Email received February 25, 2013

Hola familia,

 

Hows everyone doing? Don´t worry I was only sick for a few days and only sick enough to stay in bed once so this whole week I was able to work really hard. Man last week after I finished writing you guys it started raining super hard, within about 10 minutes the floods in the streets were up past my ankles so I decided to go buy some of those stylish rubber rain boots, they helped a lot. The rain here is funny because normally it´ll start and it´s the strongest craziest rainstorm you´ve ever seen, but it usually finishes within about a half hour. I can only think of about one time where it pretty much just rained all day. It rained a couple of times this week which was nice because it cools things down but it´s hard because nobody lets you in in the rain, they all pretend they´re not home. But man this week was super great. Elder Williamson is super awesome and we´re getting along great! I´m getting a little lazy and I speak more English, but it´s cool I´m improving my language in other ways. So Elder Williamson and I got our goals everyday this week! Even though we had zone conference (which was Amazing! President Madariaga is so great, but we just got the name of the new president, I´ll explain that in a little). That´s something that is called 7/7 because we count how many days (out of 7) we get our goals. One cool experience that we had was we were working with this guy named Aladín. Elder Williamson had taught him before and he´d been to church (because he lives with his brother who is the 1st or 2nd councilor in the bishopric) but they never really found his main concern or could get him excited about the gospel. So before the lesson and during the whole thing I was just praying that we could find his concern. I realized that we really needed to invite the Spirit and I´ve found that the best way for me to invite the Spirit and get people to open up is by sharing a personal experience and following that immediately up with a testimony and what I learned. I shared something, I don´t really remember what, then the ward mission leader (He´s amazing, leaves and does lots of visits with us) shared an experience too. Aladín then told us that he hasn´t ever had a spiritual experience but that he´s really wanted one his whole life. He said he tries keeping commitments and doing the things that member/missionaries tell him but he doesn´t get the experiences. I felt really inspired to commit him to read Alma 32 but I doubted at first because I couldn´t see how that would help him recognize the Spirit, but eventually I just gave in and left it with him. The next day I studied Alma 32 for my personal studies trying to read it as if I was Aladín and it was way cool. It talked a lot about patience on the Lord and having faith, it was a super neat experience and we´re going to follow up with him tonight about it so I´m really excited about that. Piro´Y is a little bit smaller than my last area (Marambure B was HUGE), and the ward has about half as many people show up (about 40 each week). The members are way nice and we have about 3 lunch appointments which are pretty good. The members are pretty helpful here if we just encourage them a little bit so it´s very nice. The teaching pool is great! We´ve found some very nice part member families through working with references and menos activos. We have this one guy named Benigno who's been coming to church and listening to us that I think will probably get to baptized here in a week or two.

 

So there is some pretty huge news about my mission. President Madariaga will leave in the end of June and the new president, Presidente Garn H. y Hna. Pam McMullin from Utah will be coming in July. He served his mission in Ecuador and she served in Spain, they have 5 kids. However there is a possibility that they will not be my mission president/wife. They just announced a new mission in Argentina, I think it´s called like pasados or something, and this new mission is taking a couple of staked/districts from the Paraguay Asunción mission. So the Paraguay Asunción mission is taking a couple of stakes/districts from the Paraguay Asunción North mission. Any missionaries in those stakes/districts that the south mission is taking on July 1st will be switched over to the south mission. I´m not going to lie, I´d be a little sad if I had to switch because there´s just something about here that I like and I want to go to the places that I´ve heard about in this mission, plus I´ve got stuff that says north mission. But I´m ready to do what the Lord wants me to do without complaining. There would definitely be some cool things about going to the south mission too, there are a lot of really cool things down there. But Yeah pretty crazy stuff. We also are now allowed to use two strap backpacks which is really nice because my back was starting to hurt, but now i´m nice and comfortable with my two strap. The one that we got at Big 5 is perfect!

Well I´ve almost run out of time again and I forgot my camera so I can´t send home pictures, but I´ll try to next week. This church is true and I love it so much. Being a missionary is the best thing anyone can do, it has changed my life so much and given me a whole new look on life and the consequences our choices bring, but the joy that the gospel can restore into lives. We were teaching this one guy, Davíd, and he told us he was looking for peace and happiness in drugs and alcohol but that it lasted an hour than was gone. He said he wants the stuff that lasts, the stuff only God can give us. That is so true, God loves us and will provide for us the peace and happiness that lasts forever, even after this life.

con amor,

Elder Hulsey

(No Subject)

Email received February 18, 2013

Hola Familia!

Hows life back in the good E.E.U.U. (for some reason that´s the abbreviation for USA here in Paraguay, these people are crazy but I love them). I´m so pumped for Caleb Reber. Él va a disfrutar la misión muchísimo y díganle que no hay por qué preocuparse por la idioma, es muy fácil. San Bernardino High Football Rules (a little Bill and Teds for you). So this week was pretty crazy. I got changed out of good´ol Marambure. They did something a little funny too. We were 4 Elders in Marambure, Elder Morinigo and I were Marambure B and the other ones were obviously A. I can´t speak for A but Elder Morinigo and I had about 5 investigators that are planning on getting baptized this week and the next, but they combined Marambure A and B and pulled Elder Morinigo and me out. They also pulled out one of the Elders from A. I have a feeling that President wants to put sisters in Marambure again but this time with Elders as well, but the Elders have to find a new house because obviously the hermanas and elders can´t live together, and I think that he´ll want to put hermanas in as soon as they find a house so that´s why he just went ahead and pulled us now. But luckily I had done a lot of studying in Preach My Gospel about how to use the Area Book so I had been keeping that pretty well so the Elders that are there now should be able to pick up and go pretty easily. But it was pretty sad to leave, I really loved Marambure and the people that I met there. But I hadn´t realized how big I am, we took pictures with all of the people that we became close to during the last couple of months and feel like I tower over them in the pictures. It´s pretty weird being on the taller end of things for once. Caleb Reber is going to tower over la gente de su misión.

So my new area is called Piro´y (it´s Guaraní so it´s pronounced piro (like in Spanish) then its a hard break and the y in guaraní makes like a grunt to u (like in the word you) sound, I still can´t say it very well). Cayden Brown was actually in this area right before he came into my old zone so I´m sure he´s got pictures of it on his blog. My new companion is named Elder Williamson. He´s super funny and obedient and loves to work hard. He´s hitting his year mark this Friday and he´s lost like 70 pounds in the mission! He looks like a completely different person. Like I said, funny kid. He´s from Florida and he´s the youngest of 2 kids (so he has one older brother). We both study the language everyday for an hour. I still speak with a total gringo accent and there are still things that I have to get creative in the way I say because I don´t know a certain word, but at this point I can at least talk my way around everything I need to.

When I got in my new area, I quickly learned that we didn´t really have any investigators. But luckily I opened my last area so I know how to find investigators. We started out doing contacts and I remember what President Madariaga had told me about doing contacts to show our faith in the Lord. So we were doing contacts and we found this one blind guy that told us he´s the oldest mormon in Paraguay but that he never got baptized (he was a little crazy but a quality guy). But then on Thursday it was raining super hard all day (the mail shoe held up pretty good, I still got drenched but for most of the day my feet stayed pretty dry), then on Saturday I got up at 6:30 to start my day, and I was so dizzy I almost threw up. I felt super clammy and I had a fever (pretty much how I feel after I get a flu shot). We couldn´t leave that day. The adversary was really working against us but we still worked hard and got our contacts in. Sunday wasn´t looking too promising for investigators in church but we prayed and went and a member family had brought this guy who's 18 that just moved in with them to church. We also received a referral from a member. After church we went and talked with them and both of the lessons were super powerful. We got blessed with some great investigators and I know it´s because we´re doing our best to be obedient and work hard. The Lord blesses us when we do all that we can do. I love you guys so much, I have a whole lot more I want to say but it´ll have to wait until next week. I also want to write to Spencer but I have no time this week, just tell him that Choir tour junior year was 100 times better than senior year.

Con Amor,

Elder Hulsey

(No Subject)

Email received Jannuary 11, 2013

Hola familia,

 

Wow what a week, lots of trials but lots of experiences gained too. That´s crazy that Caleb is getting his mission call this week! It wouldn´t surprise me one bit if he joins me down here in good ol south america, da gusto aquí. So I hope big Threeli had a great birthday yesterday, I have to get used to telling people that he´s 3 now and that megan is 14 when I show them my fotos. Latin people love fotos so much, it´s so funny. They are always trying to find a way to show you their fotos, I love it. So they do celebrate Valentines day here, I´m just not really sure how yet so next week I´ll let you know, but I think it´s pretty much the same as in the states. Changes we´ll find out any minute now so I might be able to let you know whats going on depending on when we get them. I love Maramburé so much and I would be a little sad to go, but I´d also love to get to know a new part of Paraguay so whatever happens is cool with me.

 

So like I said, this week was pretty full of trials and real life seemed to hit kinda hard, but I learned a lot and found a lot of places that I need to improve. I don´t really want to go into details now because I´m trying to keep a positive attitude and be more filled with love in my heart, but I´ll share one funny thing that happened. So due to a series of events out of my control our power got shut off this last Tuesday morning. We had district meeting then my companion organized a division and went to another area. So we didn´t have lights, fans, cold water in the fridge (because the fridge didn´t work). So the 4 of us that were in the house (my companion for the day and the two other Elders we live with) brought our mattresses outside and put on tons of bugspray and slept out there! It was fun because we stayed up late telling stories (the rule is lights out and in bed by 10:30, it doesn´t say anything about not talking). It was pretty good and during the division we contacted some pretty solid people that I believe are going to progress.

 

Another thing happened that really helped me to realize the Lord´s hand in things. Again without going into detail a recent convert Nidia has experienced a lot of trials of faith since her baptism. They have experienced tons of sickness and. But last week when I had my division we went to visit Nidia but she wasn´t home, so the next night I went with Elder Morinigo. We got there and we found Nidia just a wreck. We talked with her and I gave her a blessing of comfort, she still hadn´t talked with anyone else about what had happened. She ended up having to move to an area that isn´t ours, but the area where she moved is perfect. Sergio and Nidia were taught first by an Elder Giron and his companion, but then they moved into our area and we finished teaching them. Elder Giron didn´t get taken out of his area for a long time and is still there now, and Nidia is moved right back into his area! So she´s already comfortable with him so it´s working out really nice. She decided she´s going to keep attending in Marambure and they told her that´s fine. She also came to church on Sunday even though she´s experiencing so many hard times! She´s so great and has so much faith!

 

So this week one of the things that I learned is the difference it makes having the Spirit present in the lessons. We have kinda got into a habit of just teaching and not focusing so much on helping our investigators to feel the Spirit. So I set a goal to invite the Spirit more in the lessons. I had a hard time at first because I wasn´t sure how. We always share our testimonies and teach the doctrine, but this week I learned the importance of personal experiences. We were sitting in a couple of lessons where at first I thought that there was no way that these people will understand anything that we´re teaching them, because that happens a lot. But when I shared some personal stories and specific examples of the blessings that I´ve received everything changed. When Elder Bednar came and spoke to us a few months ago (That´s crazy that I´ve been here for a few months! I passed my 6 month mark but I still feel brand new, Cayden Brown passes his year mark this month and he told me he still feels brand new too) he told us repeatedly that the Holy Ghost is the teacher. I realized that what we say isn´t really that important, it´s what they feel and what the Holy Ghost tells them. This family for example totally changed in my eyes and I could tell that they really could follow Christ correctly if I just help them recognize the Spirit. Our lessons were so much more powerful and when it came time to extend invitations it was a completely different experience. Instead of us trying to convince them to come to church, they were asking us when it started because they wanted to go and feel those feelings more. The Holy Ghost can work miracles and it´s so cool being able to have it work through you to bless others, that´s why you´ve got to make sure you´re worthy to be here before you come out. I don´t know how many people, if any at all, I´ve actually helped here but I have received so many blessings for my service that it´s unbelievable.

 

I love you guys so much and I hope you have a great día de amor and a wonderful week.

 

Con Muchísimo amor,

Elder Hulsey

(No Subject)

Email received January 4, 2013

 

Mbatecovio,

 

That´s Guarani for you. It's a way to greet men (I believe groups of people as well). This week was pretty great, I received so many blessings and a lot of help from the Lord. So last Monday after I sent home an email, I got to go to this way cool Soccer Museum. It´s got the South American Cup and it´s very nice, it´s also where they organize the South American Soccer League. I took a picture in front of a huge soccer ball with a tiny little movie theatre in that shows this little 15 minute movie about the history of soccer. We went with a ton of Latins and they were going crazy! It was so weird being in a movie theatre type setting again! It´s okay though because we were with the zone leaders. I´m also going to try and send home some pictures of part of my area, compare it to the snow and you´ll see that where I am is quite different than Utah. It was so hot on Saturday that I was just sweating buckets and everyone that we went and visited felt so bad for me. It was funny and I actually don´t mind sweating because when I´m sweaty it feels super nice if a car drives by or there´s a nice breeze that blows all of the sudden.

So as I told you at Christmas, one of the hardest things for me to do is contacts. Our weekly goal as a mission is 75 contacts but personally the most I had ever done in one week was 30 (and most other weeks were embarrassingly low). But this week everything changed. I noticed a little while ago that I don´t struggle with the language really at all anymore. I understand almost everything. There are a words that people will say that I´m not familiar with but I can almost always figure out their meaning from the context. So I realized that I don´t have anymore excuses and it´s time to get these contacts. My companion isn´t a real advocate for contacts because he feels like people just do them for the numbers, but President came to our district meeting and asked us to please do more contacts. He also told us that doing contacts is not the most effective way of spreading the Gospel, but that as we do our part we are showing our faith in the Lord and He will bless us. I decided that I don´t care if I´m doing contacts for numbers or not, but that I was going to do them. I prayed so much during the week that I would be able to get these contacts. I was always thinking about them (so much so that I actually had a dream about contacting people). Then on Wednesday night it seemed impossible to get 75 contacts, but that night I was praying super fervently that a miracle would happen and that I could get my contacts. I had an idea to ask my companion if we could do a division with a couple of priests in the ward that had asked us about doing a division on Sunday. Elder Morinigo was totally down and I suggested that I go to a village that we have hardly explored and that he go where our investigators are. It was such a success! I got 21 solid contacts that day alone! Then after that I would just pray that the Lord would put people in my path, and when I saw them I wasn´t nervous to talk with them anymore because I knew they were people that the Lord wanted me to talk to right at that very moment. I ended up getting 77 Contacts last week! It was great and now I´ve got so much confidence and I feel so much better after doing what President Madariaga asked. However I´m not going to lie, I don´t know how many of the people that I contacted are going to go anywhere right now in the Gospel, but I figure I´m planting seeds if nothing else. Yesterday I felt the Spirit super strong tell me to go talk to this one family that was sitting outside of their house. I went for it and they were very not interested. They started asking me things like what were the Savior's last words in the Book of John, and why we don´t believe that the Virgin Mary is our mother if she´s the mother of Christ and if Christ is our older brother. It didn´t matter how much we tried explaining things to them. But then I said a prayer in my head and the Lord put it in my head what to say to get out of the situation. It´s funny how the Lord works sometimes, but it increased my faith talking with them so it´s all good.

 

Well I love you guys and I hope you have a great week! I´m really loving the missionary experience, it has made me grow closer to the Lord than anything else in my life ever has! I hope Elder Reber is safe in Baltimore with all of those crazy football fans, here the people could care less. Haha.

 

Con Amor,

Elder Hulsey

 

P.s. the picture without anybody in it is a picture of this church in my area. It´s just a giant pavilion where they always sing and play instruments on Saturday nights.