Hello Family!
It's been a week! I can hardly believe it! But at the same time all morning I was like, "I need to go email my family!!!!" It drives me crazy every Monday until I can finally email you :) Very good.
I haven't recieved any packages. They pass them out at zone conferences and meetings. So it might be another couple of weeks still... but I'll let you know! I need to take some pictures so I can send you some when I finally get the cord :)
JENIKA GOT ASKED TO HOMECOMING!!!! I'm so excited :D I love high school dance things. She told me in her last letter that she was kind of sad that she hadn't been asked, but that most of the boys she knew weren't 16 :P But she did get asked! She is going on a date a year earlier than I ever did. Haha, do you remember how dad acted when I was on that date? Good times. I bet he is still freaking out about her :)
JORDAN IS GOING TO THE TEMPLE!!!! Yeah-a. I LOVE it there so much. I'm so thankful there is a Temple in my mission so I'll at least get to go on Christmas. Bolivia sounds kind of terrifying. The road of death... wow. But there is a rule that missionaries can't go swimming, so the piranas won't be too much of a problem. I tell random people here that my brother is going to Bolivia :) They are surprised. One lady was mad, and was like, "Why don't you stay in your own country?!" (She didn't want me here...) I told her that three of my bffs were in my country. Shut down? Nope. She still didn't want me here.
This week was SO GOOD. Things get better everyday! I do get quite homesick in the morning during study time, but when I'm out and about I'm preaching the gospel.
You asked what we do on P-Day. We email you, go to Tesco and buy groceries, then go home and write letters. There isn't much time for more than that. There is a castle in Stafford, so we want to go and see that, maybe next week? That'd be good.
Last Monday we taught the Single Adult FHE. It is one of the best FHEs I have ever attended in my entire life :) I love these people. The youngest is 58 and the oldest is 80... and they are so legit. Most of them are recent converts, and they want so much to learn about the gospel. They all have really random life experiences, such as searching out the dogdiest pubs in England, or marrying someone in the military to move here from Malaysia. Yup. And they tell all... well maybe not all. They are all best friends. They sit together every week at church. And, since they are mostly recent converts, and sisters have been in Stafford for a while, we are the missionaries to them. They don't really know what Elders are, so they totally love us. They are so great.
There is a girl who is here in the library every week, mostly listening to Rihanna. It drives me crazy, because then I'm singing it all day and Sister Low yells at me! haha.
Tuesday we taught a member referall. Sister W, who is less active sometimes herself, invited us over for tea and to teach her friend LeAnn. (There isn't really teatime like we think of at home, they just call dinner tea instead. So we don't have any dinner appointments, we have tea appointments!) It was so amazing! I didn't realize how awesome it would be! To have a member, that they trust, there to testify of what we are teaching, it is really the icing on the cake. I totally love it. Problem is that Sister W. went to hospital for major surgery on Friday, so we don't know when we'll be able to meet with them again.
The Zone Leaders were really encouraging us to have lessons in members homes this week. So we invited David to come to Bro. H's. The Spirit is SO STRONG in members homes. It is there all the time, so it just naturally flows better when we are teaching. You don't notice it so much at home, because everyone has the Spirit, but we definitely notice it here. It was amazing lesson!
We had a Zone Meeting this week... and we are changing things up a bit. The EMM has been famous for "finding" through street contact and tracting.. we count this by something called QGCs (Quality gospel conversations). BUT with President Preston, he wants us to still do that, but since he is from here, and that doesn't usually happen, he figured there must be something that he was supposed to offer. MEMBER WORK! He knows the members, and it is very likely from every statistic out there that member referals are the most likely to join and remain in the church. So we have an entire new emphasis! Instead of QGCs being the main focus we are going to calculate Member Efforts, or how well we work with the members. This is going to be really great for this mission :) I know it. Some of the missionaries that have been here for a while are a bit nervous, but I really think it is going to rock the EMM. Yeah-a.
Friday we called by David to invite him to go with us to a baptism on Saturday. He told us that he feels like he has been getting answers to his prayers. When we asked him how he said, "Well you lot showed up." Yup. Answer to David's prayers. S. Low and S. Hull? Make me sound so much more special that is true.
Oh! I had this random old Pakistani named "Z" (pronounced "Zed" in England) give me a side hug and say," You teach da good word!" He didn't want to listen to it himself. But it was encouraging.
Saturday we took David to a baptism. It was up in Crewe, which should be 45 minutes away, but took us an hour and a half! We were late, and made it just in time for the actual baptism. We found out later it was good, because the baptism talk was given by the woman's husband, who is not LDS and studies religion. So it might have been bad for David. As we watched the baptism David said, "She looks terrified..." He is very scared of baptism, because he understands the commitments and doesn't want to mess up and break them. Afterward we introduced him to Megan, the convert. He *grilled* her about her decision. It was insane, but she was amazing at answering all of his questions! Like a pro! S. Low and I were asked to give our testimony. I was like, "What? Why?" Sister Low said that God probably knew that David needed to hear us. After the meeting David told one of the Elders that he had been investigating the church for 6 or 8 weeks. Yeah. I said, "David! I've only been here three weeks!"
Brother David B. Oh how he makes us laugh. We've started calling him Brother B. because everytime he starts laughing at us. He like poking fun at S. Low, and usually expects me to join in... which I usually do. His favorite jokes are that he has an appointment with the devil, or that he is going to drive on Route "69" in California. He has never left England. He loves Michael and the Jackson 5, but doesn't love his mother or brother. I wish that each and every one of you could meet him. He is so funny, and most the time it isn't his jokes that are funny. He told me the other day that "ASDA is American... Comes from Wal Mart... You ever seen a Wal Mart in America?" "Yes, David, there are two where I live." He is so funny.
Yesterday I had an official English Roast. Sister O'K. made it. There was pork, beef, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, brococlli (sp?), carrots, and pudding (dessert of any kind is called pudding here... it was cake.) With gravy all over everything (except dessert) I thought I was going to die. You all know me, I can eat A LOT, but that is like 2 meals at a time. Wow.
Big news of the week in Stafford area... WE HAVE A CAR!!! Guess who gets to drive it because you can't drive anymore after you have been in England for a year? THIS GIRL. Yeah, I'm driving a car. I was so excited, I couldn't even help it. I LOVE driving... and I feel like I'm pretty good at it. But I realize that a mission is a time God's show us all of our weaknesses, and humbles us a bit. I was telling Sister Low for like 3 days before I got it that I was the best driver out of all of my friends, and I went to the driving school of my father which meant I was really good.... Yeah. Don't be proud. I stink at driving in England. It's not so much being on the other side of the street, but the other side of the car is rough. PLUS they don't have 4 ways most of the time, they have roundabouts. I never know where I'm going, or what lane I should be in. I've hit the curb countless times, because the roads are so narrow, and hit garbage bins a few times (Sister O'K...."Sister Hull! I never seen anyone hit the bin before!" She is the 70 year old from Malaysia, that can't drive... but everyone knows more about cars than the American Sister Hull ;) ). So that has been fun. Plus, it is Sister Preston's car, and as all the members describe it is very "Posh". It is like a 2010 and only has 8000 miles on it. Yeah.
Oh. My subject line. The other day we were street contacting and this guy was like reaching down his shirt. All the sudden he pulls out rosary beads and is like, "Hey, sister, I'm already rockin' the cross!" Good. Maybe not quite Eternal Salvation good, but, I'm mean, that is still good...
I gave a talk yesterday. My topic was "The Great Council in Heaven". A bit overwhelming. I kept it simple :) Some people complimented me, "Your talk was so good! I could hear it!" Because of the age of the Stafford branch, they don't talk very loud nor hear very well... so I spoke loud, and they could hear. :) Very good.
Well. I love you. I miss you. And I want you to meet Brother B. ;) Have a beautiful day, and know that I love you, but God loves you more!
Sister Jasmine Hull
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