospel. 
Last night we had a family take us to this event called "Walk through Bethelehem" and that was so fun! They have a whole village set up just like Bethlehem and people are dressed up and reinact as people back when Christ was born. Besides it being super cold and raining, we loved it! 
Haha so we had a very funny moment on Friday night. WE had made our last visit and were on our way out to the car. Sister anderson was still standing outside in the pouring rain though while we were climbing in, and we look back at her and she is just standing there with a worried look on her face and in shock. All she could say was "uh.... uh..." so we jump out and she is holding our cell phone up and there is no battery in it! Remember that it is pouring cats and dogs outside! She explained that she dropped the phone in the gutter, which was a raging river becuase it was flowing down hill, and she went to pick it up but the battery just kept going along in the river! We started chasing after it in the pouring rain and looked everywhere for that battery!!! Sadly we didn't find it but we did have a grand ol' time in the rain! we spent a good 15 minutes trying to search for it and meanwhile cars were driving by and wondering what the heck we were doing. So for the past three days we have been without a phone and no one can get ahold of us. We are doing this old school now. hopefully we get one this week becuase we've found it very hard to manage without one. Haha we thanked Sister Anderson though for a good laugh. 
It's been actually really cold here in Georgia. It gets down to about 28 degrees and i know it doesn't compare to that -21 there... but man it's cold! it is constantly raining and its so bone chilling with the wind. Luckily i have some warm gear like coats and scarves and hats cause my companions have nothing. We went and bought some warm stuff today though so we should be good. 
I'm sorry that this email came late today and i didnt' have much time to email some individuals. But i sent everyone something in the mail. I hope y'all get it:) Love ya and take care!
Sister Hulme
Three wet Sisters...

Monday, December 2, 2013

Notes from the Primary 12/2/13

Mary Crane sent me a package of letters from the primary children.  I love the one from Joey McDowell.  "I don't know what it's like to be on a mission, but I hope you have a great time."  It made my day!!


"It's Christmastime!" 12/2/13

Well i survived thanksgiving! We visited four families and I had a hard time not going for seconds at each house, but by the time we got to the third home i could barely eat half of my plate! it was just amazing though. The families here are so great. They take such good care of us. WE had a "thankedimony" at one home and it was just sooo great. I bore mine on how i'm so grateful for the pure love of Christ and to see how the gospel blesses families as we go from home to home. I have learned so much from being in people's homes and i just wish my future family can be like them all! 
On Friday we had the best opportunity ever though! Our mission has a little incentive that if we get forty baptisms a month, those who participated get to go to the temple. Because we had a baptism with leila, we got to go!!!!! oh it was just amazing, beautiful, and i loved it so much! It was just what we needed since last week was hard. AFter the temple our mission president said to us, "We must remember that we are here to save the people on this side of the veil, not the other, but the temple has many blessings and helps us in so many ways. But I want ya'll to think of your investigators wearing white, because we are going to have a white christmas! We bring them closer to CHrist and have them baptized so they can baptized their families and ancestors." How true this is. We need to do this work here so they can do the work for their families. I just love the temple so much and am so grateful for it.
On wednesday though we woke up to snow! WE only had it for a half hour and then it started to warm up. When it snows though the people here act like it's the end of the world and they stay inside. make me kind of laugh. It doesn't even stick to the ground. But the snow is like ice and it makes the roads a little scary. Actually the people in Georgia make the roads scary because they don't know how to drive in it. Oh well. i was just super happy to see it when i woke up. But man it was cold! The wind makes it super chilly,  I'm getting so used to the climate here that i get so cold when i hear 30 degrees. I'm going to die when i get home .
THanks everyone for your emails. I pray for ya'lll and i hope everything is going well. Merry Christmas! Enjoy the snow. I obviously miss it. 

The morning after it snowed...


Lexie and her companions showing off their "food babies."  Lexie totally wins.  Those other gals aren't even trying!!





Monday, November 25, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!! 11/25/13

I really can't believe that it's thanksgiving already! time is flying and soon it will be christmas. We are going to be with four different families this thanksgiving, so i'm still deciding if i should fast to prepare or just work on stretching my stomach for all the good food. But either way i'm really excited for Thursday and what it has instore. Speaking of the lovely food… Tuesday during our companionship study we were singing some christmas song.. and all of a sudden i hear this loud crack and pop sound! and next thing i know i'm clinging to my desk for support! immediately my companions and i are just busting up and laughed for like 20 minutes straight! I had broken my wooden chair. Yup, God sure has a funny way of telling his missionaries to stay healthy. He just so happened to tell me the hard way cause it was the only way i would listen. And when i mean broke i mean right down the middle, a nice clean break.  so because of that i have been seriously watching what i eat and exercising like crazy.  
This week though has been very challenging and has definitely tried my faith. We had 8 lessons with investigators cancel on us this week. They either did not remember and had other plans or they were sick. And for everyone we had a member planned to come with us. THose are rare!!!!! we were so pumped. But hopefully this week we get to meet with them and the appts will follow through. It's been very trying. Saturday night i was just so discouraged and i wanted to just brake down and cry. But i wasn't about to cause that would have been embarrassing, and cause i don't cry. But we have been so upset and as a companionship we have to be there for each other to lift and encourage. There is so much work to do and there is always work to do. I pray that this week will have better things instore. Maybe the Lord is just trying our faith and our diligence, and maybe he's preparing us for what is to come. Sometimes a trial precedes a miracle. But the faith must come before the miracle. Faith does not come from miracles, rather miracles come because of faith. Therefore we are praying and doing all we can to have faith hope and charity. 
The people here have been so good to us. Sister debry has been fighting the nastiest cold now for a month and she is as sick as a dog. That has also been hard. But the members have taken so good care of us. THey give us vitamins and medicine so hopefully we will get rid of this sickness. 'they are just becoming family to us and our closest friends. I'm already planning a trip back to this area after my mission. 
Thank you everyone for your prayers, letters, love, and support! I appreciate alll ya'll do and may the lord bless ya! Happy thanksgiving!!!!!  Love, Sister Hulme


Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Another week under the belt. 11/18/13

Well hate to say it, but it was kind of a boring week compared to last week. 
We had our one month follow-up meeting on wednesday for all of the missionaries and our trainers. It was really great. Except for the fact that I was super sick with the stomach flu and later got a fever. Sister Debry and I have been sick pretty much this whole week and it was not fun. It's hard to do this work when you just have no energy and have to force a smile on your face. I felt bad cuz I could tell on Wednesday when i had to say hi to President and sister Wolfert that they could tell i was not in a happy state. I don't want them to think i'm miserable. Afterwards thought sister Debry and I slept for 16 hours straight and I seriously didn't wake up till6:30 the next morning. It was something that was much needed and we were able to jump right back into the work the next day. Mom had written me and told me that Kade was really sick with a fever and i found it kinda funny that i was in the same situation. It is not fun knowing that you're only putting in 75% of your effort instead of 100%. That's when we knew that we needed the rest cause we don't want to slack forever on this work. We said a prayer before we went to sleep and woke up totally new people, God sure listens and will answer! 
We did have dinner with "Jane" and her family on THursay night. They were so sweet and I could see that she was just happy. Her family commented that this week she had been different and they noticed how happy she was. They are so eager for us to teach them and we hope to get permission from our president to teach because they live outside of our mission by 2 miles! Maybe that miracle will happen and he'll be kind enough to let us teach them, we'll conitinue to be diligent and obedient so it can happen. Her youngest daughter, Avin, who is 7 drew us each a picture and it is the cutest thing! I have that and the letter and pic from Jack and Lucy taped above my studies desk. Her other daughter, Ilar, is very nice and just sat and talked to us. SHe showed us some pictures on her phone from Iran and they were surprisingly very pretty! She said they only show the poor and sad parts of her country on the news and that's all the people know about. As pretty as it is, she said she doesn't wish to go back and she's hoping to stay with her grandma here in the USA. I hope she does as well. 
So here is a funny quick story. WE were tracting on thursday and we had one man tell us that we were trespassing and soliciting, so he was going to call the cops on us if we didn't get off his porch. THat was kinda scary but we merely wished him a good day and moved on to the next house. The man that answered the next door had just woken up from a nap and he looked like he was almost high. We explained that we  were representatives from the church... blah..blah.. and he just answered.. "well cool, i don't know if i'm what you're looking for though. I mean it's just great what you're doing.. hallelujah! (with a little fist pump in the air and a sarcastic look on his face) but i'm canadian."
"oh, that doesn't mean anything! our message is for everyone."
"Oh.. and i'm an atheist." 
Oh... ok then... 
hahaha the excuses that people come up with here. I wonder when people say they don't speak english if they are just not interested and its an excuse to not here what we have to say. Oh well, there loss. 
Well thanks everyone for the love and the prayers! I love and miss Ya'll so much! 
Take care,
Sister Hulme

Monday, November 11, 2013

First Baptism 11/11/13

Yes we finally got our first baptism! Jane Smith* was baptized yesterday and it was just her family, us, and a few others there. But she was sooooo happy.  We were all so excited about the baptism! she came to church yesterday before and she sat by me so i had to explain the sacrament and everything to her. She doesn't know much engish so I had her read the sacrament prayers in Moroni and she continued to ask me good questions. I absolutely loved that sacrament meeting because it the spirit was so strong and powerful. To explain it all in such simple terms made me realized how important and great it all is. She would ask if everyone including babies' were mormon and if everyone had served missions. Her funniest question was if all the young men were the bishops boys haha I told her know and they were boys from the families within the ward. SHe's the sweetest lady. I wish I could send you pics but we have to be so careful cause if we let any pics on the internet of her baptism she could get caught and killed in Iran. We had to take our nametags off so she could take a pic home herself. She won't be able to take her book of mormon home cause she won't be able to get it through the airport. IT's all just sad to think that she has to go back! I'm going to miss her sooo much! she has effected my life so much! she said we could write her letters though and if she ever came back to the usa then she would let us know. I'm so going to see her when she gets back. To see her come up out of the water though after she was baptized was the best thing ever! WE just stood in the back with her towel hugging each other because we were so excited, waiting with open arms and full of love. Reminded me of how Heavenly Father is with us. We just stood in His place. Later we sang i believe in christ to her, it was the simplest hymn that she would understand and we actually saw her start to cry. It was amazing and the coolest experience ever.  I don't know if i'll ever have one that measures up to it.  It was so cute cause she has a daughter that's 7 years old and she was crying because she couldn't get baptized. So we said that Jane had to come back with her when she was old enough. We're gonna get the whole family! I'm dreading saying good bye to her.. she leaves this weekend but we're having dinner with her family and an older ward couple named the gagnons (who are grandma and grandpa to us), they helped out with teaching and the baptism. Her mom is going to make us persian food and we're excited! don't know what to expect but chicken and rice! SHe is like a sister to me and I love her so much! I now ask myself everyday.. what am i willing to risk or do for this gospel? I'm serving HIS mission for 18 months but it seems like such a little sacrifice compared to what He did for us and even what she has risked. When you ask her why she is doing all of this her only reply is "I love Him! and He loves me. This is my biggest wish." .. If only this was everyone's biggest wish. It is a huge miracle to me that we were able to teach her, cause it was the spirit who taught her. She said she has looked into catholic and baptist.. everything.. but this gospel is true. She can feel it and it is like home to her. It is home for us all! She understood the plan of salvation so well and we were worried about that one. Yet the spirit testified to her, I so believe in the gift of tongues, and in a whole new sense! Im so grateful to know Jane and I know God has prepared her and us as missionaries for this experience. I'm thanking Him everyday for this. I know this is true. Ha I wish we could teach Jane more about temples, she worries for her husband in Iran and her family if they aren't baptized. But she understand that they will be taught everything in the spirit world and again this makes sense to her. I fully believe in temple work and this has taught me how important temple work is! WE have a lot to do! Makes me wonder about millions of others in the middle east and all over the world who are searching for happiness and peace. WE are so blessed here and I'm so grateful! 
Thank you everyone for the letters and emails. I appreciate all you've done. Lets keep moving forward and God be with you!
Love, Sister Hulme

*again…the whole witness protection thing…    :)

Monday, November 4, 2013

I Love This Mission! 11/4/13


So a lot has happened this past week and so far they are my favorite stories! We've been doing so much tracting, our mission president asks us to tract for 2 hours everyday. So we have a TON of potential investigators. But I've really found out who's really interested cause we have only a few progressing investigators. Some just don't understand that they have to follow through with their commitments. oh well. we'll get'em. WE actually had to stay in thrusday night starting at 6 pm cause they didn't want missionaries out just for safety. So we painted pumpkins and had chili and pumpkin pie:) oh and cornbread of course.
So! on thursdays we do a book of mormon reading with Sister williams. ( the black lady who was a drug dealer and is now preparing to go to the temple). She is a roommate with another lady named 'miss gloria' from columbia. Miss gloria lets just say.. she stays in her room all day and pretty much lives in their. Sister WIlliams rules the rest of the house. WEll when we showed up Sister williams was not in good spirits and was really stressed. Apparently miss gloria also stores her food , all of it!, in her closet. And over time some of the food got spoiled, but no it would be terrible for her to waste it! Sister williams had been complaining about flies always in her house and she never knew how they got in. Well she walks into miss glories room and low and behold their are flies everywhere! so she goes in the closet and ...... hold onto your seats. ... there were maggots all over the walls and her clothes. some hatched, some not hatched.. bugs everywhere. ya. GROSSSSSSS!!!  and we happened to walk in when she was in the middle of cleaning it up! good thing we had our service clothes with us. not. So we spent the next two hours cleaning out her closet and getting rid of maggots and nasty moth flies. ugh. I took the longest shower and scrubbed myself top to bottom thoroughly when i got home . It just amazed me at how many there were and the state of it all. it had to have been happening for about three weeks for it to get that bad. and the nastiest part of it all was she was eating her food and wearing her clothes from her closet. we had to go through and sort the clothes into deep cleaning piles and the dry cleaners. She didn't understand that everything needed to be washed. SHe would say " oh i just wore that yesterday though!" I don't care lady! you've been wearing maggots on your clothes for threee weeks! i'd buy a whole new wardrobe if i were you! ya.. i'll never forget that story. and i did not sleep that well that night. 
Here is the coolest story though. So on sunday at church the bishop pulls us sisters out of class and says he has an investigator in his office that wants to be baptized asap! Her name is Jane Smith* and she is from Iran. She has a brother who is in the Army and he met a mormon in the army about 9 years ago. He became very interested and was baptized. Ever since her brother has been telling Leila that this gospel is wonderful and the savior, Jesus Christ, is amazing. Leila though is in a country where the gov't is crazy and muslim is huge! She has been reading the bible, secretly the past ten years and learning about the gospel from her bother. So she has come to the united states to finally get baptized and see her brother. She had to sneak her bible in her airport or they probably would have killed her, so she said. I'm curious on how she got the bible in the first place, in her language, in her country! Well we ordered her a persian book of mormon and we only have about 2 weeks to teach her cause she is leaving to see her brother in utah and has to be home in Iran soon. Her faith in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father is astounding and so inspiring! She has come all the way here to get baptized!!! She claims herself to be christian the past ten years and has wanted to come closer to Christ, and she not only wants to be baptized a christian, but she wants to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day SaintS!!! She came to our church because her mom lives in Marietta and our specific church is the one where her brother was baptized. The language barrier is hard so we are fasting today that it will be softened and broken when we teach. WE meet with her every night at 7 at the church cause her mom's house is outside of our mission area. We had to get special permission from the president to teach her cause she's in a different mission. but i'm so happy that we have been chosen to teach her! and the amazing part is that even though she speaks very little english, she understands what we say and teach because the spirit is so strong and testifies to her!!! so we are hoping that we can baptize her and get her confirmed before she goes. She is determined though to be baptized before she has to go home. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!!!!  She has come all this way to do this and she knows that she can't go to church or be active in meetings in her country. all she can do is read and pray to Heavenly Father and grow on her personal relationship with Him. So inspiring!!! I thought.. what am i willing to sacrifice or do to grow in my relationship with Heavenly Father and my savior? How strong is my faith in Him? and i just got so tickled because i want to tell her about temples and the awesomeness of it all, that she can do work for her family and loved ones, but she has to be Iran and I hope she comes back so she can do all that. I plan on getting her address so i can write her and keep in contact. She is absolutely amazing! I love that she came to our church, the one i was at, and we get to teach her! we get the privilege of helping her. After our first lessons, she looked at me and said, "Thank you, thank you!! you are all my friends,, my sisters!" I may or may not of teared up and attacked her with the biggest hug. I've wondered why i was called to Sandy plains at this time, my first area. and this is why. and may there be more opportunities like this!!! btw, i recommend reading the story called muslim to mormon, it was in the ldsliving magazine and that guys story is amazing! also we ran into another muslim/christian lady while tracting and we had the longest discussion with her, offered her a book of mormon and i hope that turns out well. What's with all this muslim stuff?! ha i find it kind of funny! It tells me that people are seeking peace, they are seeking CHrist! Reminds me of "The vision of the South" a quote by Spencer W. Kimball. If you haven't heard it, look that up also. I hope i'm a part of it and i see it on my mission. 
THis has been a good, crazy week and I love it! Thank you every one for the emails and letters. I appreciate the awesome pics too:) I'll send some to ya'll too!
Love Sister Hulme


* name has been changed to prevent the new convert from losing her life and Lexie and Natalie from having to enter the witness protection program...


Sister Debry, Sister Andersen, and Sister Hulme

The view from Lexie's apartment.  Atlanta in the distance…

Lexie's backyard...

Celebrating Halloween...

A cute walking trail by her apartment...

The church parking lot…

Sister Williams and Sister Hulme cleaning up the maggots…There must be awesome blessings for cleaning up maggots…

Lexie claims she found the Tree of Life…  In Georgia...









Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Meeting Elder Dallin H. Oaks 10/28/13


We had Dallin H. Oaks come and talk to the Georgia Atlanta and Atlanta North missions on Saturday. About 500 missionaries, but we met at a stake center in Tucker. We all took a picture with him and then he and his wife shook everyone of our hands. He looked us dead in the eye and talk about a look into your soul! He's such a great guy and apostle though. He gave  a talk on the inspiration he received at that exxact moment. He didn't prepare anything, but listened to the spirit according to how the missionaries were doing. Ya talk about pressure, especially when you go to shake his hand! But it was all really great. He talked about how vital the spirit is when we teach. It is the biggest fundamental of the gospel, "to always have his spirit to be with us." It's a right and a privilege. The spirit is the one to convert the investigators. He also gave us the top ten things we should take home from a mission:
1. Testimony that God is our father and jesus Christ lives
2. Enlarged understanding of the gospel
3. Love for Others, the people
4. Love for parents 
5, Understanding hard work
6, understanding personal virtue
7, Increase polish and poise
8, Courage to act
9. Faith to try
10, Humility to pray
We found out that all the 12 apostles are going to try to talk to all the missions in North America because this work needs to be hastened. We hear some crazy stuff of what's happening in the world out there today and i fully believe it really is being hastened. One man we ran into said i see more and more missionaries out here but i'll start to really worry when they have to send them home! he wasn't a member but he was a nice guy. We're hoping to meet him again. Every one here is very nice and we only run into one or two people a week that know what we are there for and tell us to "git!" We ran into a family and the mom was an ex-mormon, sad case. all i can say is good luck sister, i'm scared for ya! she wanted to bible bash with us so bad. good thing sister debry took the lead cause i was biting my tongue so bad. SHe told us that works are nothing but we just need to have faith in Christ and we're saved. Well honey faith without works is dead. and he didn't atone for our sins and mistakes for nothing. Anyway i'll get off my soap box now.
So i have to share this last quick story. Saturday night we had a ward fall festival and I noticed sister debry was telling a member something and she was having a hard time. On our way home she shared her life story with us. Her Dad was diagnosed with cancer refused to go through chemo and treatments. Well later he got the swine flu and did not do well with that. He could not recover like the rest of her family did and was in bed for almost a month. Soon he had to go to the hospital and he had two heart attacks. Then he went into a coma and didn't come out for a week. This whole time she was in 8th grade and missed a lot of school. She and her family stayed at the hospital that week and the doctors finally did a test to see if there was any activity in his brain. There was none and they had to take him off of life support. Her family has been through so much. She has an uncle who has taken care of her family and what not. But this whole week is the fourth anniversary to these events. She has been sick with a bad cold this week and i thought she was a lil blue because of that. After hearing all of this I just broke down and cried with her. She said she is having a new perspective on everything. She used to just shut the world out this time of year and just be so down. Instead she is going to put her chin up, shoulders back, and keep on keepin' on. She is such an amazing young women! I couldn't have gotten a better trainer and companion. She also got engaged before her mission but her fiance gave her the idea of a mission. She's incredible! I'll never take my blessings for granted, and mom i'll always count you twice. She's become a dear friend and best companion already! THe lord definitely knows what he is doing in putting us together. 
Hope all is swell and love ya'll dearly!
Sister Hulme

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

First area--Marietta, Georgia 10/21/13

Lexie's first area is Marietta, Georgia.  Apparently Marietta covers a large area.  She is in a little part called Sandy Plains  This is so fun because we have a cousin, Matt, who lives there with his family.  I'm not sure if Lexie has actually ever met Matt.  Hopefully they can hook up.  It's been years since I've seen Matt, but I remember him as a super fun kid with tons of charisma.  Just picture a dark version of Kade Pitchford with a lot more freckles and a southern accent.  :)  I'm excited for her to be able to meet Matt and his family.  Here is what she has to say this week:


Georgia is the best. Just sayin'. Mom I did get the package and it was the best! the bike is good too it's pretty cool looking. So my flight was at 7 am and i had to get up around 2 to pack and get ready. so basically i didn't get any sleep that night, i mean who would if you're leaving for the field and your just so estatic. There are trees everywhere!!!!!!! idaho is pretty barren. but i miss the open spaces. you get so lost here because there are no mountains to guide ya or give ya direction and i miss them for sure! the sunrises and sets though are so pretty here! i'll have to snap a pic of one. the houses here are gorgeous too! my companions and i love to say "my house!" when we drive around. The mission home is beautiful! The president and his wife are the nicest people ever! I was sad to hear that in the middle of the mission we get a new president. On the first night we stayed in a hotel and had a big dinner at the home. It was delicious! We had some goooood pulled pork sandwiches and salad and fruit and corn and rolls and all sorts of food. Man we need to learn how to cook cause we got nothing compared to down here!! We are fed here every night cause the members just love the sisters! i feel bad for the elders because they aren't fed very much. and we have a car, they have bikes. Even if the family is gone a night they order us food. ya i love it.
  i'm in a tri companionship. One is sister anderson from my district in the mtc which is way cool. the other is sister debry and she is absolutely amazing!! Her father actually died four years ago this month and she had a really hard time with that in high school. But it has pushed her to be amazing! SHe's our trainer and she just shows so much love for us. WE call her mamma:) she's a cutie too. She went to school at usu eastern and know bailey thomas. her boyfriend is his roommate. that's crazy too. she told us she was engaged before the mission age change then her boyfriend asked if she was going and here she is! She's been here for three months and everyone adores her. The first day we went and taught a couple named josh and kaylee and that was a messed up deal. they are very nice and are married but they are sooo set on the bible that whatever we teach from the  book of mormon they have to have proof in the bible. They think what we teach is cool but they just don't have faith and it's sad. We don't really know where to go with them because sister debry said they haven't made any progress. We do at least 2 hours of tracting everyday. Some people just wave us off, usually they're old people who are sooo set on their religion. One man came up to us from his garage clapping at us and laughing "thank you missionaries but we are good, in fact we're great".. i felt like he was mocking us and i wanted to march up to him and shove a book of mormon at him but i realized that was something God wouldn't be happy of or what Christ would do... Other than that everyone is seriously so nice and welcoming! even if they aren't interested in our religion or the book of mormon they just love to chat and wish ya  great day! so that's a plus. We've visited a recent convert or recent active member named sister williams. SHe's an older black lady who just lives by herself. She has the best stories and i love her so much! she can cook the best food too! She always wants us to eat at her place for dinner but we have appts at other houses. She just loves the sister missionaries. SHe has the coolest conversion story! She was once a drug dealer and had been in a mess of troubles. Then she saw our church one  sunday and just sat in the back and went for the next six months because she loved the music. Later the bishop went to her because he'd been noticing her and had her meet with the missionaries. This was several years ago. Now she is going to the temple soon cause she just got her recommendd and I don't think i've seen anyone so excited and happy! I'm so happy for her! I just love the relationships we make here in GA just teaching and bringing such happiness into peoples homes. But it's not us it's the spirit. WE teach this boy named tyler, he's just like Isaac, loves sports, cool kid, and same age too. WE teach him once a week because he doesn't have a good understanding of the doctrines and principles. He was baptized a year ago and lives with his grandparents cause his parents are messed up. His grandpa commented to us after a lesson that we bring such a special spirit into his home and he loves it. He wishes we could be there all the time! It was the best compliment ever. But we told him it's just the spirit. We're so lucky to have it too. 
   Everyday has been absolutely amazing and i'm just pushing through them! I read this morning in Alma 26 and it's the perfect chapter for missionaries. BTw mom i would like to have alma 26: 11-12 on my plaque please:) It helped me this morning because i have felt that when we tract people are so nice and love to visit, yet they are stuck to their religion whether it be baptist or catholic and don't really wanna be interested in the church of jesus christ. WEve even said we don't wanna take away from your beliefs or faith but want to add or expound to them. You'll gain a closer relationship with christ and his teachings and will gain eternal happiness. But this still doesn't seem to change their minds. So I 've been frustrated with this and have been wondering what more can i do on my part to reach to those people and change their hearts. I came across this chapter in my study today and i realized i just need to exercise more faith, prayer, and good works, and the lord will bring many or some soul to us. It's only been five or so days here in the field and i'm here for 18 months! I know that if i practice these christlike qualities then success will come. It also takes a lot of patience. something i'm not good at. especially when it involves the world's salvation. 

i'm busy as ever and i love it. The work is good and the church is true. ha funny story. Apparently i took my bad sleep talking habit here in the field with me. sister debry said that i woke up in the night sitting straight up in my bed and i said "what time is it? isn't the alarm supposed to go off now? why isn't it going off? it's supposed to go.. dooo-do! do-do!!" haha i don't remember that at all!!! she said that was like at 3:30am. 
Well i actually did have lot of time today but it flew by! I loved all the letters in the mail and the emails! mom i did get the packages and letters thank you so much! I shared the yummy chocolate with the comps. I'll send some pics of the mission. Love ya'll take care!!
Love, sister Hulme.

 Sister Hulme and her companions Sister Debry (whom Lexie thinks looks like Tinker Bell) and Sister Anderson
 One of the houses they drove past that Lexie fell in love with---looks a lot like Aunt Kelly's....

October 15th--Flight to ATL International Airport

On October 15th, Sister Hulme flew to Atlanta.  Grandpa Phil told me once that the Atlanta airport has more square miles than the city limits of Montpelier.  Just ask Chase how intimidating that airport can be.  :)  She was able to make a couple phone calls from the airport early that morning, which turned out to be perfect timing.  It was Grandma Kim's birthday!!!  The rest of us didn't even try to top that present.  She also made a quick phone call to Hannah (I was at work, grrr) who is still ecstatic about that surprise.
 Sister Hulme and Sister Taylor early that morning before leaving to the airport.
 The view of Atlanta from the airplane.
 The mission home and all the missionaries that arrived that day.  The other missionaries think Lexie looks like Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games.

Lexie with President and Sister Wolfert.

Second email from MTC 10/10/13

Today is the best day ever!!!! It's our first and only pday in the mtc and i've been doing so much I'm just trying to keep up! I love alll the emails it's so good to hear from everyone! Thanks for the letters and packages (mom and uncle brent and valene). I feel like all my district gets mail and packages everyday but i get lil bits everynow and then. ha but it's good i love it no matter what! FYI don't send in the mail to the mtc any more. I probably wont get it because i head to the field on tuesday!!! yay... except we have to get up around 2:00 am to get ready pack and our flight is at 7. Im so excited to be out there though i just want these last days in the mtc to go by quick. Althought its been soooo great here! Conference was an amazing experience! talk about goose bumps and bone chills when singing called to serve with 2,000 missionaries and that wasn't even all of them! everyone just sings their heart out its better than sprount sprounts;) ha I've learned and grown so much in testimony, spirit, and love for my Lord and God! I've found that i'm more of the investigator in learning here. We have been teaching a few investigators for practice here and i love the lessons! My favorite so far is the plan of salvation. It's so fun to teach! 
My district is pretty awesome. WE have some way cool missionaries. In my districs there are four sister including me and four elders. there are three disctricts in my zone. Me and my companion were called to sister training leaders the second day we were here. that's like the sister zone leaders. It's been a fun call. We got to visit the new missionaries and give them an orientation yesterday when they came. It feels like i was just them! crazy. My companion's name is sister Taylor from Pleasant Grove. she's a doll! she told me i look like katniss everdeen from hungar games, and i like to hunt so that adds to it. ha because of that i've been having weird dreams of running from the gov't haha it's intense. 
I love Pres. Eyring's talk in Conference, it was probably my favorite. If you haven't listened to it yet, i highly recommend it! They were all so good really. They all can be applied to missionary work and its so cool! I believe and know what he said to be so true. 
So i haven't really gotten homesick yet which is really a blessing. I've been busy every single second. one day we had a like a 15 minute break between the next class or event and we didn't know what to do! we have sooo much study time and we have to use most of it to plan our lessons for investigators. The food here is crazy! I may or may not of gotten a head start on the mission weight gain. yikes! but i'm workin hard don't worry:) Thanks so much to brent and valene for the box of goodies! I loved it! we get so much candy and treats we just all share:) I don't have much time left cause i have to write my branch president too and go to the temple today. but I recommend reading 3nephi 11 ... i studied it this morning and loved it! i studied tons of other stuff but i can't remember on the top of my head what they were. 
P.S. mom you would love sister taylor. she is soooo musical, when she plays the piano it reminds me of you. she just reads musics like a beast and arranges whatever she wants with them. shes the best:) 
Thanks everyone for the love and wishes!!! I wish i could write more but it would take forever! 
oh and try to forward this to everyone cause i don't have their email.
Love, Sister Hulme!

Sister Hulme with her companion Sister Taylor and cousin Elder Oliver Hulme (far left) with his companion Elder Sealor.

First email from MTC 10/3/13


Family!
I am doing soooo great! Do not worry or stress about me. They have shown me so much love and care here, I haven't even had time to think about home. I am so caught up in the spirit and the work. They immediately put us in classes, and we even started teaching in groups. It's a little overwhelming, but I have gained so much faith in my Father and Savior, and so much respect for missionaries. Thank you guys for all the love and prayers. I feel them! We have p-days on Thursdays here in the MTC, but I'm just writing a quick note. I love it here! I saw Kade and Oli already. Oli chats with me from time to time, and we're all so happy. I don't know why I was scared, but I just am anxious and excited to be in the field already! Love and Miss ya'll so much!
Love Sister Hulme

 I'm pretty sure every missionary that ever went thru the MTC has one of these photos. :)
 Sister Hulme and her companion with Elder Kade Humphreys from Bear Lake and his companion.