Email received April 7, 2014
Hola familia!
Man can you just say like the BEST week ever! On Tuesday we got to go to the temple with the zone and do a session and it was the first time I got to see the new video (they tell me there´s two now), AWESOME!!!!! It was such a great experience, I loved it so much. Then I was so excited for General Conference, like serriously though I felt like it was Christmas. I woke up at like 3 in the morning on Saturday morning to go to the bathroom and sub-conciously I thought "yes, only 9 more hours until conference! (because they showed it at 12:00 here)". And boy did it hit the mark! I loved it so much and learned so much too. The family we were teaching wasn´t able to come to President´s house with us so that didn´t work out, but it was great because Dexter and Pedro came and watched and loved it! They are both super excited to get baptized. Dexter accepted a date for the 19th, I just hope that we can get him ready by that day because neither him nor us have a lot of time. Pedro after the conference told us that he was reading in the LDM (that´s the BoM for you gringos) and loved it! He said that it answered some of his big questions and that he´s super excited to keep reading, Dexter did the same thing! Man the gospel of Jesus Christ is so cool!
We have a big week planned for this week. We´re going out tomorrow morning to do a division that´s about a 2 hour bus ride away in a place called Santaní, then Wednesday and Thursday we´ll be on division out about a 7 hour bus ride away down by Brazil in a place called Pedro Juan Caballero, it's a super fun week.
Well I'm about out of time but I would've loved to write about how cool all of the conference talks were. I loved Elder Oaks' talk and pretty much the entire second session on Saturday. I love you all and hope you have an excellent week.
con mucho amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Banner
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
(No Subject)
Hola Familia,
Last week was yet another great week in the “guay”. I love Paraguay so much. We had a busy week of traveling around and doing zone capacitations (meetings). Elder Dickson and I are getting along real well. Tonight we´ll find out if he´s getting changed out or not. He´s been in the office for 5 changes now and he only has two changes left so he´d love to spend them out in the field, but he´s down with whatever. I´m glad you got the truck working, I´m positive that I had no gun fights in or near the truck, but if we´re coming clean about things that happened in the truck... just kidding I think I´ve already come clean about everything before I left. I´m a little nervous to drive again in the United Sates because the laws (or lack thereof) here a lot different and I´ve developed some pretty bad habits on the road.
So we taught a super cool lesson to Pedro about the Word of Wisdom but for some reason he was not able to go to church on Sunday (I think it´s because his member girlfriend wanted him to wait to get baptized, he didn´t but she did, so they all traveled Sunday morning). But he´s super cool and I know he´ll get baptized soon. I got the video of Eli singing. His little voice isn´t as little as I remember it being- it was super fun to watch. These days I don´t think I can even get trunky. I´m so afraid of going home that sometimes it stresses me out. I feel like I just barely started my mission but I can´t even really remember what life was like not being a missionary. As we were traveling with President this last week he looked at Elder Dickson and I and told us, "man, you guys are going home soon", haha (we deserved it because we were giving him a hard time about his birthday on Saturday). But it was nice because we were able to have a really nice discussion just about what to do after to stay strong and the blessings of serving a mission and how great it is being a missionary. I tried asking him about any possible way to extend, he said the chances are not good. That gave me a little hope that there were some chances (even if they´re bad ones) but then he said that our chances are as good as Elder Breadsguards´ were (and he didn´t get them). Dang.
So about the Easter package, don´t worry about sending it. I´m not even sure if it will get here before I go and I just got the package that had my shoes in it (love the package by the way, the sasquatch jerky was AWESOME!) and I think that will suffice. I really like all of the stuff that they have here in Paraguay. So like I´ve mentioned, we traveled this week. One of the places we did a capacitation was called Santaní. From there we had scheduled a division with some Elders that were in an area about 2 hours away (or so we were told) in a place called Santa Rosa. So we hopped on a bus from Santani and headed towards Santa Rosa. Our options for this little more than 2 hour bus trip were watch the movie they were showing, contact the 2 20 year girls on the bus, or take a nap. We were tired because we were working off of just a few hours of sleep and we knew that that night we also wouldn´t be getting too much sleep so we decided that our best option would be to take a little nap. The driver was advised that we were going to get off in Santa Rosa and normally they come and get you, plus we set alarm clocks on our phones to wake us up before we got there so we fell asleep. Well about an hour and 40 minutes later this guy walks back and asks us if we were going to get off in Santa Rosa and we said yeah, are we close? He told us to run off because we just barely passed it! So half asleep we just hopped off the bus and started trying to figure out where we were. Turns out we were about 10 km´s past the city! haha so we started trying to hitch hike back to the city because justito it had started to sprinkle as well! haha after about an hour a member came and picked us up and brought us the rest of the way over. Luckily we are now in fall (it feels like fall outside, it´s super fun) and we were in the middle of the jungle so it was just sooooooo pretty. The Lord really did a good job when He made Paraguay. When it rains here it just gets so green and beautiful. It really makes you think about the true nothingness of man and who´s really in charge. I´ve been studying a lot recently about Priesthood power and authority and I´m starting to understand a little better about just how much trust was put into each Priesthood holder. I did not quite understand the magnitude (as I´m sure I still don´t even come close to fully understanding) of the priesthood covenants. God literaly trusts them, priesthood holders, to act in the name of Jesus Christ, His perfect son. He trusts them to represent Him here on the earth, that´s HUGE! I´m going to try and be a more worthy priesthood holder, after all it is His power to properly perform ordinances necessary for salvation. I hope you have a great week and I love you all very much.
Con mucho amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Last week was yet another great week in the “guay”. I love Paraguay so much. We had a busy week of traveling around and doing zone capacitations (meetings). Elder Dickson and I are getting along real well. Tonight we´ll find out if he´s getting changed out or not. He´s been in the office for 5 changes now and he only has two changes left so he´d love to spend them out in the field, but he´s down with whatever. I´m glad you got the truck working, I´m positive that I had no gun fights in or near the truck, but if we´re coming clean about things that happened in the truck... just kidding I think I´ve already come clean about everything before I left. I´m a little nervous to drive again in the United Sates because the laws (or lack thereof) here a lot different and I´ve developed some pretty bad habits on the road.
So we taught a super cool lesson to Pedro about the Word of Wisdom but for some reason he was not able to go to church on Sunday (I think it´s because his member girlfriend wanted him to wait to get baptized, he didn´t but she did, so they all traveled Sunday morning). But he´s super cool and I know he´ll get baptized soon. I got the video of Eli singing. His little voice isn´t as little as I remember it being- it was super fun to watch. These days I don´t think I can even get trunky. I´m so afraid of going home that sometimes it stresses me out. I feel like I just barely started my mission but I can´t even really remember what life was like not being a missionary. As we were traveling with President this last week he looked at Elder Dickson and I and told us, "man, you guys are going home soon", haha (we deserved it because we were giving him a hard time about his birthday on Saturday). But it was nice because we were able to have a really nice discussion just about what to do after to stay strong and the blessings of serving a mission and how great it is being a missionary. I tried asking him about any possible way to extend, he said the chances are not good. That gave me a little hope that there were some chances (even if they´re bad ones) but then he said that our chances are as good as Elder Breadsguards´ were (and he didn´t get them). Dang.
So about the Easter package, don´t worry about sending it. I´m not even sure if it will get here before I go and I just got the package that had my shoes in it (love the package by the way, the sasquatch jerky was AWESOME!) and I think that will suffice. I really like all of the stuff that they have here in Paraguay. So like I´ve mentioned, we traveled this week. One of the places we did a capacitation was called Santaní. From there we had scheduled a division with some Elders that were in an area about 2 hours away (or so we were told) in a place called Santa Rosa. So we hopped on a bus from Santani and headed towards Santa Rosa. Our options for this little more than 2 hour bus trip were watch the movie they were showing, contact the 2 20 year girls on the bus, or take a nap. We were tired because we were working off of just a few hours of sleep and we knew that that night we also wouldn´t be getting too much sleep so we decided that our best option would be to take a little nap. The driver was advised that we were going to get off in Santa Rosa and normally they come and get you, plus we set alarm clocks on our phones to wake us up before we got there so we fell asleep. Well about an hour and 40 minutes later this guy walks back and asks us if we were going to get off in Santa Rosa and we said yeah, are we close? He told us to run off because we just barely passed it! So half asleep we just hopped off the bus and started trying to figure out where we were. Turns out we were about 10 km´s past the city! haha so we started trying to hitch hike back to the city because justito it had started to sprinkle as well! haha after about an hour a member came and picked us up and brought us the rest of the way over. Luckily we are now in fall (it feels like fall outside, it´s super fun) and we were in the middle of the jungle so it was just sooooooo pretty. The Lord really did a good job when He made Paraguay. When it rains here it just gets so green and beautiful. It really makes you think about the true nothingness of man and who´s really in charge. I´ve been studying a lot recently about Priesthood power and authority and I´m starting to understand a little better about just how much trust was put into each Priesthood holder. I did not quite understand the magnitude (as I´m sure I still don´t even come close to fully understanding) of the priesthood covenants. God literaly trusts them, priesthood holders, to act in the name of Jesus Christ, His perfect son. He trusts them to represent Him here on the earth, that´s HUGE! I´m going to try and be a more worthy priesthood holder, after all it is His power to properly perform ordinances necessary for salvation. I hope you have a great week and I love you all very much.
Con mucho amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Monday, March 17, 2014
(No Subject)
Email received March 17, 2014
Hola familia!
How's it going? This week was a good one. We had capacitations this week so it was a lot of traveling around Asuncion and divisions. One night this guy from PBO called the office and long story short Elder Dickson and I basically had to go take a 6 hour run around trip delivering carbon monoxide detectors to a ton of houses in the mission (it wouldn't have taken as long but we got super lost, haha). But one positive on that is that we had to give one to some Elders in Capiata and they were having an activity in the chapel for all of the less actives and recent converts (Elder Dickson and I both served a long time in that area) so that was a bonus to see everyone again.
So we've been letting everyone know that we are having a baptism on the 25th of this month, but we just haven't been sure who it would be. Well yesterday we were sitting in principios del evangelio (Sunday School class) and the hermanas went up and started to talk with our investigator, Pedro, about his baptism on the 25th( keep in mind that we hadn´t told him our plan yet)! Anyways apparently with them he accepted the date! So later we went by and watched the restoration video with him and it was a super experience. He says he feels in his heart that these things are true and he´s preparing for his baptism on the 25th (pray that all goes well there).
Well I´m out of time but I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! The Lord blesses us when we do what´s right and He loves us. Just think about the incredible blessings we have. Even if everything goes wrong in our life we are still so blessed because we have the Priesthood power and authority on earth making it possible to have the remission of our sins through baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost and so we can have the hope of a mundo major (better world) (Ether 12:4). ¡Que Bendición (what a blessing)! What more could anyone really want? Que les vaya bien.
con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
P.S. I forgot again this year about St. Patrick´s day but luckily I bought a new backpack today that had green on it (my other backpack is being retired, the bottom is just a big hole now so I bought a new one), A real nice Nike one that I randomly found at this random Nike outlet and they accepted my American dollars so I just bought it with the Christmas money that Grandma sent me! Score! I´ll send pictures next week.
Hola familia!
How's it going? This week was a good one. We had capacitations this week so it was a lot of traveling around Asuncion and divisions. One night this guy from PBO called the office and long story short Elder Dickson and I basically had to go take a 6 hour run around trip delivering carbon monoxide detectors to a ton of houses in the mission (it wouldn't have taken as long but we got super lost, haha). But one positive on that is that we had to give one to some Elders in Capiata and they were having an activity in the chapel for all of the less actives and recent converts (Elder Dickson and I both served a long time in that area) so that was a bonus to see everyone again.
So we've been letting everyone know that we are having a baptism on the 25th of this month, but we just haven't been sure who it would be. Well yesterday we were sitting in principios del evangelio (Sunday School class) and the hermanas went up and started to talk with our investigator, Pedro, about his baptism on the 25th( keep in mind that we hadn´t told him our plan yet)! Anyways apparently with them he accepted the date! So later we went by and watched the restoration video with him and it was a super experience. He says he feels in his heart that these things are true and he´s preparing for his baptism on the 25th (pray that all goes well there).
Well I´m out of time but I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! The Lord blesses us when we do what´s right and He loves us. Just think about the incredible blessings we have. Even if everything goes wrong in our life we are still so blessed because we have the Priesthood power and authority on earth making it possible to have the remission of our sins through baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost and so we can have the hope of a mundo major (better world) (Ether 12:4). ¡Que Bendición (what a blessing)! What more could anyone really want? Que les vaya bien.
con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
P.S. I forgot again this year about St. Patrick´s day but luckily I bought a new backpack today that had green on it (my other backpack is being retired, the bottom is just a big hole now so I bought a new one), A real nice Nike one that I randomly found at this random Nike outlet and they accepted my American dollars so I just bought it with the Christmas money that Grandma sent me! Score! I´ll send pictures next week.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
(No subject)
Email received February 25, 2014
Hola familia,
How´s it going out there in the frosty winter cold? I´m LOVING the heat (no joke) and am always so glad that I don´t have to be out in the streets where it´s nice and cold right now (you know me, not a big fan of being cold). This week we did more traveling for some divisions, it was pretty fun. We went out to the campo, (countryside)- good times and we had a lot of success. I´m still loving my area a ton. The members are so great in this area. The investigators are also really awesome. We were worried at first because it sounded like the members didn´t want to work but so far we haven´t really had any problems with not having members to work with. There was a really cool area devotional from Elder Ballard and Elder Rasband that he gave to Melchezideque Priesthood holders and President let us go if we brought a less active priesthood holder or an investigator. It was super. They talked about how other dispensations may have had time to wait around for the second coming of Christ but we don´t. It went right along with my scripture study in 1 Nephi 14. Also he talked a lot about how many people are going to be there on the other side of the veil to thank us for bringing the gospel into their lives. It went hand in hand with this super amazing dream that I had. A few nights ago I had a dream that you guys came down here Mom and Dad, and all of the people that I´ve baptized in my mission so far were there as well, and we were all going into the temple together. We were all so happy and hugging each other and it was one of the neatest experiences I´ve ever had. As I´ve thought about it I realize the chances of that actually happening any time soon are very slim, but I´m looking forward to being able to do that in the Celestial Kingdom and I know that thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ it is possible.
Well I´ve had a really good week and I´ve learned so much. I´m learning a ton from the Book of Mormon and from the people around me. Today for example as I read 1 Nephi 15:13-16 I realized how cool it is that me and Spencer are both fulfilling that prophecy! Perhaps one of the most impactful moments I experienced this week was yesterday however. Here in Moroni we have the Patriarch in our ward. This guy is amazing. He was the first Paraguayan mission president and is just a super amazing guy. He´s on his death bed so we were asked to go and take him and his wife the sacrament. When we were ready to leave we asked him who he wanted to offer the prayer before we left. He said he would like too. He didn´t even have strength to say complete sentences, but as soon as he started praying the Spirit entered the room super strong. Then as he spent all of his strength offering his prayer, he said nothing but thanks to the Lord. He is suffering on his death bed and using all of his strength to thank the Lord for the blessings that he has received. I realized between that and a few other things from the week that my prayers could be a lot better. Elder Ballard said that personal prayer is either one of our most powerful tools or the most powerful one that we have. I realized as he explained a little what we should pray for that as we ask for help to help others instead of asking Him to help others for us, our prayers change into powerful tools of righteousness. I´ve set the goal to have more effective and more powerful prayers with others and when I am alone. I love you all very much and I hope you have a wonderful week.
Con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Hola familia,
How´s it going out there in the frosty winter cold? I´m LOVING the heat (no joke) and am always so glad that I don´t have to be out in the streets where it´s nice and cold right now (you know me, not a big fan of being cold). This week we did more traveling for some divisions, it was pretty fun. We went out to the campo, (countryside)- good times and we had a lot of success. I´m still loving my area a ton. The members are so great in this area. The investigators are also really awesome. We were worried at first because it sounded like the members didn´t want to work but so far we haven´t really had any problems with not having members to work with. There was a really cool area devotional from Elder Ballard and Elder Rasband that he gave to Melchezideque Priesthood holders and President let us go if we brought a less active priesthood holder or an investigator. It was super. They talked about how other dispensations may have had time to wait around for the second coming of Christ but we don´t. It went right along with my scripture study in 1 Nephi 14. Also he talked a lot about how many people are going to be there on the other side of the veil to thank us for bringing the gospel into their lives. It went hand in hand with this super amazing dream that I had. A few nights ago I had a dream that you guys came down here Mom and Dad, and all of the people that I´ve baptized in my mission so far were there as well, and we were all going into the temple together. We were all so happy and hugging each other and it was one of the neatest experiences I´ve ever had. As I´ve thought about it I realize the chances of that actually happening any time soon are very slim, but I´m looking forward to being able to do that in the Celestial Kingdom and I know that thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ it is possible.
Well I´ve had a really good week and I´ve learned so much. I´m learning a ton from the Book of Mormon and from the people around me. Today for example as I read 1 Nephi 15:13-16 I realized how cool it is that me and Spencer are both fulfilling that prophecy! Perhaps one of the most impactful moments I experienced this week was yesterday however. Here in Moroni we have the Patriarch in our ward. This guy is amazing. He was the first Paraguayan mission president and is just a super amazing guy. He´s on his death bed so we were asked to go and take him and his wife the sacrament. When we were ready to leave we asked him who he wanted to offer the prayer before we left. He said he would like too. He didn´t even have strength to say complete sentences, but as soon as he started praying the Spirit entered the room super strong. Then as he spent all of his strength offering his prayer, he said nothing but thanks to the Lord. He is suffering on his death bed and using all of his strength to thank the Lord for the blessings that he has received. I realized between that and a few other things from the week that my prayers could be a lot better. Elder Ballard said that personal prayer is either one of our most powerful tools or the most powerful one that we have. I realized as he explained a little what we should pray for that as we ask for help to help others instead of asking Him to help others for us, our prayers change into powerful tools of righteousness. I´ve set the goal to have more effective and more powerful prayers with others and when I am alone. I love you all very much and I hope you have a wonderful week.
Con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
(No subject)
Email received February 17, 2014
Hola familia!
How`s everyone doing? This week was pretty crazy with the changes of all of the missionaries but it was also pretty great. Elder Brown did go home and that one was sad, he was one of the best missionaries we had in the mission so it was sad to see him go. But on the plus side I did get my card from Elder Hansen. It`s definitely different working in Moroni, but I really like it. Elder Dickson and I have set a goal to baptize an entire family this change so we have talked with every family that we`ve seen so far. We also had an opportunity in church yesterday to introduce ourselves and share our testimonies in sacrament meeting and we both mentioned our goal and we had some cool responses. We went and met with the bishop, Bishop Bernabeo (from France) and he told us the ward has not had a lot of animo lately to do missionary work so we`re going to try and change that. Any ideas? It`s super different because most people up here speak English. Elder Dickson and I are having the time of our lives out here. On Saturday we went out looking for old investigators and trying to get to know the area all day and we talked with so many people but only got into one lesson, but we were having so much fun talking with everyone that it didn`t phase us at all. We also got some pretty solid return appointments so it`s all good. Yesterday we went and a member brought us over to a friend`s house to teach him and his wife (they are old investigators). It was one of the coolest lessons ever! We were talking about the restoration and they were just eating it up. It made perfect sense to them how throughout all of history there have been apostasies and God always called another prophet because He loves us, so it makes sense that we would need a prophet today to be able to follow God correctly! It was super cool and they both accepted the baptismal invitation and committed to read the entire Book of Mormon with us in 4 months! That`s 2 chapters a day! They were telling us about how they felt an emptiness lately and they realized that they felt really good when the missionaries would stop by and talk with them and they feel like this can fill that emptiness! I was so excited! In the past they were having a hard time attending church so we`re going to pray a ton for them that they can attend church and keep their commitments and gain strong testimonies. Their names are Guido and Carolina Martinez (They`re already married!). In the lesson we had with them last night the Spirit was so strong and I realize it because I was learning so much as we were teaching and I got so many desires to keep studying and learning more. We also found a couple more families that are looking like they have a ton of potential to progress so we`re praying for them too. There is this one family, Jose and Gabriela, that seem pretty cool too. Jose is the son of a less active member and his wife used to be a nun but left that to get married (they`re married too). Gabriela invited us to a piece of cake because she admired the missionary program so it was a great way to start talking. She was telling us how it`s hard to find the balance between loving your children and your spouse and putting your spouse first. It sounded like a great question for the Book of Mormon to answer so we flipped open the part in 1 Nephi 4 where Lehi is comforting Sariah while their sons are on a dangerous trip to Jerusalem that the Lord commanded Lehi to send them on. It seemed to catch Gabriela’s attention and she committed to reading 5 chapters by Saturday so hopefully there`s some cool progression there. We also have a lesson planned for tonight with a part member family (the wife is a member and the husband not yet) and I`m excited to see what there is there. I`m loving my mission so much right now. Helping families through the Book of Mormon is the coolest thing ever! I started the Book of Mormon over today and as I was reading I decided to focus on a couple of questions. One of them was how can the Book of Mormon actually strengthen and bless families. Elder Dickson was studying about how the gospel blesses families. As I read the first 2 chapters, where Lehi leaves everything behind and flees Jerusalem, I realized something really cool. I started thinking about how Lehi obviously saw how dangerous it was raising a family in wicked Jerusalem, so I`m sure he went to the Lord for help. He being a worthy priesthood holder was ready to act as patriarch of his family so the Lord was able to tell him to take his family out of Jerusalem. He left everything but his sons were protected from a lot of wickedness and some of them, Nephi and Sam, were even able to gain strong testimonies and be converted to the Lord. That`s just one of the many classic examples of how the Book of Mormon teaches us how to keep our families safe in an unsafe world, turn to the Lord and fully trust in His counsel, no matter how hard it seems. We can also look at the fact that Lehi was a prophet so as we listen to the prophet we can also protect our families. The Book of Mormon is so cool! I hope you are looking for families to share the Book of Mormon with because it really does change lives. I love you all so much. Thanks for the pictures, glad Megan and Eli had happy birthdays. Until next week!
con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Hola familia!
How`s everyone doing? This week was pretty crazy with the changes of all of the missionaries but it was also pretty great. Elder Brown did go home and that one was sad, he was one of the best missionaries we had in the mission so it was sad to see him go. But on the plus side I did get my card from Elder Hansen. It`s definitely different working in Moroni, but I really like it. Elder Dickson and I have set a goal to baptize an entire family this change so we have talked with every family that we`ve seen so far. We also had an opportunity in church yesterday to introduce ourselves and share our testimonies in sacrament meeting and we both mentioned our goal and we had some cool responses. We went and met with the bishop, Bishop Bernabeo (from France) and he told us the ward has not had a lot of animo lately to do missionary work so we`re going to try and change that. Any ideas? It`s super different because most people up here speak English. Elder Dickson and I are having the time of our lives out here. On Saturday we went out looking for old investigators and trying to get to know the area all day and we talked with so many people but only got into one lesson, but we were having so much fun talking with everyone that it didn`t phase us at all. We also got some pretty solid return appointments so it`s all good. Yesterday we went and a member brought us over to a friend`s house to teach him and his wife (they are old investigators). It was one of the coolest lessons ever! We were talking about the restoration and they were just eating it up. It made perfect sense to them how throughout all of history there have been apostasies and God always called another prophet because He loves us, so it makes sense that we would need a prophet today to be able to follow God correctly! It was super cool and they both accepted the baptismal invitation and committed to read the entire Book of Mormon with us in 4 months! That`s 2 chapters a day! They were telling us about how they felt an emptiness lately and they realized that they felt really good when the missionaries would stop by and talk with them and they feel like this can fill that emptiness! I was so excited! In the past they were having a hard time attending church so we`re going to pray a ton for them that they can attend church and keep their commitments and gain strong testimonies. Their names are Guido and Carolina Martinez (They`re already married!). In the lesson we had with them last night the Spirit was so strong and I realize it because I was learning so much as we were teaching and I got so many desires to keep studying and learning more. We also found a couple more families that are looking like they have a ton of potential to progress so we`re praying for them too. There is this one family, Jose and Gabriela, that seem pretty cool too. Jose is the son of a less active member and his wife used to be a nun but left that to get married (they`re married too). Gabriela invited us to a piece of cake because she admired the missionary program so it was a great way to start talking. She was telling us how it`s hard to find the balance between loving your children and your spouse and putting your spouse first. It sounded like a great question for the Book of Mormon to answer so we flipped open the part in 1 Nephi 4 where Lehi is comforting Sariah while their sons are on a dangerous trip to Jerusalem that the Lord commanded Lehi to send them on. It seemed to catch Gabriela’s attention and she committed to reading 5 chapters by Saturday so hopefully there`s some cool progression there. We also have a lesson planned for tonight with a part member family (the wife is a member and the husband not yet) and I`m excited to see what there is there. I`m loving my mission so much right now. Helping families through the Book of Mormon is the coolest thing ever! I started the Book of Mormon over today and as I was reading I decided to focus on a couple of questions. One of them was how can the Book of Mormon actually strengthen and bless families. Elder Dickson was studying about how the gospel blesses families. As I read the first 2 chapters, where Lehi leaves everything behind and flees Jerusalem, I realized something really cool. I started thinking about how Lehi obviously saw how dangerous it was raising a family in wicked Jerusalem, so I`m sure he went to the Lord for help. He being a worthy priesthood holder was ready to act as patriarch of his family so the Lord was able to tell him to take his family out of Jerusalem. He left everything but his sons were protected from a lot of wickedness and some of them, Nephi and Sam, were even able to gain strong testimonies and be converted to the Lord. That`s just one of the many classic examples of how the Book of Mormon teaches us how to keep our families safe in an unsafe world, turn to the Lord and fully trust in His counsel, no matter how hard it seems. We can also look at the fact that Lehi was a prophet so as we listen to the prophet we can also protect our families. The Book of Mormon is so cool! I hope you are looking for families to share the Book of Mormon with because it really does change lives. I love you all so much. Thanks for the pictures, glad Megan and Eli had happy birthdays. Until next week!
con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Monday, February 10, 2014
(no subject)
Email received February 10, 2014
Hola familia!
Hola familia!
Como esta todo? Sounds like you all had a fun week last week. Happy birthday Eli, I hope that he completes the year very happily. This week was pretty fun. After we got back from the chaco we had more travelling to do. Basically I traveled from Bolivia to Argentina (because my area boarders up with Argentina) then out to Brazil (without actually entering any of those countries). I was driving out in Pedro Juan Caballero (that´s the city that boarders with Brazil) and it was super sketchy, but it was super fun and I was super careful. I´m now never going to be afraid to drive anywhere in the United States. So changes are happening this week and Elder Dickson and I are staying together but switching areas. We are now going to be in an area called Moroni. The temple is now in our area! I´m a little bummed because we were finding some super cool people in Trinidad and yesterday for example there was an entire less active family, mom dad and children, that came back to church. After we had a lesson with them with our branch president and the branch president invited him to prepare to baptize his son and he accepted. He also said the closing prayer and just started crying, it was a super cool lesson. There is just so much potential there and I just hope that the new missionaries that are there can really see it and capitalize on it and work super hard, because I really love that branch. But I´m super pumped to go to barrio Moroni! It is probably the best functioning ward in Paraguay. It´s pretty cool because I´m going from one of the poorest most dangerous areas in the misson (I can say that now that I´m not there anymore) to one of the nicest areas. The people up in my new area speak English and drive cars, it´ll be an interesting adventure and I´m super stoked to go do it!
So this week I was a lot of traveling and capacitations so I don´t have too many more stories to tell. But I do have an even greater found love and stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon. I love that book. I´m convinced that if we really take the time to study that book, tanto personalmente como con la familia, (both personally and as a family) then we will have our foundation upon the rock of our Redeemer. It really does answer questions. You can study it with any question in mind and find the answer as you study with prayer. I´m learning so much as I read it and I really do believe that it is true. Elder Dickson and I also realized that if you open the Book of Mormon to any page, you will find something about repentance. The Book of Mormon has a special softening, converting, and re-taining power in it. I invite you to read it with questions. If you have no questions read it with the question of who could you give a copy of it to and how can you do it and then pray for the courage to do so. i promise you that you will see great blessings and changes in your lives, especially in regards to overall happiness and peace in your daily lives and animo to do all that you have to do. I hope you have a great week.
Con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
So this week I was a lot of traveling and capacitations so I don´t have too many more stories to tell. But I do have an even greater found love and stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon. I love that book. I´m convinced that if we really take the time to study that book, tanto personalmente como con la familia, (both personally and as a family) then we will have our foundation upon the rock of our Redeemer. It really does answer questions. You can study it with any question in mind and find the answer as you study with prayer. I´m learning so much as I read it and I really do believe that it is true. Elder Dickson and I also realized that if you open the Book of Mormon to any page, you will find something about repentance. The Book of Mormon has a special softening, converting, and re-taining power in it. I invite you to read it with questions. If you have no questions read it with the question of who could you give a copy of it to and how can you do it and then pray for the courage to do so. i promise you that you will see great blessings and changes in your lives, especially in regards to overall happiness and peace in your daily lives and animo to do all that you have to do. I hope you have a great week.
Con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Thursday, February 6, 2014
The Rescue in The Chaco
Email received January 5, 2014
Hola familia!
So this last week was actually pretty crazy all around, but the craziest part was the chaco. So let me start from the beginning of this. So as I'm sure you've read there was a whole tribe of Nivacle Indians that all got baptized in the 80's. They are deep in the chaco (about 15 hours away from Asunción) up almost to Bolivia. In our mission there are about 250 missionaries. Of those missionaries probably about 200 of them are here in Asunción or in cities nearby. About 40 of them are in areas in between Asunción and Brazil, but there are only 6 in the chaco. This place where the nivacle live is way out in the chaco so they don't even have missionaries out there (the closest ones are about 6 or so hours away) and once in a blue moon a companionship from the chaco will get to go out there, the assistants haven't been there since I believe they were baptized (that could be an exaggeration but like my father always says never let the details get in the way of a good story). So Friday we were doing zone capacitations while President McMullin was in interviews with the missionaries in Luque when I got a call from a missionary in the chaco letting me know that the Nivacles were nervous about the river picomayo flooding and blocking off the roads and they wouldn't be able to get anything in or out of the community (called Mistolar) for a few months. So anyways I told him I would talk with President, but the elder called me about 6 more times before President came out, so I felt like it was a little urgent. Eventually President finished everything and I told him to call the Elder. The next morning we had a staff meeting and President said that he was thinking and the only thing he can think to do is go out ourselves and get them the supplies they need before Wednesday when the roads close for 2 to 3 months. So that day we bought all of the supplies and borrowed some brand new little trucks from PVO (the distribution center) and loaded them all up.
The next morning we went to church in Trinidad and it was really nice. Then we ate lunch with some members and packed up some things and headed out. Our plan was to go pick up some missionaries that are in the chaco then stay the night in filadelfia then make the 6 hour drive out to mistolar and deliver the supplies and help them sandbag and prepare. Then we were going to camp that night right there in mistolar with them and leave at 4 in the morning and make the 15 hour drive back to Asunción. So we got to filadelfia and stayed the night in a hotel. Then the next morning we got up and started driving. We got to this little german town called Neuland and it's pretty much the last of anything until you just hit the dirt road and get to Mistolar. So we got through the little town there was a check point and we asked the guy how the roads were looking and he told us everything was perfect. he also told us that the roads getting to mistolar would ever only be closed 2-3 days max! So we were getting a little nervous that maybe the nivacle had exaggerated a little bit and we had come out here for nothing. but we decided to carry on anyways. After a few hours we got to a little military stop and we got out of the car to talk to some of the men over there. Their report was very different from the first one we got. They said that the rains had been coming in from bolivia and that the roads would be shutting down real soon so we needed to hurry but that we shouldn't have too many problems. So we kept driving a while longer and we the guy that accompanied us told us that the water was higher than usual and that there was water where there hadn't been a few weeks ago. So we kept going and then out of nowhere we saw a little dispensa on the side of the road. we stopped there to see what they knew and the man there was named leguizamón. he told us very clearly that he didn't reccomend that we spend the night in mistolar. He told us that we should be able to get in just fine but get out by the evening. His wife was telling us that we should be fine if we spent the night and we were kinda just hoping that this leguizamón guy was a little crazy. So we went on our way again and stopped and had lunch by this little bridge. After lunch we started going and realized that the nivacle hadn't just called wolf. We got to this giant mud puddle as wide as the road and about 30 meters long. I got out with this other Elder from the chaco named Elder Zilm (he's exactly like Boo Boo) and we started poking the mud to see how firm it was and to try and figure out the best way through it. Elder Zilm and I concluded that the best way would just be to gun it on through there and push it hard until we got out. President McMullin though had to varify that one for himself, but he also arrived at the conclusion that that was our best option. So we backed up and high tailed it on through. We kept going and then there was another mud puddle even trickier. President McMullin got out and told us to hit this one slowly. Elder Dickson and President were in the back truck at this point and I was in the front truck with a member of the stake presidency in asunción and two other Elders. We went first and went nice and slow but eventually Elder zilm, Elder maidana (elder zilm´s comp) and I had to actually get out and push the truck to get out. We had got all dirty doing this so we had the stake presidency guy (gustavo marmol) pull forward and we were going to help push president´s truck out, but all of the sudden we heard president´s truck and he had decided to hit this one super fast! So we ran out of the way and hopped in our truck and just hightailed it through for another while coming in and out of these mud piles (not many people get to go mudding with their mission president for a p-day activity haha).
So we got within about 8 kilometers from mistolar and we were facing a giant river. The water had already blocked off these last 8 kilometers and there was absolutely no way our trucks were going to make it. President McMullin started thinking of the options realized there was only one. He threw a couple of liters of water on our backs and in a very Brigham Young-like way told us to go bring in those nivacle. He sent us hiking through this water to go and find the nivacle and have them come out as far as they can with their tractor and to have all of them that could come with us to unload the trucks and get them their supplies. So the 4 of us missionaries started walking down this river picamayo. It was pretty slippery(Elder Zilm fell twice) and about up to our knees at some points. Eventually we ran into some of the nivacle on the trail. They had been expecting us to come and had been waiting there for us for a few hours but eventually figured that the water was too high and that we weren´t going to come. They had turned around and started walking back but after a few kilometers they saw some clouds of dust and tiny specs and turned around and started coming back in hopes that we had come with their provisions. We turned around once we met up with them and walked back to the trucks. We backed the trucks up about 30 meters and started to unload everything. We got everything out of the truck and on the ground and the nivacle started bringing it to their tractor. After about 15 minutes the water had risen up to where the food was, they got the last bag of flour up right in the nik of time. We then said by to the tribe and high tailed it out of there. Basically the Lord was taking such great care of us. Had we have gotten there a little earlier we may have tried to enter and gotten stuck with the nivacle for a few months and had we have gotten there any later we probably wouldn´t have been able to get them their supplies. There were a lot more details to the trip but that will have to wait until otro dia no mas. It was really cool because driving home I got to ride with President McMullin (about a 7 hour interview) and it was super cool. Being with the indians really got me thinking and it really softned my heart. They came out without shoes walking on these paths to come get their supplies. My heart really goes out to them and I really want to help them however I can. President McMullin and I were talking and he told me what they need to do is keep the commandments. Last year a general authority went out there and told them that if they would pay their tithing then mistolar would never flood. We were talking about that and about how they really need testimonies of the Book of Mormon. It´s tough because they don´t really speak spanish (they speak nivacle) but President has a plan, and God has a bigger and more perfect one and I know that this truley is a special land I´m in. I´m super glad for this oppertunity that I have to serve the Lord and I´m loving it so much. I hope you have a wonderful week. I´m not sure when I will be able to write next because next week is changes so that could mean I don´t write on Monday. But I love you and see you later.
Hola familia!
So this last week was actually pretty crazy all around, but the craziest part was the chaco. So let me start from the beginning of this. So as I'm sure you've read there was a whole tribe of Nivacle Indians that all got baptized in the 80's. They are deep in the chaco (about 15 hours away from Asunción) up almost to Bolivia. In our mission there are about 250 missionaries. Of those missionaries probably about 200 of them are here in Asunción or in cities nearby. About 40 of them are in areas in between Asunción and Brazil, but there are only 6 in the chaco. This place where the nivacle live is way out in the chaco so they don't even have missionaries out there (the closest ones are about 6 or so hours away) and once in a blue moon a companionship from the chaco will get to go out there, the assistants haven't been there since I believe they were baptized (that could be an exaggeration but like my father always says never let the details get in the way of a good story). So Friday we were doing zone capacitations while President McMullin was in interviews with the missionaries in Luque when I got a call from a missionary in the chaco letting me know that the Nivacles were nervous about the river picomayo flooding and blocking off the roads and they wouldn't be able to get anything in or out of the community (called Mistolar) for a few months. So anyways I told him I would talk with President, but the elder called me about 6 more times before President came out, so I felt like it was a little urgent. Eventually President finished everything and I told him to call the Elder. The next morning we had a staff meeting and President said that he was thinking and the only thing he can think to do is go out ourselves and get them the supplies they need before Wednesday when the roads close for 2 to 3 months. So that day we bought all of the supplies and borrowed some brand new little trucks from PVO (the distribution center) and loaded them all up.
The next morning we went to church in Trinidad and it was really nice. Then we ate lunch with some members and packed up some things and headed out. Our plan was to go pick up some missionaries that are in the chaco then stay the night in filadelfia then make the 6 hour drive out to mistolar and deliver the supplies and help them sandbag and prepare. Then we were going to camp that night right there in mistolar with them and leave at 4 in the morning and make the 15 hour drive back to Asunción. So we got to filadelfia and stayed the night in a hotel. Then the next morning we got up and started driving. We got to this little german town called Neuland and it's pretty much the last of anything until you just hit the dirt road and get to Mistolar. So we got through the little town there was a check point and we asked the guy how the roads were looking and he told us everything was perfect. he also told us that the roads getting to mistolar would ever only be closed 2-3 days max! So we were getting a little nervous that maybe the nivacle had exaggerated a little bit and we had come out here for nothing. but we decided to carry on anyways. After a few hours we got to a little military stop and we got out of the car to talk to some of the men over there. Their report was very different from the first one we got. They said that the rains had been coming in from bolivia and that the roads would be shutting down real soon so we needed to hurry but that we shouldn't have too many problems. So we kept driving a while longer and we the guy that accompanied us told us that the water was higher than usual and that there was water where there hadn't been a few weeks ago. So we kept going and then out of nowhere we saw a little dispensa on the side of the road. we stopped there to see what they knew and the man there was named leguizamón. he told us very clearly that he didn't reccomend that we spend the night in mistolar. He told us that we should be able to get in just fine but get out by the evening. His wife was telling us that we should be fine if we spent the night and we were kinda just hoping that this leguizamón guy was a little crazy. So we went on our way again and stopped and had lunch by this little bridge. After lunch we started going and realized that the nivacle hadn't just called wolf. We got to this giant mud puddle as wide as the road and about 30 meters long. I got out with this other Elder from the chaco named Elder Zilm (he's exactly like Boo Boo) and we started poking the mud to see how firm it was and to try and figure out the best way through it. Elder Zilm and I concluded that the best way would just be to gun it on through there and push it hard until we got out. President McMullin though had to varify that one for himself, but he also arrived at the conclusion that that was our best option. So we backed up and high tailed it on through. We kept going and then there was another mud puddle even trickier. President McMullin got out and told us to hit this one slowly. Elder Dickson and President were in the back truck at this point and I was in the front truck with a member of the stake presidency in asunción and two other Elders. We went first and went nice and slow but eventually Elder zilm, Elder maidana (elder zilm´s comp) and I had to actually get out and push the truck to get out. We had got all dirty doing this so we had the stake presidency guy (gustavo marmol) pull forward and we were going to help push president´s truck out, but all of the sudden we heard president´s truck and he had decided to hit this one super fast! So we ran out of the way and hopped in our truck and just hightailed it through for another while coming in and out of these mud piles (not many people get to go mudding with their mission president for a p-day activity haha).
So we got within about 8 kilometers from mistolar and we were facing a giant river. The water had already blocked off these last 8 kilometers and there was absolutely no way our trucks were going to make it. President McMullin started thinking of the options realized there was only one. He threw a couple of liters of water on our backs and in a very Brigham Young-like way told us to go bring in those nivacle. He sent us hiking through this water to go and find the nivacle and have them come out as far as they can with their tractor and to have all of them that could come with us to unload the trucks and get them their supplies. So the 4 of us missionaries started walking down this river picamayo. It was pretty slippery(Elder Zilm fell twice) and about up to our knees at some points. Eventually we ran into some of the nivacle on the trail. They had been expecting us to come and had been waiting there for us for a few hours but eventually figured that the water was too high and that we weren´t going to come. They had turned around and started walking back but after a few kilometers they saw some clouds of dust and tiny specs and turned around and started coming back in hopes that we had come with their provisions. We turned around once we met up with them and walked back to the trucks. We backed the trucks up about 30 meters and started to unload everything. We got everything out of the truck and on the ground and the nivacle started bringing it to their tractor. After about 15 minutes the water had risen up to where the food was, they got the last bag of flour up right in the nik of time. We then said by to the tribe and high tailed it out of there. Basically the Lord was taking such great care of us. Had we have gotten there a little earlier we may have tried to enter and gotten stuck with the nivacle for a few months and had we have gotten there any later we probably wouldn´t have been able to get them their supplies. There were a lot more details to the trip but that will have to wait until otro dia no mas. It was really cool because driving home I got to ride with President McMullin (about a 7 hour interview) and it was super cool. Being with the indians really got me thinking and it really softned my heart. They came out without shoes walking on these paths to come get their supplies. My heart really goes out to them and I really want to help them however I can. President McMullin and I were talking and he told me what they need to do is keep the commandments. Last year a general authority went out there and told them that if they would pay their tithing then mistolar would never flood. We were talking about that and about how they really need testimonies of the Book of Mormon. It´s tough because they don´t really speak spanish (they speak nivacle) but President has a plan, and God has a bigger and more perfect one and I know that this truley is a special land I´m in. I´m super glad for this oppertunity that I have to serve the Lord and I´m loving it so much. I hope you have a wonderful week. I´m not sure when I will be able to write next because next week is changes so that could mean I don´t write on Monday. But I love you and see you later.
Con amor,
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Important Notification
Hola, I just thought I would write you a quick note right now letting you know that I will not be writing you all on Monday this week, I think I am going to try to do it on Wednesday. There was a flood up in the chaco and the roads will be closing down for a few months and the Indians need some food so President is taking Elder Dickson and I up there to prep the place and bring them some supplies. I will explain it all next week but don´t be expecting any emails on Monday. Love you all.
con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Monday, January 27, 2014
No Subjext
Email received January 27, 2014
Hola familia!
This week was so fun. We went on a ton of divisions all around and it was super fun. I love going on divisions and working with the missionaries. Elder Dickson and I worked really hard to help them be able to use their area book to find new people to teach and in every division that we went on we were able to find whole families that accepted what we were teaching! It was a huge miracle and it was a ton of fun. Elder Dickson is from Ogden, Utah and he just has one more change than I do in the mission. He goes home in June. He is also going to Utah State so we talk about that sometimes. He´s a really good missionary and we compliment each other really well because I tend to think very in the moment and black and white and he looks a lot on bigger scale things and getting there so it´s a really great balance. Luckily we´re both obedient and like to work so we get along great. We went back to the couple that we prayed with but the wife was busy and the guy had changed a little for the worse, but we´ll keep working with them. We had a super cool lesson last night though with a family that has been progressing a lot and are just waiting on a few little things to get baptized and the husband will then get baptized. It was really cool because the wife is a member already and we just baptized the daughter a few weeks ago and anyways last night they said that they were watching some videos about missionary work and they just thanked us so much for helping them really get to know who their Heavenly Father is and for helping them make covenants with Him. It was super cool and they said that we can feel good about our work here and that we didn´t come in vain because we got to help them. It really makes you feel good hearing that. You know that you didn´t really do much, but sometimes it´s hard to keep animated all day when it´s super hot and hard, but the Lord always blesses you if you just keep pushing through it.
So now for the adventure of the week. So right now I´m going off of about three hours of sleep. Today we had a big leadership meeting that my companion and I were in charge of so we were working on that getting it ready for today. We didn´t get everything finished but we had a visit that we had to do si o si last night so we just planned on waking up around 5:30 to get it finished. Well we had been in bed for about a half hour when we got a call from President and apparently two Elders had gotten in a fight and one of them locked the other in the room and peaced on out. So President had my comp and I go to look for him in the airport and make sure he didn´t try and fly home. Meanwhile President and a couple other missionaries went over to the Elder´s house to get his comp and look for him around there. So we were just looking around the airport and such until about 2 in the morning when finally President called and said that we need to rest and that church headquarters was informed and now we just need to go home. The Elder finally showed up to his house around 6:30 in the morning, about an hour after I had woken up to go finish everything up in the office with my comp. Right before the meeting started President looked at us and told us we all look like zombies but the the Lord will sustain us to get through the meeting, haha. The meeting actually turned out just fine and now everything´s taken care of. I really think the big things to avoid problems like this are communication and obedience. I feel like if you´re applying those well then you probably won´t have problems to that caliber. I sure love you guys and I hope you have a great week. Don´t worry about me. I´m healthy and I´m safe and I´m happy.
Con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Hola familia!
This week was so fun. We went on a ton of divisions all around and it was super fun. I love going on divisions and working with the missionaries. Elder Dickson and I worked really hard to help them be able to use their area book to find new people to teach and in every division that we went on we were able to find whole families that accepted what we were teaching! It was a huge miracle and it was a ton of fun. Elder Dickson is from Ogden, Utah and he just has one more change than I do in the mission. He goes home in June. He is also going to Utah State so we talk about that sometimes. He´s a really good missionary and we compliment each other really well because I tend to think very in the moment and black and white and he looks a lot on bigger scale things and getting there so it´s a really great balance. Luckily we´re both obedient and like to work so we get along great. We went back to the couple that we prayed with but the wife was busy and the guy had changed a little for the worse, but we´ll keep working with them. We had a super cool lesson last night though with a family that has been progressing a lot and are just waiting on a few little things to get baptized and the husband will then get baptized. It was really cool because the wife is a member already and we just baptized the daughter a few weeks ago and anyways last night they said that they were watching some videos about missionary work and they just thanked us so much for helping them really get to know who their Heavenly Father is and for helping them make covenants with Him. It was super cool and they said that we can feel good about our work here and that we didn´t come in vain because we got to help them. It really makes you feel good hearing that. You know that you didn´t really do much, but sometimes it´s hard to keep animated all day when it´s super hot and hard, but the Lord always blesses you if you just keep pushing through it.
So now for the adventure of the week. So right now I´m going off of about three hours of sleep. Today we had a big leadership meeting that my companion and I were in charge of so we were working on that getting it ready for today. We didn´t get everything finished but we had a visit that we had to do si o si last night so we just planned on waking up around 5:30 to get it finished. Well we had been in bed for about a half hour when we got a call from President and apparently two Elders had gotten in a fight and one of them locked the other in the room and peaced on out. So President had my comp and I go to look for him in the airport and make sure he didn´t try and fly home. Meanwhile President and a couple other missionaries went over to the Elder´s house to get his comp and look for him around there. So we were just looking around the airport and such until about 2 in the morning when finally President called and said that we need to rest and that church headquarters was informed and now we just need to go home. The Elder finally showed up to his house around 6:30 in the morning, about an hour after I had woken up to go finish everything up in the office with my comp. Right before the meeting started President looked at us and told us we all look like zombies but the the Lord will sustain us to get through the meeting, haha. The meeting actually turned out just fine and now everything´s taken care of. I really think the big things to avoid problems like this are communication and obedience. I feel like if you´re applying those well then you probably won´t have problems to that caliber. I sure love you guys and I hope you have a great week. Don´t worry about me. I´m healthy and I´m safe and I´m happy.
Con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Monday, January 20, 2014
(No subject)
Email received January 20, 2013
Hola familia!
How´s everyone doing? Last week was quite an adventure. I went out all around Paraguay and it was soooooo cool. Paraguay is such a pretty country. It was a ton of fun getting to go and visit all of these places and all of the missionaries. I got to talk for a little while with this one elder from the Dominican Republic and it was super cool. They have such a fun accent. It was a really cool trip because it was basically like 18 hours in the car getting to pick President Mcmullin´s brain about all sorts of things. My companion and I had made a little deal with him a little while ago that if we don´t write him, then he doesn´t interview us (which is funny because whatever we would write to him we just tell him in person, and we have interviews all of the time, they´re just not scheduled formal ones). Anyways this car trip was kinda like an 18 hour interview. He told us all about how to be a bishop and a dad and a husband and how to manage your time and have happy and successful children. The trick is organizing your time and planning out in advance. Also one of the biggest things he showed us was that family always comes first. He said his family always has a trump card in anything that he´s doing. It was super cool listening to that and it made me super happy to be a missionary and not deal with all of that stress yet. It was also fun traveling because I got to do some fun divisions. We found some super cool families for other missionaries to teach and it was really fun teaching with them. We ate really well because president bought all of our dinners and he´s not a big fan of just getting a couple of cheap empanadas on the street. We went to some really good places. We stayed two nights in a hotel and one on our cots that we have for when we traveling.
Trinidad does have a ton of slaughter houses, but at this point I´m mostly used to it. During the siesta though when it´s a million degrees outside and all that meat is just sitting there cooking...haha it has quite a smell. I love Trinidad so much though. It´s a little tough being there now because we don´t get to spend very much time working in it (just a few days a week) and there is so much potential there. But we´ve been putting a big focus on helping the members to do visits even when we´re not there so that work still gets done even when we´re not there. We´re making great progress with some of our investigators. We have this one that is super excited to get married and we´ve just got to work through a few more things and then they´re set. We did have one pretty sad experience though. We have one investigator that´s had a rough background but was really shaping up and changing. But some things happened and he got arrested on Saturday night. We kinda laughed about it and went to visit him today in jail but when we got there it was super sad. I guess they´re really not treating him well and he´s pretty shaken up about things. He was just crying and it was really sad. He might get out in about 10 days and we´re going to try and help him more. He´s a great guy just had a rough lot thrown at him. On a happier note though Elder Dickson and I had a super cool experience that just increased my testimony even more about obedience with exactness. We got into a lesson with a young couple (a man and his pregnant wife). They were super friendly and let us right in and it turns out the lady had actually talked a lot with missionaries before (she requested that we sing praise to the man to begin). After we sang that the guy started asking some great questions about if the prophet in that song was Joseph Smith and why he was so great. He also commented about how we´ve lost some things because of all of the times the bible was translated. So we started talking about the Book of Mormon and we thought they were just going to eat it right up, but quite the opposite. We tried presenting it to them in a variety of ways and using it to respond to their doubts and they were just having none of it. The guy just kept rejecting everything we were saying. Finally at one point he told us that we didn´t even know this stuff for ourselves and that we´re just following because our parents are members. We stopped him right there and explained to him just a bit of what the life of a missionary is like and about how if I weren't convinced I wouldn´t do what I do. We then bore the purest testimony we could about the Book of Mormon and he couldn´t really say anything against it, but he didn´t really accept it either. So in our mission we have a rule where we invite the head of household to offer a kneeling prayer at the end of every lesson so since the lesson had pretty much come to an end, we knelt down and invited him to do similarly and to pray with us. He knelt down and offered a fine prayer and when he stood up his whole countenance had changed. Him and his wife were both completely surprised and he started telling us that what we did was super symbolic of the Savior. He told us that it took a lot of humility to do what we did and what we do and that as we knelt down and prayed with him he realized that we really were convinced of what we were doing. He said we deserve his respect and that he is going to read the Book of Mormon and find out for himself that it´s true like what we´ve done. He also invited us back for this Saturday to come and teach them again. It was a strong testimony to me to always keep all of the little rules. I´m having a great time and I´m super happy and safe. I hope you have a great week.
Con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Hola familia!
How´s everyone doing? Last week was quite an adventure. I went out all around Paraguay and it was soooooo cool. Paraguay is such a pretty country. It was a ton of fun getting to go and visit all of these places and all of the missionaries. I got to talk for a little while with this one elder from the Dominican Republic and it was super cool. They have such a fun accent. It was a really cool trip because it was basically like 18 hours in the car getting to pick President Mcmullin´s brain about all sorts of things. My companion and I had made a little deal with him a little while ago that if we don´t write him, then he doesn´t interview us (which is funny because whatever we would write to him we just tell him in person, and we have interviews all of the time, they´re just not scheduled formal ones). Anyways this car trip was kinda like an 18 hour interview. He told us all about how to be a bishop and a dad and a husband and how to manage your time and have happy and successful children. The trick is organizing your time and planning out in advance. Also one of the biggest things he showed us was that family always comes first. He said his family always has a trump card in anything that he´s doing. It was super cool listening to that and it made me super happy to be a missionary and not deal with all of that stress yet. It was also fun traveling because I got to do some fun divisions. We found some super cool families for other missionaries to teach and it was really fun teaching with them. We ate really well because president bought all of our dinners and he´s not a big fan of just getting a couple of cheap empanadas on the street. We went to some really good places. We stayed two nights in a hotel and one on our cots that we have for when we traveling.
Trinidad does have a ton of slaughter houses, but at this point I´m mostly used to it. During the siesta though when it´s a million degrees outside and all that meat is just sitting there cooking...haha it has quite a smell. I love Trinidad so much though. It´s a little tough being there now because we don´t get to spend very much time working in it (just a few days a week) and there is so much potential there. But we´ve been putting a big focus on helping the members to do visits even when we´re not there so that work still gets done even when we´re not there. We´re making great progress with some of our investigators. We have this one that is super excited to get married and we´ve just got to work through a few more things and then they´re set. We did have one pretty sad experience though. We have one investigator that´s had a rough background but was really shaping up and changing. But some things happened and he got arrested on Saturday night. We kinda laughed about it and went to visit him today in jail but when we got there it was super sad. I guess they´re really not treating him well and he´s pretty shaken up about things. He was just crying and it was really sad. He might get out in about 10 days and we´re going to try and help him more. He´s a great guy just had a rough lot thrown at him. On a happier note though Elder Dickson and I had a super cool experience that just increased my testimony even more about obedience with exactness. We got into a lesson with a young couple (a man and his pregnant wife). They were super friendly and let us right in and it turns out the lady had actually talked a lot with missionaries before (she requested that we sing praise to the man to begin). After we sang that the guy started asking some great questions about if the prophet in that song was Joseph Smith and why he was so great. He also commented about how we´ve lost some things because of all of the times the bible was translated. So we started talking about the Book of Mormon and we thought they were just going to eat it right up, but quite the opposite. We tried presenting it to them in a variety of ways and using it to respond to their doubts and they were just having none of it. The guy just kept rejecting everything we were saying. Finally at one point he told us that we didn´t even know this stuff for ourselves and that we´re just following because our parents are members. We stopped him right there and explained to him just a bit of what the life of a missionary is like and about how if I weren't convinced I wouldn´t do what I do. We then bore the purest testimony we could about the Book of Mormon and he couldn´t really say anything against it, but he didn´t really accept it either. So in our mission we have a rule where we invite the head of household to offer a kneeling prayer at the end of every lesson so since the lesson had pretty much come to an end, we knelt down and invited him to do similarly and to pray with us. He knelt down and offered a fine prayer and when he stood up his whole countenance had changed. Him and his wife were both completely surprised and he started telling us that what we did was super symbolic of the Savior. He told us that it took a lot of humility to do what we did and what we do and that as we knelt down and prayed with him he realized that we really were convinced of what we were doing. He said we deserve his respect and that he is going to read the Book of Mormon and find out for himself that it´s true like what we´ve done. He also invited us back for this Saturday to come and teach them again. It was a strong testimony to me to always keep all of the little rules. I´m having a great time and I´m super happy and safe. I hope you have a great week.
Con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
(N0 subject)
Email received January 13, 2014
Hola familia,
Hey so like I said, I don't know how long I will be able to write for today but just so you know I'm safe and happy. Last week was pretty cool, the Lord blesses us so much. We pretty much couldn't work in our area until Friday, when we had a super cool baptism. This girl named Marcia got baptized and it was super cool. She asked me to confirm her on Sunday and it was actually the first time i confirmed someone so it was pretty neat. Today we had a super fun P-day. We went mountain biking then we went to Burger King, it was super fun.You can check elder Brown's blog for pictures because i think he got some. The driving is going well, I'm learning stick shift just fine, I only stalled once and it was because i thought I was in neutral but i was actually in 4th. It was fine because it was at a red light so it didn't matter. Anyways I'm still loving the mission. I believe the words of President Uchtdorf about hit it right, I'm ''blisfully overwhelmed''. There is always so much to do but it's super fun so I'm loving it. We have been doing a ton of contacting with other missionaries on our divisions and I've been having a blast doing it. I really have a strong testimony of talking with everyone. I got to talk to a guy here in Paraguay that is from Belgium that has lived in Utah for the past some odd years. It was super cool and he knows a lot about the church. I wasn't able to get where he lives but I showed him really well where the church is so i hope he comes by. We also on Sunday had a cool experience. I was sitting in sacrament meeting when i saw this little kid run through the outside gate then a lady follow him in. So then i went out and talked with her and she was super nice.She said her little nephew loves coming and running around the church but she had never entered in before. I invited her in and she followed her nephew into the gym. She stood by the curtain separating the gym and the sacrament room and she looked in but wouldn't enter. Finally her little nephew ran in through the curtain and so we brought her in through the main doors and invited her to sit down in the air conditioning and watch her nephew from there. She actually really liked it and said next week she is going to come back with her sister and participate. the Lord is working great miracles. This week I'm going to see the country and visit some missionaries, it should be pretty fun. Sorry this letter is so short, I will try and write more next week. Just know that I'm safe and I'm happy as could be. Tired as all get out but I've come to really enjoy that super tired feeling knowing that you've put in a good day’s work and you can rest at night. I really love my mission and I really love Paraguay and Spanish and pretty much everything about what I'm doing. My mission is the best. I've gained a huge testimony lately of the Book of Mormon and it's converting power. I love the Lord and know He lives. have a great week and remember i love you all and pray for you all daily.
Con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Hey so like I said, I don't know how long I will be able to write for today but just so you know I'm safe and happy. Last week was pretty cool, the Lord blesses us so much. We pretty much couldn't work in our area until Friday, when we had a super cool baptism. This girl named Marcia got baptized and it was super cool. She asked me to confirm her on Sunday and it was actually the first time i confirmed someone so it was pretty neat. Today we had a super fun P-day. We went mountain biking then we went to Burger King, it was super fun.You can check elder Brown's blog for pictures because i think he got some. The driving is going well, I'm learning stick shift just fine, I only stalled once and it was because i thought I was in neutral but i was actually in 4th. It was fine because it was at a red light so it didn't matter. Anyways I'm still loving the mission. I believe the words of President Uchtdorf about hit it right, I'm ''blisfully overwhelmed''. There is always so much to do but it's super fun so I'm loving it. We have been doing a ton of contacting with other missionaries on our divisions and I've been having a blast doing it. I really have a strong testimony of talking with everyone. I got to talk to a guy here in Paraguay that is from Belgium that has lived in Utah for the past some odd years. It was super cool and he knows a lot about the church. I wasn't able to get where he lives but I showed him really well where the church is so i hope he comes by. We also on Sunday had a cool experience. I was sitting in sacrament meeting when i saw this little kid run through the outside gate then a lady follow him in. So then i went out and talked with her and she was super nice.She said her little nephew loves coming and running around the church but she had never entered in before. I invited her in and she followed her nephew into the gym. She stood by the curtain separating the gym and the sacrament room and she looked in but wouldn't enter. Finally her little nephew ran in through the curtain and so we brought her in through the main doors and invited her to sit down in the air conditioning and watch her nephew from there. She actually really liked it and said next week she is going to come back with her sister and participate. the Lord is working great miracles. This week I'm going to see the country and visit some missionaries, it should be pretty fun. Sorry this letter is so short, I will try and write more next week. Just know that I'm safe and I'm happy as could be. Tired as all get out but I've come to really enjoy that super tired feeling knowing that you've put in a good day’s work and you can rest at night. I really love my mission and I really love Paraguay and Spanish and pretty much everything about what I'm doing. My mission is the best. I've gained a huge testimony lately of the Book of Mormon and it's converting power. I love the Lord and know He lives. have a great week and remember i love you all and pray for you all daily.
Con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Monday, January 6, 2014
(no subject)
Email received January 6, 2014
Hola familia!
Haha this week has been pretty wild. I feel like this week was sooooooooooo full of things to do but it went by soooooooooooooooo fast. I got to learn how to drive here in Paraguay (just imagine mario kart in real life) and plan a training meeting for the leaders of the mission. It´s been a super weird experience here in the office because I´m not used to sitting behind a desk, but I´ve already learned so much. I´ve already got to know a whole new side of President McMullin and it´s been super cool seeing the administrative side of the mission. I also love being back in Trinidad. The branch president gave me a huge hug when he saw me and just started telling me all these people that he wanted me to visit. It was cool because I got to see a lot of the people that I had helped while I was in Trinidad. I was super nervous that nobody would remember me but everyone recognized me and seemed genuinely excited to see me again which made me feel really good. New years was pretty cool because there was this super less-active lady in Trinidad and I met her once right before I left and did some service for her. Well it turns out after I left she got active and is now the relief society president and we had a new years dinner with her and her family. It was pretty cool. Also we have some pretty cool investigators that are progressing super well. One of them named Marcia is getting baptized on Saturday and then her parents are getting married on the 25th then the guy will be getting baptized. We also visited them on New years too. The guy is named Cesar and he is super funny. The hard part is that we don´t have a lot of time to be working our area. President told us that Trinidad has been spoiled to have us for so long so he wants us to put our program in Trinidad on back burner and he wants us on the road doing divisions to train the missionaries. We got some little bed rolls and he wants us 4 times a week out in the field doing divisions. I also get to go tour all the zones in the mission next week to give a training to all of the zones with my companion and President. It´s been a great experience learning things from him. I´m learning so much about the running of large organizations and it´s super fascinating. My Preparation day is still on Mondays but I´m not sure if I´ll always be able to write home on Mondays because this is a busy day in the office. Our Preparation day used to be Saturday with the rest of the office elders but a few months ago it was changed to Monday so that we can visit people on Saturday and help them come to church the next day and with the limited time we have to work in our area I´m happy with it. I honestly don´t really know how much weight I´ve lost, it´s been a while since I´ve stepped on a scale, but don´t worry because the mission office is right next door to a burger king and right in front of a super nice grocery store so whatever weight I may have lost will most likely be coming right back on (plus when you´re on divisions you tend to eat a lot of empanadas and lomitos which aren´t the healthiest things for you).
I really get along well with my new companion. Like I said I lived with him in capiatá and so I already know him. He´s from Ogden and planning on going to Utah State after the mission too. He´s super nice and thoughtful, my first day he polished my shoes while I was in the shower for our new missionary and trainer meeting. He also has been super patient with me as I´m mastering my stick shift abilities and my new assignment. It´s also really nice being with him because he´s a great missionary and a really good teacher so we had some super cool lessons. Yesterday for example we were preparing some stuff for our presentation today and President came out of his office and said there were some kids playing basketball out front and he wanted to go talk with them. We went and talked and President told them that Elder Dickson and I would give them a church tour (which neither of us had ever done before). Haha it turned out okay and we got some solid references. President had snuck back into his office and we thought he had left but after he came jumping out to see how it went. haha he´s a really funny guy. I´ve been learning so much about my missionary purpose and just about whose work this is. I think my motivation to keep working hard is as high as it´s ever been because there is so much to do there´s no time to think about anything else. I love the Lord and I love this work. I am super pumped and tired at the same time, but my prayers have gotten so much better lately so at night I always have a super nice prayer and fall right asleep. I´ve got to go now but I will talk to you next week.
con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Hola familia!
Haha this week has been pretty wild. I feel like this week was sooooooooooo full of things to do but it went by soooooooooooooooo fast. I got to learn how to drive here in Paraguay (just imagine mario kart in real life) and plan a training meeting for the leaders of the mission. It´s been a super weird experience here in the office because I´m not used to sitting behind a desk, but I´ve already learned so much. I´ve already got to know a whole new side of President McMullin and it´s been super cool seeing the administrative side of the mission. I also love being back in Trinidad. The branch president gave me a huge hug when he saw me and just started telling me all these people that he wanted me to visit. It was cool because I got to see a lot of the people that I had helped while I was in Trinidad. I was super nervous that nobody would remember me but everyone recognized me and seemed genuinely excited to see me again which made me feel really good. New years was pretty cool because there was this super less-active lady in Trinidad and I met her once right before I left and did some service for her. Well it turns out after I left she got active and is now the relief society president and we had a new years dinner with her and her family. It was pretty cool. Also we have some pretty cool investigators that are progressing super well. One of them named Marcia is getting baptized on Saturday and then her parents are getting married on the 25th then the guy will be getting baptized. We also visited them on New years too. The guy is named Cesar and he is super funny. The hard part is that we don´t have a lot of time to be working our area. President told us that Trinidad has been spoiled to have us for so long so he wants us to put our program in Trinidad on back burner and he wants us on the road doing divisions to train the missionaries. We got some little bed rolls and he wants us 4 times a week out in the field doing divisions. I also get to go tour all the zones in the mission next week to give a training to all of the zones with my companion and President. It´s been a great experience learning things from him. I´m learning so much about the running of large organizations and it´s super fascinating. My Preparation day is still on Mondays but I´m not sure if I´ll always be able to write home on Mondays because this is a busy day in the office. Our Preparation day used to be Saturday with the rest of the office elders but a few months ago it was changed to Monday so that we can visit people on Saturday and help them come to church the next day and with the limited time we have to work in our area I´m happy with it. I honestly don´t really know how much weight I´ve lost, it´s been a while since I´ve stepped on a scale, but don´t worry because the mission office is right next door to a burger king and right in front of a super nice grocery store so whatever weight I may have lost will most likely be coming right back on (plus when you´re on divisions you tend to eat a lot of empanadas and lomitos which aren´t the healthiest things for you).
I really get along well with my new companion. Like I said I lived with him in capiatá and so I already know him. He´s from Ogden and planning on going to Utah State after the mission too. He´s super nice and thoughtful, my first day he polished my shoes while I was in the shower for our new missionary and trainer meeting. He also has been super patient with me as I´m mastering my stick shift abilities and my new assignment. It´s also really nice being with him because he´s a great missionary and a really good teacher so we had some super cool lessons. Yesterday for example we were preparing some stuff for our presentation today and President came out of his office and said there were some kids playing basketball out front and he wanted to go talk with them. We went and talked and President told them that Elder Dickson and I would give them a church tour (which neither of us had ever done before). Haha it turned out okay and we got some solid references. President had snuck back into his office and we thought he had left but after he came jumping out to see how it went. haha he´s a really funny guy. I´ve been learning so much about my missionary purpose and just about whose work this is. I think my motivation to keep working hard is as high as it´s ever been because there is so much to do there´s no time to think about anything else. I love the Lord and I love this work. I am super pumped and tired at the same time, but my prayers have gotten so much better lately so at night I always have a super nice prayer and fall right asleep. I´ve got to go now but I will talk to you next week.
con amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)