(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

(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