Monday, October 27, 2014

Transfer week 10/27/14

Hey ya'll!
I have so much to say, mainly about transfers. But This transfers is a little crazy!
So... Sister George is going to Johns Creek with Sister motuliki, my greenie!!! AND  she is going to train a sister from taiwan, who will be speaking some chinese here!!! Ha,, sister george is excited yet so nervous! It will be good for sister motuliki too, because she'll also be going through the twelve week program again for new missionaries, since sister george is training the other sister, and she needs to do more language study. SIster george is one lucky sister!!! Haha, last night we talked and we discussed how the holidays are going to be very interesting for them, trying ot explain halloween, daylight savings, thanksgiving.. haha she's ending on a grand adventure! She's going to do amazing:) Johns Creek is by Alpharetta Georgia and is packed with rich people! and a lot of international people. SIster George never thought she'd be a minority:) 

As for me:)... My new companion is SIster Ngo (pronounced "no") from the phillipines. She's actually a sister from temple square and she's just here for 3 months, and is on her second transfer. So we'll only have one transfer together. Also.. It will just be me in the companionship who is a sister training leader, i will be over my area, and fort yargo area in our zone. AS for the other sister training leader in the zone, SIster Debry!! is going to commerce, an area that is right in the middle of our zone, and she'll be the sister training leader there over her area and cleveland. So president is splitting the sister training leaders up. and i think he'll eventually move the sister training leaders to the commerce area. The STL have been in Monroe/Loganville for about a year now, but we're at the very bottom of our zone and we have to travel almost 2 hours to get to some of our sisters for exchanges. If he moves the STL to commerce, that will be right in the middle of the zone and will be much easier for commuting for exchanges. Basically its just all craziness and its exciting stuff! This transfer kind of threw me off though, cause I just thought that i would be STL here for 6 months. 3 months with SIster George and 3 months with another sister. But no! now i don't know what the future holds! i just better be here for christmas, thats all! i'd hate to get transfered right before christmas, which is when the next transfer ends. 

It's exciting to see all these foreign missionaries come to the mission, speaking their language! its definitely part of the hastening of the work. Atlanta is sooo international and we need those missionaries! We have a few members in our ward actually who are from the phillipines, so i know they'll love sister ngo:)

Also more exciting news... We now have a ward mission leader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know, its so sad to think we didn't have one. Technically, we did. He just didn't fulfill his calling and is really old actually, so he was having a hard time catching the new wave of the work. Bless his heart. But our bishop has been praying and pondering for a very long time on who to call for a WML, we've given him names and suggestions. But nothing has seemed to fit. WEll, we just had a family recently move into the ward, the Ruckers, and brother Rucker was called as our new WML.  He's a very... stiff kind of guy. WE talked to him briefly yesterday and he said he would call us and arrange a meeting and tell us what he has in mind. ANd he doesn't smile alot. But hey, i'll take it, i'm so happy we actually have a WML now and we'll actually have correlation, and get some  work going. I've gained the strongest testimony of church organization, and working with the leaders in the ward on my mission. We all need to use our callings in unity together in one purpose, and this ward is slowly coming to that point. I have met and grown to love so many familes in this ward and some people who are just fabulous members. But this ward really struggles in missionary work and working in unity. ANd i feel Brother Rucker wants to change that, and so do i! So our plan.. well my plan.. this week is to meet with him first hand with the new sister and the elders also, talk about ward mission plan (if we have one) and see what he would like from us. Also.. i still don't know very many of hte members in the area, so SIster Ngo and i are going to visit alot of them this week, so we can put a face to every name. WE just have our usual like 6 families who always feed us and our 3 members that we can always rely on for team ups, but i want to broaden the range and get more of the ward involved. Thinking about all of what needs to be done makes me so excited yet a little stressed for all the work that needs to be done. THis morning i was thinking of all of it, and my mind reverted to the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 64:33-34 "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.  Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and the obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days." We have to lay the foundation before we build the church here. I also learned this week that we are called to establish the church in our areas. And what it means to establish the church, to lift where you stand, just as christ established His church when he was here. Thats something ya'll can think about:) 

So, because sister George is training, we had to go to the trainers meeting, and i saw Sister Dunn there!!! we ran and slammed into each other cause we were so excited! Ahh i've missed that girl:) it was good to catch up with her. She's going home in 3 days, weird!!! Some of the members from Collins hill were taking her out to lunch that day, so i got to see them at t he mission office too. It was a joyous reunion. 

Most of this week consisted of SIster george saying goodbye to everyone, especially our converts. She's done alot of hard work here. Its always so hard to see us connect and get attached wiht members and then we have to leave them. its like us leaving our family all over again! SIster george has been really stressed this week, i sat her down on wednesday and asked her to just let everything out and tell me whats going on. I tried to give her the best words of comfort that i could, and told her to not worry, if she's faithful, everything will be ok:) She's just never been stressed on her mission, so this is like her last final test before she goes home.But she's going to do great!:) I have loved every moment being her companion, and I've gained a great friend. Some of my closest friends are from my mission!! 

I hope ya'll have a fabulous week, i love ya, take care.. pray Sister Ngo and I can build up this area!! Love ya'll!
Love, SIster Hulme

Monday, October 20, 2014

Update on Sister Hulme 10/20/14

Hello ya'll!
I'm just really grateful its monday. This week was a long week, and sister George and i were ready for monday! Sometimes you really do need that day of rest to collect yourself and get ready for a new week. 
We've been doing alot of tracting. Alot! and i will say that i admire those who do pest control or security systems after their mission, cause i don't know if i'll be able to knock on another door again when its over! don't get me wrong.. i love having the opportunity everyday to share a message of Christ, and invite others to come unto him. But i don't know if i'll ever grow to love tracting. We're trying to work through the members, but they just can't think of anybody for us to teach. We're praying for them to get out more and find more missionary opportunities. 
We're trying to think of creative ways to contact and get new investigators. Saturday there was a fall festival and we contacted there for a few hours. I wish we had a booth of our own there! Haha, so when we were in the middle of contacting someone, this woman representing Mary Kay comes up to us and tells us to sign up for this drawing and hands us the paper. Well we did so thinking eh.. we won't get it. Well they called our number yesterday and asked for aLexis! haha i had won the drawing for a free facial!! i told them i wouldn't be able to do it cause i don't have time as a missionary. but it was a good laugh:) 
So.. i do have a cool miracle to share:) 
Last night, we had our dinner in Monroe, and we decided to just spend the day there to do work, to save us on miles. Well after dinner, we were driving to follow up with one of our former investigators who we haven't seen in awhile, but Sis. George felt prompted that we needed to swing by the Hernandez family's home. It was about 7:30 and it was dark, so we just kept a little prayer in our heart that they would let us in or at least talk to us. We haven't been able to talk to them since they dropped us, but the neighbors who are members still keep in contact with them and told us we needed to stop by. We said a prayer together before we went to the door, just trying to sum up the courage and thinking of what we need to say and do. We waited and waited at the door for awhile. We knew they were home, we could see lights on and hear them. Finally we decided to leave and when we were getting in the car, we saw Juan looking at us through the window. Now we just felt awkward! Well, Juan came down and answered the door, but you could tell that he was confused and didn't know who we were. So we ran back to the door and said "Hi its the sisters!" And he just stepped to the side and motioned for us to come in:) I got so excited and my heart was racing, yet i felt so much peace and relief because God answered our prayer! And it was soooo good to see them, we've missed them so much! We only visited for a half hour but we just asked them how they were doing and told them we wanted to say hi. Finds out, Juan's family convinced them we were forcing them to be baptized, and they thought they now couldn't come to church because they weren't members. We told them they are always welcome at our church, members or not, and its up to them if they come. So they promised us they would come next sunday, especially because its Sister George's last sunday here. They also had watched all of general conference at the neighbors home and they said they enjoyed it, especially because it was directed to nonmembers too! So it was a little miracle that we were able to visit them last night and it meant so much to us! It took courage on our part, but we're glad that communication is still open between us and we know they feel our love. 
Thank you for keeping the Hernandez family in your prayers! they really need it. THat family means so much to me and i hope we can continue to visit them. 
I love ya'll so much! take care and have a great week! 

Love,
Sister Hulme
Cute little Helen, Georgia.  It was raining buckets the day we went.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

A day late... 10/14/14

Hey ya'll! 
Sorry, yesterday was columbus day and the libraries were closed. So they switched our pday to today. And we're actually up in Cleveland right now because we're going to Helen for the day with the sisters from our zone. Even though its down pouring outside, i'm excited! I've heard its a cute little german town with good chocolate. And i'm in heaven right now because i'm wearing jeans haha, cause we're allowed to do that.. we might be going on a hike there too. My body has forgotten what its like to wear jeans. 
Anyway!! This week has been long.. the days have been long.. but when i look back the week kind of flew by. We've been doing alot of exchanges lately to fit them in before the transfer ends. And those just make the week fly by. But we have to do alot of driving on our part, and it kills our miles. So between exchanges, we've been doing alooootttt of finding. And let me tell ya, when they said at conference that persecution on Joseph smith would just get harder and worse, trust me, we've been seeing that. Ha quick story.. we tracted into this man who said he knew all about our church and John Weslee.. we looked at each other and looked at him puzzled.. Sister george caught on and asked "you mean joseph smith?" he was like "oh yeah! thats what i meant!" and he just went off. I told sister george she shouldn't have even mentioned the name joseph smith and we should've gone forward like we didn't know what he was talking about! I thought though.. if you can't even get the name right, your sources must be wrong. I don't think you really know everything about our church like you said you did. And that's just a taste of what we deal with everyday. I also thought of what persecution other missionaries get in their mission.. probably not alot about joseph smith outside of the states. BUt especially in the south, people hear different things and rumors spread like crazy. And we get to put up with the persecution. But its all worth it:) I can definitely say i have a testimony of Joseph SMith, and i know he's a prophet of God! With his one question he had about which church is true, and the answer he recieved.. it also answered millions of other's questions at that time and in the future. And i love the simple evidence of all this truth.. the Book of Mormon, read it, ponder it, pray about it. I've just started reading it over again, and this time i'm really focusing on the doctrine, or the gospel of christ. I've noticed in just the first book of nephi how much pertains to the gospel, and how much it witnesses of Christ! I just love it:)
We did have one cool miracle on saturday! We had dinner with the bishop's family, the Carters, and Sister CArter, whom i just love and adore, texted us and asked if we had any investigators or people in mind that we wanted to invite to dinner. Well we've been focusing on a recent convert, EMily, who is a 15 year old and is very shy, she needs alot of love and attention from the ward. So we asked Sister Carter to text Emily and invite her. Well, we rode with SIster carter to Emily's house to pick her up. Emily also has 3 other siblings who are around her same age. And Sister Carter was not slow to act as a missionary, and invited all her siblings to come to dinner too! We had to really convince them to come, but once one of them said yes, the rest followed suit and wanted to come! It was a little tricky though because we were just driving SIster Carter's little chevy cruz car, and we had to REALLY squeeze in for all of us to fit! We didn't really think ahead, but we were willing to sacrifice for this missionary opportunity.:) haha sister George and i had to squeeze in the front seat. We became really close friends by the end of that car ride. Haha! Sister george couldn't resist and said , "I haven't had this much action in 15 months!" SIster Carter overheard and just laughed. goodness, my companion sometimes. Don't worry, we took the back roads to the Bishop's home.. and we made it safely.. obviously! We had so much fun that evening! We played a big game of kickball, had a great cookout, and roasted some smores over a fire. We taught the gospel of JEsus Christ to them after dinner, and everyone had great input! Emily said on sunday that they had such a fun time and her siblings wanted to do it again. We are so grateful for BIshop Carter's family who were so outgoing and willing to have them over. WE wouldn't have been able to do it without them and their help, especially sister Carter, who was quick to invite emily's family over, let alone all squish in the car! We just love members like them:) Sister Carter is another member who is my long lost friend that i have just grown to love! SHe's from idaho, so she understands sister george and i:) 
BIG BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO THE BEST MOM IN THE WORLD!!!  I hope you have a wonderful birthday tomorrow mom:) thanks for all you've done for me and all you do now:) 
Also, for those who would like to go to Sis. Dunn's homecoming it is november 9th at 1 oclock.. she lives in the woodruff ward in logan. SHe'll email me the address when she gets home. she would love to meet ya'll and i think it would be awesome for you to go and support her. tell her hi! 
well have a great week! 
Love sister Hulme

Monday, October 6, 2014

General Conference and One Year Mark 10/6/14

Dear family and friends,
It was soo great to hear from some of you! I wish i had more time on my hands to email all of ya'll. 
Conference went by way too fast! It was crazy for me to think the whole time that it was a year ago that I was watching conference in the MTC. And each time that president monson says "God be with you till we meet again in 6 months time" my stomach lurches in thinking how fast that time flies. 6 months and i'll be packing the bags to come home! ugh. truly the anticipation just kills me, and i almost get anxiety thinking of all i need to do in 6 months. Only 6 months left to truly serve with all my heart might mind and strength. But when i remember the commission i've been called to, i just feel peace and comfort, knowing that i'm fulfilling fathers will, and i've been called to the greatest work. I'm just going to enjoy the time i'm in now and make the most of it. Because I have 6 months left to finish a mission i'll remember for eternity. 
This week was much better than last week. Thanks for your prayers and your love:) On wednesday we had interviews and we had a little zone conference and watched Meet the Mormons. We no longer get to go to it with our investigators at a theatre, but we got to watch it early instead! Hhaha president had a bootleg copy:) OMG its so good! you have to make it a priority to go! and when you do, please be a good member and bring a friend:) that's what its for. i'm excited for the world to see it on netflix and so forth. Interviews with president were good. Except he just asked me about my family and what my plans were after the mission. BTW mom he gave me permission to apply for byu-i. i told him i didn't want to think about that stuff yet, but he told me that its ok to keep it in mind, just as long as it doesn't consume my mind! still don't want to think about it. 
We also had an awesome Mission leadership council meeting on friday. It was really focused on how we can balance between tracting and working with the members. Since tracting is still effective in the south, we will be the last mission to get ipads pretty much. But one thing i've really learned on my mission is how to work with the different leaderships in the church and the roles of each. ha i had no idea what a ward mission leader was or how important that calling is! But i'm grateful for the chance as a missionary to serve and assist them in their calling. Our ward is struggling with some of this stuff though, so its a working progress. and as SIster Training Leaders we were asked to give a training on this at the next zone meeting this week! Kind of hard when your own ward won't exemplify it. SIster George and I decided we're laying the foundation for future missionaries who will be doing great things with the monroe ward! 
And to make the week even better, we had a baptism on friday. Anel Sisic finally got baptized! He is the man from bosnia and was a muslim. He was part of  a part member family, and was taking discussions from missionaries for about 1.5 years. Well since we've been here he's made sooo much progress and its been so cool to see. HAha we had to book it out of Mission leadership council to get back in time to set up for his baptism. When he showed up, he was so excited and it was so fun to see!:) haha he was extra picky about his water, he wanted it to be as clean as ever if he was going to be purified in it. So he made us get out any little bug or crump in the water, and a few times i almost fell in! We also made him this special  baptism certificate.. we called it his splash pass:) he was overjoyed to get it:) there was as little joke behind that. 
So the biggest thing i learned from conference was from the talk on decisions. When president brought it up in interviews about my plan after the mission, my mind has kind of been boggled by what i should do. But I went to conference with questions in mind. And i learned that when making decisions, we have to consider our options, with the end in mind.. having an eternal perspective. and you most definitely have to understand who you are, what your divine purpose is, and where you want to go. And when seeking answers for these decisions, trust that its all in god's timing. He'll give you the answer when you are prepared to recieve it. Sometimes you have to set it aside because you have to learn and grow until god will give you the answer. THis weekend, i learned that I'm still growing and reaching my potential, and my focus is my mission. Everything else will come in its time when God sees best for me. I'm so grateful for the counsel from prophets, apostles, and leaders, cause its direct counsel from God. I hope each of you took something from conference and will strive to follow their counsel. 
Thanks again for your prayers, love, support, and for being the best family ever! Love you so much!
Love Sister Hulme

The previous sisters, Anel, and Sister George and Lexie.
They are all standing in front of the picture in which Anel says "Christ is playing Hide and Seek."