Monday, July 28, 2014

Hello, Hello! 7/28/14

Hey ya'll!
Sorry this came later today.. We actually have been shopping with a member alll day today! She was sooo generous and wanted to spoil us! The people here just show so much love for the missionaries! It was alot of fun to be with the other sisters and Sister Todd (the member) . Truthfully i've never been a fan of shopping al day and she could tell:) But i loved to see sister motuliki get spoiled and have fun. She really needed that:)
So we really worked extra hard this week! I realized that I probably only have a few days left here in collins hill and i want to leave it better than i found it. ANd it's been in a little slump throughout july, so I was sick of that, so we went to work! I told sister motuliki we just need to extend baptsmal dates like crazy and get these people to seriously commit! No more flaky investigators. And let me tell ya, when you put forth the faith and the effort, the Lord provides the miracles! It takes work, but they do happen. 
We have this investigator named ANthony, Sister DUnn and I tracted into him way back in march and he was an iffy potential.. nothing promisiing. But we tracted into him again and he almost told us no again, but i wasn't going to take that for an answer! So we kept talking and eventually he said we could come back the next day! so we went back on wednesday and softly committed him to August 16th! He was all in for it during the restoration lesson. he was all excited and jumping up and down agreeing with us. So really keep him in your prayers. We inoculated him, but he's going to really need the strength from the spirit. 
We also had a lesson with a man from Ghana last night, he's only here by himself and his family is still in Ghana.. but he committed to August 16th as well. We have a lot of work to do with them. But we're not afraid of hard work!  Im just sad that I'll most likely be leaving right when things pick back up again! I told Sister Motuliki that she can't slack off and she must keep pushing forward with these people!
So my favorite investigator right now is Beena:) She's from india and she's hindu. She actually isn't interested in converting at all, but she loves learning about our religion and she finds it very interesting! She is sooo friendly and has the best personality! Well she came to church this sunday with her little boy. and when she walked through the door, my mouth dropped to the floor and then turned in to the biggest smile! SHe was in the prettiest Indian outfit! She was decked out in the jewelry and everything! Unfortunately her son was a little pill and wouldn't be quiet so she couldn't listen to the talks in sacrament, and during relief society she didni't understand a single word. It was way over her head:/ but We told her we'll explain it all to her in simpler terms. She really loved it though! She felt the spirit and said everyone is soo friendly! She wants to come back, so I'm praying that she'll just feel the spirit and some day she'll take it all into thought. And another unfortunate is that the book of mormon isn't translated into her language yet which is Gujrati. But we're praying with her hard and she's just a great friend:) 
Well I don't have much time left, Things are going just peachy in Georgia:) Thanks for all your prayers and support! 
Love ya'll 
SIster Hulme


Our lovely Beena!

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Little Miracles 7/21/14

Hey ya'll! 
Sorry this email is a little later than usual.. but we had a mountain to climb this morning. We hiked stone mountain today!!!! It was a blast and we enjoyed every second of it. Sister motuliki is a mountain goat and we kept having to tell her to slow down! I told her though that she really needs to come to idaho because there are some great hiking trails. It was a workout though and when we got to the top we felt like we had conquered the world. It was the first time i could breathe and it felt good to be that high!! I can't wait to bring my family back to show them everything. STone mountain is a must!
So we've been seeing some cool miracles this week. We found a family to teach! Just a young couple with a little baby:) We asked them to be baptized and they said yes! We don't have a date set yet, but we're determined to have them on date next time we see them. They're names are Gary and Tory. Gary is black and Tory is white. You would never think of putting those two together. He has tattoos and peircings all over his face but he's a complete softie! I'm excited for that family. They  seem promising and i wish i was staying here longer to work with them!!
Our other miracle is pretty cool too. We planned to visit our investigator Doug, but it was just a drop in, so he wasn't aware of us coming by. Well we had a member with us and when we knocked on his door, he didn't answer, and we waited for like 10 minutes.. finally we decided to leave and we were driving to follow up with another investigator in mind. But God had different' plans for us! Along the way we saw doug walking home, so i told the member to pull over and we could give him a ride. He jumped in and we went to his home and taught him a lesson. It was one of those teach people not lessons moments. I was so heart broken though because he struggles with depression and he's unemployed due to medical issues. He is just always so down and I try everything i can to uplift him! We really emphasized on the atonement and the spirit was so strong. I will never forget that feeling! In the end we tried to commit him to baptism, but he's scared to commit. He lives wiht his sister who is anti religion and he's scared she will kick him out. So really pray for him and that his sister's heart will be softened. We're praying so hard that the people's heart's will be softened here. Too many people don't see the need to hear more of christ and think they're saved and good. But we're working:) 
Another awesome miracle we had... we had planned a lesson with a former investigator named ivory, who lived just around the corner from one of our other investigators Greg. When we showed up though she said she had company and had to reschedule. We didn't plan to see greg, but to follow up with some other people.. It was friday evening and greg is always busy on evenings. But something told me we needed to go say hi to him. That's all we planned to do, just say hi:) But when we showed up he lit up and said "THe sisters!" He welcomed us in and we had a very intense lesson with him. WE just read 2 nephi 31 wiht him but he had some serious questions! He's seriously searching and i know he'll find it someday. He's a strong First southern Baptist.. htye're hard! But he's willing to search and find out the truth. I only wish every lesson was like his. 
So I was thinking.. haha there i go thinking again.  But as we were climbing the Stone mountain this morning.. I thought of how climbing up is like the first 9 months of my mission. IT was hard and really challenging right before we got to the top. There were times when we had to stop and take a break.. Just like in a mission, the journey is full of obstacles and we stumble.. its' hard.. we're just growing and testing ourselves. Sometimes we have to stop and think and really rely on the lord. And when we get halfway.. or to the top.. we look at the mountain we've climbed or the journey we've had so far.. and we feel so happy and proud of ourselves. Then we must climb down.. and the journey down is fast one! It's a steep downhill slope and we try to slow ourselves down. The journey down is easier.. it seems, but we're still growing. I'm afraid the rest of my mission will be like the hike down stone mountain. It will be a fast downhill slope. I'm learning to just love and soak up the time that i have. I truly love the south , and i love the people of georgia! I'm so grateful to be serving them and the lord. 
Thank you everyone for yoru love and for your amazing support! I hope you have a wonderful week.
God bless ya'll and your loved ones. 
SIster Hulme 




Monday, July 14, 2014

Trials and Growth 7/14/14

Hello family and friends,
So good to see some of the fun pictures you sent this week! Love to see everyone's smiling faces. Glad to hear everyone is doing well and had a great week! I can't believe July is already half way through. That means summer in Georgia is halfway through. And I hear that we haven't even hit the climax of the humidity and the heat. Heaven help me! Good to know that i really do receive help:) 

So the update  isn't much this week. Sorry, everyone is on vacation trying to escape the heat in Georgia! 


So because everyone has been gone, we've had to find new investigators. That means we've had to tract alot! We've been really praying that the people's hearts would be softened here. We've actually found alot of potential at our apartment complex. So hopefully we can go somewhere with those people.. like the waters of mormon:) 
We had a new member lesson with Taz this week. Oh man,, I'm starting to really question if she was ready. Its as if Satan has really been on her after she was baptized. We taught her the plan of salvation and she acted like it was all new to her and she could't remember any of it .We also brought up temples and baptism for hte dead. Ya,, she wasn't ready for that. She was creeped out by the whole ordeal. I wanted to cry after the lesson, it was a mess. So we're gonig to go over things again this week and pray that it goes better. We're thinking of showing her a mormon message video on temples. Just really keep her in your prayers. SHe hasn't been able to come to church either since she was confirmed. My recent convert is going less active. Great. I'm trying to have hope in her. She lives in a very hard environment, so that affects her too. I worry if we rushed her into her baptism adn if she was really ready. But i trust the man who interviewed her, and the baptism worked out, if she wasn't ready god would have stopped it. 
We also had a little lesson with her sister Mia while there. SHe told us she's thinking of baptizing her new baby boy and asked what we think of that. I told her we strongly don't believe in infant baptism. We explained everyting to her and told her why they don't need ot be baptized. She had a hard time grasping the concept and she's stubborn in her beliefs. It just makes me sad, wishing that the spirit will soften her heart. I would like to start teaching her and the dad too. That family needs this gospel desparately. 
Like I said, not alot to update on. Hopefully this next week will be better with more miracles. Gotta lot of potentials to follow up with. 
Thank you everyone for your prayers and love and support! 
I love you all dearly,
Love sister Hulme


This was Sister Motuliki's first experience with fireworks.  She loved them!

Here's the traditional "9 month" picture that the sisters missionaries take.  It's not nearly big enough!  Looks more like 6 months.  :)

Monday, July 7, 2014

Hello from your Georgia Peach 7/7/14

Malo'lele family!
That means hello in tongan:) Ive been really practicing in my language studies:)
WE had a wonderful fourth of July! We had a fun celebration at our church and one of our investigators came, he really enjoyed it. And Sister Motuliki had a blast!! She saw fireworks for the first time and I recorded her reaction to them. It was the cutest and funniest thing ever! Its like a 5 year old seeing the world for the first time! I'll never forget this:) 
THis week has been a little long and hard to be honest. WE still saw some good miracles. We found a hindu woman who we tracted into on the fourth. SHe invited us in and we told her some things about the plan of salvation. SHe was really amazed and started to really think. We said a prayer with her at the end, and she mentioned that she felt to at peace and felt really good. SHe wants us to come back this next week so we're really excited about that.  
But truthfully, its been a little dead here. Alot of the members and even our investigators are gone for vacation. And not just any vacation, but i'm talking like 3 weeks at a time! Also some of the members from our ward are in the middle of moving away. So i feel like we're a little on our own. But its forcing us to reach out towards other members and use them in missionary work, and also to continually find new investigators. ITs also been hard because most of our appts dropped this week and we had to resort to tracting.. We literally tracted alllll day on wednesday and only talked to 8 people. Our numbers may have been low this week, but I promise you we worked ourselves to the ground! I'm a little fearful for what this week or even the next week has instore. It might be worse. But we're going to work even harder, cause I don't want to give up that easy.  I think its going to be a looong summer and next few weeks. But we're still going to work and pray that we'll see miracles! 

We met our new mission president, well we did at the baptism, but officialy met him at a meeting this week. He and his wife are truly the most humble people that i have met. I know the Lord has sent them to us for a great purpose. THey are going to do amazing things here in this mission. He gave us a great talk on hope, and i realized that its something i really need to work on. I think it is something that alot of us missionaries needed to here, especially for me. With this week being very hard and having few people to work with, I've been getting discouraged easily lately. I'm trying to do all I can to have faith, but I realized that I also need to have hope. Because Faith, HOPE, and charity work together. So i'm trying to acquire more hope, and I feel God is going to really test me with that this week! But it will give me great practice to have hope:) I'm also still learning that I only need to do the very best that I can do. THe Lord is not asking more than I can give. Sometimes I'm not satisfied with my efforts and wish I could do more. THis last week I read Alma 29 and I felt the same as Alma, wishing that I could do more than I am called to do. But I just need to do my best and leave the rest to the Lord. His will is better than mine! 

I was just thinking.. I've always wanted to go to the hardest, toughest mission in the world.. like somewhere in hte deep deep jungle. ok like where chase went. speaking physically hard. But i realized that this mission is the hardest mission, spiritually speaking. I've never had my testimony tested so many times of my life. Everyday its tested! THis is in the heart of apostasy! With sooo many different religions and cultures, it really makes you ponder what true. But I have come to know, with every fiber of my heart and all that i have, that this is the true gospel and church of christ. I am very grateful for the liberty and freedom of this country. I know the Lord has preserved this land for a purpose. ANd I know with out a doubt that he helped our forefathers and our ancestors fight for this land. He really keeps his promises. i know this land is the promised land and because of our religious freedom, Joseph smith was able to find the truth for so many of us. EVen though there was an apostasy and there's so many religions. It helped joseph smith really ponder on what is truth. So many of us wonder what is truth, but do we really know for ourselves? ANd because Joseph smith had the freedom of religion, he was able to ask heavenly father one simple question. And Our father loves us so much he answered his prayer with 7 simple words. "THis is my beloved son, Hear him." ANd the restoration began from there. WE are so blessed to have the truth here today. To have the restored gospel and the priesthood here. I know for myself now that Joseph smith was a prophet of God, and I know this is the only true church of CHrist. I will never doubt my faith or testimony. If i thought i knew before my mission... well i sure do know now!! I am grateful for my testimony:) 
I hope ya'll have a testimony just as i do. I encourage you and invite you to really seek and find for yourself. We as members of this chruch and disciples of christ need to be truly converted. WE are the light for others. I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonderful week. God bless!

Love sister Hulme xoxo