Pictures received August 25, 2012

Elder Hulsey has run across roommates from college and one of his cousins in the MTC.

 

Email: It's P-day already?!

Received August 24, 2012

 

Hola Familia,

I can't believe it's P-day again already! It feels like I just barely got back into the swing of normal day stuff when they hit me with another P-day! It's okay though because I love P-day, other than that we have to wake up early for the temple. But the temple is a great place so it's all good. So to start out, My week has been awesome! Elder Jenson and I have been getting along so well, especially the more we get to know each other. So I realized that the English missionaries have it kinda rough. I think it would be so hard to have to teach the Gospel in English because it would be so hard to keep everything in simple terms for investigators. It's really easy for me to do that in Spanish because I don't know how to complicate it...yet. I'm sure I'll figure it out soon though. So Dad you asked me if I get excited to learn little things like new words, and I guess I do, but pretty much every word to me is new (or at least seems new). So I get really excited when someone is talking to me in Spanish and I can understand everything they say, not just get the main idea. So last Sunday was great, I love Sunday's here so much. I went to choir and i sat next to a stranger. Anytime I asked him something he would ask me to repeat myself, turns out the kid is deaf. i was touched so much by that because he's trying to give as much service to the Lord as possible, so he's singing in the choir, but he doesn't even get to enjoy the music. I thought that was so cool. Also On Sunday night I heard a talk by Elder Holland (We watched it like a movie, he didn't come to the MTC) called missions are forever and it was amazing. If you think he's in your face in conference, you should hear him talk to the missionaries! He said so many great things, it really motivated me to work hard. He had a quote in there that I love so much, "why should it be easy for us, it wasn't for him [Christ]" Isn't that awesome! Oh I just remembered Hermana Ayala from Guatemala came and taught our class on Monday. It was so cool. Her accent and the way she was so simple yet so deep in the faith reminded me so much of Grandma. So when she was telling us stuff I could hear Grandma telling it to me, it was a way cool experience. Elder Jenson and I started teaching a new way so the Spanish in our lessons is awful but the spirit is so strong. Our teacher said we've kinda got the way to teach down, so I'm excited about that. Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot about this, on Tuesday we had Elder Neal L. Andersen from the 12 apostles come to the devotional. It was super bueno, I like his talk a lot. It was president Monson's birthday so he had all of the missionaries sing to him, it was funny. Then he told us the 10 things that President Monson would want us to know. he gave us a quote that I really liked, "Do your duty that is best, leave unto the Lord the rest". It's way cool getting to learn straight from the apostles like this. So for P.E. I've been a little nervous about getting injured, so I started trying other things and i realized I love volleyball. I think it's my favorite thing to do during gym. I also really enjoy playing soccer but i feel like most injuries here occur on the soccer field (I know a kid who's been here for 18 weeks now because he got injured playing soccer, but he thinks he'll get to leave in about two more weeks). But gym is so much fun.

So you guys got to meet Elder Spangler huh, that's awesome. i bet it was cool getting to hear about Boo from him. i also bet it was weird calling him by his first name. It's weird how fast you get used to not using first names. I just learned this one kid's first name and it surprised me how weird that was. I'm a little bit sad because the advanced district (The district of native Spanish speakers with the exception of one white kid whose just taken a lot of Spanish classes) is leaving this week. I love those elders so much, they're so friendly and helpful. Also my district leader leaves this week, I'm going to miss him a lot. We've been making plans for after our missions so hopefully we can follow through on those. It's crazy how much you can get to love people in such a short amount of time. I really liked the family pictures you guys sent me. My whole district thought it was funny how much we all look alike. But I'm going to show them to Ronaldo to help him feel the spirit, I think he'll like them. Also I'm going to send my pictures home this week, I'll try to take one with me and Elder Jenson only and with our name tags easily readable so that you can figure out which one is him. there's a lot of random stuff on the memory card too so you can delete everything that isn't from my mission. Also just put them all in a folder on the computer so I can have them later. there's so many funny things on the pictures that you guys could only understand if i could explain them to you, but i hope you enjoy them anyways.

Well there's not much more to say. I'm loving my time here in the MTC. There's no where else I'd rather be. I love recieving mail and packages, my whole district is so jealous of how many letters and packages I get, keep it up. I've learned so much about the gospel, it's so cool. I've also learned a lot of Spanish, including a lot of things not to say (like estoy bueno, i made that mistake a lot). So I love you guys and I'll keep praying that you will know how much i love you.

Con Amor

Elder Hulsey

P.S. I've been having the weirdest dreams lately. I keep dreaming that I come home like on a weekend pass, but i have to keep all of the missionary rules still. then I have to come back to the MTC, it's weird but kinda funny.

Email: Como Le Va Familia?

Received August 17, 2012

Hola Famillia!

Gosh this week was AMAZING!!!!! I love being here in the CCM (MTC) sooooo much. I see Elder Reber all over the place, I love it. His companion seems nice and him and his district leader are so similar, they go on splits together a lot, it's cool. I was trying to upload some pictures but I couldn't really figure it out. hopefully next week I can get some help and send some home, I don't know if I could receive any from you guys. Also instead of emailing me, if you could send me dearelders on thursday morning then I will get them thursday night and I can reply to them on friday in my email. I love getting all of the letters! At 9:30 at night I love to read the letters. I haven't been homesick at all. The only times I want to come home are when something really cool happens and I want to tell you guys about it, but then I would just want to run right back. I'm sorry I haven't been able to write any of you back, our rule is we can only write letters on P-day, so I'll be hand writing some and sending them home today. So on Sunday I watched a talk given by Elder Bednar on Christmas here in the MTC and it changed my life and my whole attitude. It's called the Character of Christ, basically the character of Christ is to turn out when the natural man would turn in, AMAZING!

So holy cow the Rebers moved out, score one for Utah! That's so cool, they'll love it out here. Also good luck in school, I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Me and Elder Jenson are still getting a long great. We're very different but we also have a lot of similarities. I don't know too much about his story, I know he's a life-long member but I've been praying for an opportunity to get to talk with him about that stuff. I have had so many spiritual experiences i can't even begin to explain them all. I have been able to see specific blessings from the Lord in my everyday things, it's soo cool. Like everything here is in Spanish: my ward, my classes, my lunches (district goal so that we can learn the language better). But I'm really starting to learn it. I prayed in Spanish the other night for about 10 minutes and I only had to use about 3-5 English words, it was awesome! But I'm no where near where I hope to be by the time I get to Paraguay. Our visa meeting turned out to only be a blood test, they needed a sample of our blood, but they said no news is good news so hopefully that's true.

I love my district sooooo much. Elder Mull is one of my favorite people on the planet. Yesterday at lunch he shoved 35 grapes in his mouth, it was so funny. All of his examples in Spanish have to do with Star wars or Lord of the Rings, it's awesome. He and I like to lift weights for gym sometimes (Tell Mark Parsons that they do have a weight room here). I also love playing basketball, it's just always so crowded. I really like my district leader Elder Peterson. He and I want to come back and teach here in the MTC after our missions. He also wants to be a highschool US history teacher. Life here is soo stressful and pretty hard, but everyday when I write in my journal I just feel so happy. I don't think I've ever been this happy in my life. My classes our so hard because I have to focus so hard on trying to understand what's being said, but every once and a while I can understand whole sentences and conversations, and that makes all of the hard work worth it to me. I found a quote that I love by President Packer, it's on page 19 in Preach My Gospel (I don't remember if it's on page 19 in the English one or the Spanish one, but it's talking about true doctrine understood). I want you guys to look it up, I really like it. So I joined the choir. I did it just to try it, but I really like it. it's a nice break and I really learn a lot. they talk about the meaning of the lyrics and stuff, it's cool.

Well I love you guys soooo much. I wish I could tell you guys more, but every night in my prayers I ask heavenly father to please let you guys know how much I love you because I can't tell you all of the time. Prayer is so powerful, I love it. Oh I forgot, yesterday I saw brother Webb here in the MTC, it was awesome. He gave me a hug and just said good luck. It was really nice seeing someone I respect so much volunteer his time here. It reminded me how important it is to be here. Keep living righteously family, I love you.

Con Amor,

Elder Hulsey

P.S. I could really use a new notebook if that's okay, a normal sized one would be great. My black one that I brought is just about all filled up, thanks!

Email: What's going on?

Received August 11, 2012

Hola familia!

Today we got a little half p-day thing, normally my P-days are going to be on Fridays. So how are you guys? I've apreciated the letters, dearelder letters are the best! Also I got the package, what a nice surprise! So the very first day we had a big opening assembly thing for the new missionaries and the opening prayer was given by none other than Elder Landon Wright! That was awesome, also Elder Reber lives in the building right across from me so I see him all over the place (along with just about everybody else that I've ever known, it's awesome). So my companion! His name is Elder Jenson and he's from Denver, Colorado (he hasn't seen the new Batman, he's a little too afraid he said). He's pretty great. Our personalities are pretty different, but he's very respectful of me and I try to be just as respectful to him, so we're getting a long very well. So my Spanish is very...interesting. The way it works here is there are three levels of Spanish Classes: Beginning, intermediate (that's me), and Advanced. The Advanced district is Elders that are fluent in Spanish and English, thy're only here for 3 weeks. They come and help us a lot which is great. My district is AWESOME! I love them so much. There's one Elder named Elder Mull and he's one of the funniest guys I've ever met! He's struggling the most with Spanish but he has the best attitude. I've started writing down funny things he says, like 2 days ago he told us that he beat Zelda, so he knows what diligence is. He's great, if you can picture Shaggy from Scooby Doo only clean shaven and with a missionary haircut, then you've got Elder Mull. So yesterday we had to teach our first invertigator, his name is Alejandro and he's from Columbia. Elder Jenson and I tried to prepare a really good lesson, but before we gave it we had an Elder from the advanced district, Elder Sandoval, help us with the Spanish (because Alejandro doesn't speak English). Our lesson went just about perfectly (except that Elder Jenson accidentaly blessed that Carlos would feel the spirit in the closing prayer instead of Alejandro, but I'm sure Carlos will appreciate it too... whoever Carlos is). My teacher is really cool, his name is Elder Nultemeyer and he served in the Dominican Republic. Our district leader is also going there so he leaves to the Dominican MTC in 3 weeks, I'm going to miss him. Speaking of traveling me and Elder Jenson got a notice that we have a meeting on Tuesday about our visas, hopefully it's a good meeting. The food here is amazing, but they feed us sooooo much, the only time I was ever hungry was the first day before dinner. Also I found out they don't actually charge your cards for meals or laundry (but they make you think that they do). Our Zone leaders taught us that a long with a ton of other cool tricks from the MTC (like there's this tree that no joke, smells just like Cream Soda, it's crazy!). I have been drinking a lot of chocolate milk, it's awesome. You're never going to believe this but I think I may have stumbled upon something that I like more than chocolate milk, it's called cookies and cream milk, it's soooooo delicious! Well there's so much that I want to talk about and things but there just isn't very much time on these computers. Just know that I'm doing fantastic and that I love it here. I've really noticed that if I use my time wisely and follow the rules with EXACT obedience then I can feel the spirit super strong in my life. The Spanish is super dificult for me, but it's coming a long a lot better than I thought. I realized that I know a lot more than I thought I did after we taught Alejandro, me and Elder Jenson were both super pumped after that for that reason. I can now pray in Spanish and share my testimony. Yo se que la iglesia de Jesucristo es veradera, y se que nosotoros somos sus hijos. Yo se que el Libro de Mormon is veradero y que tiene el evangelia completo. I love you guys sooo much, but I haven't really suffered from home sickness at all like some of the other missionaries have. Well I've got to go write a talk for Sunday about el Libro de Mormon (they have everyone in our branch write a talk every for every Sunday in spanish, then they randomly select two missionaries to give theirs. I hope I don't have to give mine this week because it's going to be pretty short and probably some pretty bad Spanish, Pero todo esta bien). Like I said I love you guys and keep up the good work on the homefront.

Con mucho Amor

Elder Hulsey

P.S. Keep writing me on dearelder.com and get as many people as you can to write with it also. It's sorta a competition almost to see who gets the most letters each day, and the dearelder.com ones are my favorite.

P.S.S. So this letter I think I was pretty good at only writing in English or Spanish, but around here everyone speaks in this weird form of Spanglish so I'm used to mixing both languages so in the future, sorry if I do that.

Dear Family; August 8, 2012

Dear Family,

¿What’s up guys? I can’t believe I’m already in the MTC! Life here seems really crazy, but really amazing too! I walked into my classroom right after I checked in and my teacher spoke nothing but Spanish to us… Ah!! I was so confused but then I looked around and my whole district was looking just as confused as I was. But my teacher seems really nice, so it’ll be fun.

      My companion’s name is Elder Jenson. He’s from Denver, Colorado. He seems like a nice kid, we get along just fine. The other 2 elders in my room are named Elder Peterson (he’s a lot like my roommate Gibson) and Elder Spiker (Spencer, he looks like Seth Donaldson). Those two are going to Mendoza, Argentina. Me and Elder Jenson are the only ones going to Paraguay from my district.

      I’ve seen so many people I know here, it’s super cool and everyone is super friendly. We did some training exercises and the people we were teaching were pretty funny. On a side note the Elder that greeted me today is from Hawaii (I think his name is Elder Finau or something) and he’s going to Pocatello Idaho, Spanish speaking. Also I’m sleeping on the bottom bunk, definitely a blessing.

      Well. The MTC is great. I’ve already learned so much, being on a mission is awesome!

Con Amor,
Elder Hulsey

He's in!

Elder Hulsey Reports to the MTC

Elder Hulsey reports to the LDS Missionary Training Center on August 8, 2012.