January Pictures

The Manchester Zone



The YSA District



At Prisca's for her Birthday

I never would have done that

Hello :)

 

I've recieved quite a few questions about Prisca and her family, so I will do my best to answer them :)

 

Prisca was born in Congo, and that is also where her son, Pernel (11) was born.   Paris is  where Jacob (10) was born.  The other three children Prisdy (7), Ryan (5) and Lewis (1) were born here in England. Her parents both died in Congo, and all of her siblings live in Paris now, I think. She is recently divorced, and that is the reason she prayed to God for answers in her life.  Soon after, Patricia, the member in the ward, introduced herself to Prisca at her children's school.  Patricia started helping Prisca around the house and things and invited her to church.  Prisca went to church twice before the missionaries noticed because they thought she was a member!  They taught her twice last transfer, but then went on holiday to Belguim.  She came back soon after this transfer started, so I was able to be there for the majority of their teaching process, which was really such a blessing.  I'm so thankful.

Plus.  Since Patricia was such a good example about member missionary work, Prisca brought her friend Anna, and her young children to church yesterday.  We have an appointement with Anna tonight.  Miracles.

 

Patrick has been a member since October.  He was bus contacted by Sister Bibb who came two transfers before me (and is already home because she got really really sick).  He wasn't interested at first, but after some challenging things arising from the military he contacted the missionaries and said he wanted to be baptised.  Bus contacting is the Holy Grail in the EMM.  It is so hard to do, first of all, and then to follow-up.  But it does happen, and Patrick is really amazing, so it is another miracle.

 

FYI.  Transfers are next week.  There are seven new sisters coming to the mission, which is a ton!  I can't believe it.  Usually the biggest group has been 3, like my group.  But with all these sisters coming in there is going to be a lot of trainers and white washers.  The both get called on Sunday about transfers instead of Monday, so it is likely that most sisters will be called on Sunday.  Woot.  I'm nervous, because I'm becoming an older sister in the mission.  Super weird.

 

I went on exchange this week with Sister Gallozo (guy-o-tho) from Spain.  She is an amazing missionary, and she is going home next week with Sister Low.  I can't believe it. Anyway, Sister Gallozo is a great missionary, and she told me that she couldn't really speak English before coming on the mission.  And they don't have many missionaries do language training in the EMM.  I told her Jordan was struggling with Spanish... and then I watched her try to have a conversation with a boy in Spanish... and she doesn't know Spanish either.  She told me that at the beginning of her mission an Elder told her that when she went home she would have to pray for the gift of tounges.   She said it was completely true.  So I know that Jordan will be fine at getting the language.

 

We have some new investigators named Dave and Julie.  They were formers of the Elders who contacted us (we now have the Elders phone for some reason... did I tell you?  The Zone Leaders are also in the Swinton ward with us).  Anyway, Dave and Julie were taught like a year ago and it sounds like they were progressing, not rapidly but steadily.  Dave said he 'lost his faith' however, and they turned to cocaine.  On a really bad day he was praying and when he opened his eyes he saw the pass along card with our number on it, and remember that the time he had been happiest was when he was coming to our church.  So he rang us.  The have been clean from cocaine and alcohol for something like 14 days which is really great, and they realise that God is the only one who can heal them from these addictions.  I think it will be a process, but I also think that they are sincere about changing their lives.  The Atonement is real, and can bless them, I know that much.

 

I sent you a picture of our zone activity.  It's weird, because we didn't have zone activity in Newcastle because we were all so far away from each other (like 1 1/2 train ride outside the mission far away).  Here in Manchester zone we seem to be closer in proximity or something, although bus rides are really long.  The Manchester Zone is known as the heart of the mission, because it is where President's house is, the office, the main chapel we meet at, etc.  It is a great zone.  I love it.  And I'm like serving in a city.  Sometimes I forget that I have never lived in a city this big in my life!  I haven't been to many cities this big in my life!  Wow.  Every once in a while I think to myself, 'I never would have done that (met that person, gone to that place, eaten that thing) if I would have stayed home.'  And it is true.

 

I love the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is the only way to salvation.  The Atonement is real.  Families can be together forever.  The prophets are inspired men of God.  Heavenly Father loves His children.  And the Book of Mormon can answer so many questions that most people don't realize they have.

 

I love you.  Loves,

 

Sister Hull    

Loves Ya

FAMILY!!!

I just read Jordan's email.  Haha.  Cigerette smoke was one of the first things he noticed... that is so funny.  I used to walk as far away as possible to people smoking when I was back home... now I walk right up to them.  Yeah, they've blown it into my face, but hey, I'm sure that missionaries are protected from 2nd hand smoke... I hope.  I also contacted someone waiting for a drive by drug deal once, with Sister Low.  That was cool.  He needs the gospel.

Missions are so cool.  But they aren't very easy, to be honest.  It doesn't mean that they aren't fun, or that you are going to hate every minute of it.  I've laughed so hard during my mission.  Oh my goodness, I've laughed so hard.  But the best part of a mission is God opening your mind to just a bit of the potential you have, and you realize that you can become like Him someday.  But it takes work.   Work work work.  The word gets weirder as you stare at it. :)

Congrats on your new calling.  That will be loads of fun ;)  You'll actually love it once you get everything sorted, and you know it.  So just love it right now and save yourself the stress.  Easier said than done, I know.   Wow.  gl with that.

Prisca, Pernel and Jacob got baptised this week!  It is so amazing!  Baptisms must be one of the absolutely most stressful things missionaries do, but it happened.  And there were so many miracles that happened.  We really had some good recent convert involvement at the baptism, including being the baptiser, a witness, and saying a prayer.  It was really good.  Also, the Primary President gave a talk, and said her testimony in French for Prisca! (I think I might try to relearn French from the Book of Mormon, I actually can understand a lot more that I thought, if I really pay attention.... hmmm....) It was amazing.  And Prisca's friend, Patricia, who introduced her to the church, was so nervous but gave a talk as well.  And Prisdy, the 7 year old, prayed at the end, and everyone is always amazed at her prayers and faith.  I remember Sister Low telling me that when her converts got baptised, she felt like she didn't do anything.  I didn't understand what she meant.  Now I do.  Sister Suaybaguio and I really just showed up every night to 'teach' and the family mainly taught themselves.  One of my biggest desires in life is for Pernel and Jacob to serve missions.  It will bless their lives and their futures.  And I think there are a lot of ward members to help with that, and Swinton ward seems really good at getting the kids involved really quickly.

We had an amazing new investigator name Liu Li this week.  She is from China and wanted to learn about Christianity, because her mom was a Christian.  Sister Shen (from Taiwan) has this special Chinese lesson that she teaches so we taught it as well, and then we taught about faith.  We were just going really slow teaching about God and things, because poor Bowen was so confused.  She really understood.  She texted us one night and said she was praying about a part time job, and as soon as she said amen she got an email about an even better job that she thought had already declined her or something.  But she went with her friends to a Chinese Christian church on Sunday, and they told her we believe different things than us.  When she told us we had Elder Cai, our district leader, and a Chinese Elder, call her (because she can't understand us on the phone).  He said she told him that she has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and knows that it is true, but needed to follow her friends :'(  Sad day.  She was amazing.

I had real Pakistani and Jamacian curry this week.  At two different homes :)  Wow wow.  I thought it was so funny when you told me about Jaden's birthday meal.  I keep thinking what I will make from my mission, and pretty much what I come up with is curry and [brussel] sprouts.  Yup. 

Well, there is getting to be a cue for the computers.  I might just have to sign off.

The Church is 100% true.  Jesus Christ is our Saviour, and Heavenly Father is our Father.  They will bless you.

Loves,

Sister Hull at Salford Uni Restroom

Sister Missionaries, Patrick(recent convert) and Prisca and family

Sister Hull

Sisters Meeting

My mission=my blessing

Oh Wow.

Life is so crazy.  This week I went on what I called a 'post-fast'.  I didn't open any letters for an entire week.  It was a bit difficult to be fair, because we had Zone Conference and Sister Maughan gave me the ones from Stafford, so I had quite a few.  I did the fast because I wanted to show the Lord I would sacrifice something (anything) for Him.  He blessed me, no doubt.  Nothing is truely a sacrifice because of the Lord's blessings. From what I gather, a lot of my friends are having a hard time... not kosher.  It really breaks my heart, because I was the one who wanted to always be there for those I love, and now I can't.  But I know that the Lord is.  I know He is.  It also taught me that Heavenly Father loves us, because as much as it hurts to hear the bad news, the good news seems so much greater.  Wow.  Thanks for all the letters, everyone.

I can't BELIEVE that dad is playing John Taylor's companion in a church film!!!!  WHAAAAAA!!!!?????  You'll have to send me the link when you find it, because since it will be on lds.org, that means I can watch it :D  Loves it.  Also, John Taylor was the only prophet born outside the US, right?  He was born in England... :)  Which means he was probably a missionary in England, which means that Dad was also portraying a missionary in England.  And I actually AM a missionary in England.  And John Taylor dedicated the Logan Temple, I think.  Too many coincidences.  Coincidence: That situation wherein God remains anonymous.  But if we are blessed enough we can pick up on it.

The new 10th ward.  Wow.  Can you believe it?  What a blessing.  You'll be able to meet people you wouldn't have otherwise known.  That is a miracle in and of itself.  To have the courage to extend our sphere of influence is a hard decision, but it can change our life.  Mostly not because we will be doing that much more for everyone else, but because of how much everyone else will be blessing our lives.  It's hard.  Believe me, I know how awkward it is to walk into a brand new ward where you don't know anyone, I've done it twice in the past 5 months.  But its possible.

My mission is the miracle of my life.

Prisca and her children are progressing perfectly towards their baptism.  Sometimes we have a bit of a language barrier because Prisca speaks French.  It happened with tithing, we had a hard time explaining it.  We had her read the verse in Malachi in her French bible.  After reading it she said, 'This is really good.  Really important.  If I had £200, I would give £20 to the Lord.'  Amazing.  She set up the 10% for herself.  That is definitely when the Spirit is the teacher.  I feel like we haven't really taught Prisca anything.  The Spirit tells her what is right and what is good, and she has every desire to follow it.  She believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that if God had worked that way throughout time, of course He would call another prophet.  She lives the Law of Chastity, and has also been living the Word of Wisdom for many years (she said coffee made her too shaky :) ).  She is amazing.  We gave her eldest 3 children Book of Mormons, and they have been reading and marking it.  7 year old Pristy has been marking every time it says God or Jesus Christ, and in two days she was already to Jacob.  The believe Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God.  This family is amazing.  They are such a blessing.  I told President about them at the Elder's baptism, and he went to Prisca and told her how amazing and what a blessing the gospel will be for her family.  Because it will.  They haven't had an easy time, in fact it has been really hard.  When Prisca was losing hope she realized she needed God and needed to find a church to take her children to.  So she prayed.  Soon after she prayed she member Patricia, the member who took her to church.  Ah.  Members are so vital.  The gospel is so vital.

The church is true!

At the baptism this week a recent convert gave a talk.  His name is Lesra, and he is from Jamaica.  One quote from the talk (as far as I can remember), 'President Monson is one of the coolest and most humble prophets around.'  He told me yesterday that President Monson was so cool he could be from Jamaica.  That is like the ultimate compliment that he could give someone.  I love it.  He loves the gospel so much, he just can't believe that he is a Christian, he said he never would have believed that he would be a Christian!  But don't worry, he informed us that he is still cool.

President told me a Zone Conference that Chris came back to the mission.  He witnessed a burglary while he was here, and they flew him out to testify at the trial.  Of course that would happen to Chris.  He brought Tess with him and they were going to come and visit me, but apparently they had a schedule with the trial or something.  Too bad, that would have been fun.

I had a man get all sociology on me this week.  Telling me that I was undermined in my religion because I was a woman.  Okay.  Let's be real.  I understand how society effects people.  I studied it for three years.  But I also understand how the gospel is true, no matter the effect socially.  I told him that I thought it was weird he was telling me that because I am the woman and also the church member.  I know that if he read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, he wouldn't feel so bad for me, but would feel bad that he wasn't yet baptised :)

 Jess told me that she got her call to Taiwan :)  That is so great.  Missions are so amazing.  You never thought that I would be the one saying that before I left, did you?  I was going to wait out my time until I could come home and move on with my life.  But I am so thankful to the Lord for this opportunity I have to serve.  It is the biggest blessing in my entire life.  I think it will be until I have a husband and a family and those experiences. But even then, my mission will be what prepared me for that experience.  I know that is true.  I wish I could teach you everything I've learned.  There is so much, I honestly can't believe it.  One thing I've been thinking about this week is the worth of souls.  I've really been tossing it over my mind.  God loves everyone.  Just because someone is awkward, or 'our personalities just clash' (who said that all the time?  This girl), doesn't mean God doesn't love them.  It doesn't mean that He doesn't want them, or that Christ won't help them.  So who am I to say that I can just ignore them because they have hurt me.

Oh my goodness.  The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real.  It is the only way back to our Heavenly Father.  The fullness of the gospel, and the access to the Atonement and Exaltation is enabled by the Restoration, and the Priesthood Authority given us in this day.  I am forever grateful.  I'm thankful that we can ALWAYS choose to follow the Saviour.  Whether or not we find joy through His sacrifice is entirely up to us.  But He will help us if we reach out to Him.

I love you all.  I laugh when you laugh, and I cry when you cry.  I still care about you, and want you to have every happiness in life.  I just am able to see a lot more clearly the avenue to that happiness.  Hosanna.   Blessed be the name of the Most High God.

Loves,

Sister Hull

My Life is so Blessed

Dear Mom,

Before I forget, thanks for telling me about Mitt Romney.  I'm really surprised he took Iowa, I remember Brendan telling me ages ago that it didn't seem likely.  Usually whoever takes Iowa gets through.  Oh.  I miss politics.... sooo bad.  All the church members keep talking about Romney, and I really can't join in.  I'm just like, 'Oh yeah, I heard he was running.'  The other day, though, was the hardest.  Someone was watching a speech by Obama, and at first I thought it was State of the Union, and I was staring at the screen, until I realized that I could watch tele, nor was SoftheU on yet... :(  The political race is going to be a bit hard for one American girl living in the UK.  Remember 2008 I made you record all the debates, and then my friends had a party the night of elections.  I didn't think I would miss politics as much as I do... but thankfully the Lord compensates and I don't think about it much.  Although my ears do perk up when someone talks about David Camren, just because I want to know.

Jordan's first email... haha.  I'm glad he is settling in and that the food is so amazing :p  The food in Preston was amazing, made by a chef everyday, and since he was only cooking for 50 people instead of like 3000, it was pretty good.  I hope he settles in well and that his journey to Peru goes nicely.  I can't believe it.  Jordan is on a mission.  I'm on a mission.  And everyone else is coming home from their missions.

What exactly is going on with his suitcases?

The ugly sweater pictures... haha.  Dad is so silly.  And your sweater is pretty 'rad' itself.  What a fun party.  Mary and Bob are so clever.  I had to tell Sister Suaybaguio that I had Phillipino friends... she asked if they spoke Tagalog... and I said, 'Nope, I don't think so...'  I think Mary moved when she was only like 3 or something, right? 

I'm so glad you got the cards.  I was worried they were lost in post space.

Swinton is getting a lot better.  The members are very kind here.  I got an email from President today saying that I should miss Stafford, and he was glad that I do... and that I'm probably going to miss all of my areas.  Then he asked me what I need to learn from that.  So that will be something I will ponder for a while.  It's so weird, before I left I was like, 'I'm going on a mission so I never have to say goodbye again!'  Win-ner.  And I thought I was educated.  I was saying goodbye to people I would see again.  Now I'm saying goodbye to people I may never see again...in this life... and that is not so fun.  But, yes, Swinton is lovely.  And it is huge.  It isn't an actual town, it is like a suburb of Manchester.  They call them Estates, I think.  Also in our area is Salford, Clifton, and some others I can't remember.  So, yeah, you probably won't find it on the map.  I'm not even sure what side of Manchester I'm on, but I think it is the North side.  Meh.  Not sure.

Speaking of... I would love it if you sent me some family temple names as well :D... and I did recieve all the Christmas cards, and the one of our family is hanging on my wall.  It is bigger than the one I brought with me, which was funny.  I'm glad you chose to print that picture on the card, though, I didn't like how I looked in some of the other ones.  And on the note you made me sound all cool.  Stop.  Ever since I was with Sister Low I've been working on my pride... ;)

Hm.... the new 10th ward.  It only effects 3rd and 6th ward.  I hope Andrea is in my ward when I get home!  Yay!  Well, dream come true, because I'll be in the YSA ward again.  Excepting if she is married when I get home.  Who else in in 6th ward... Heather.  But I doubt it will combine with us, because we aren't very near to them.  We'll probably be with all the new subdivisions, so our ward will probably have to split again.  Here's a guess.  The Randall family will still be in our ward.  10 pound on that.  Just kidding.  Missionaries don't bet.

We have progressing investigators!  I can't believe it, I never saw this in Stafford.  Her name is Prisca, she is originally from Congo, so she speaks French as her first language, and her and two of her children are dated to be baptised on the 21st of January.  It has been such a blessing for me to teach them, because honestly I'm teaching lessons that I've never taught before... no one ever progressed that much.  It is such a blessing.  Her children are adorable.  Her youngest son, Louise, is 1 and soooo cute.  I love him, and he loves the bubbles I got for Christmas.  And hand sanitizer.  And my camera.  This family is such a blessing in my life, and for my mission.  I'm starting to see that change can happen.  If something is good Prisca tells her children, 'It's good for God.'  She amazing.  And a member referal and former investigator.  Miracles happen.

I've also been able to meet a recent convert named Patrick.  He is amazing.  He was bus contacted (a holy grail in the EMM... bus contacting is hard), but was really interested.  He is in the military, and he realized he needed the church when he found out that his wife was killed in Afghanistan (she was also in the military).  He has such an amazing testimony, and has already been tried a lot since he joined the church, but is coming up strong.  Wow.  He amazes me.  He went to walk around the Temple one day, and on the way home gave a lady working at KFC a pass along card with his phone number on the back.  She rang him recently and said she is getting baptised soon.  It will be right before he goes back to Afghanistan for his final tour (it will be 9 times, and he has been to Iraq 5 times... he is a medic and helicopter pilot, and they are rare, so he goes a lot) so he will be able to go.  He is going with an American unit this time, so there are going to be a lot of members with him... like 40 or something, so that is really good.  When he comes home, he is going to visit his missionary in Utah.  I told him that he should go and visit all of you as well... he is entertaining the idea.

My life is so blessed because of my mission.  I feel discouraged sometimes, but I know that God is there for me.  President Hinckley said that every good thing that happened in his life could be traced back to the decisions he made on his mission.  I really feel like my mission will be the same for him.

I love the Lord.

Loves,

Sister Hull



Sister Hull and Sister Maughan


 

2011 Christmas in the Mission Home

Surprise Birthday Party for Sister Sauybaguio

Prisca's Children (don't they look smart because the boys took out their earrings for the picture)

This Week....

Hello Everyone,

 

I love you all.  I hope you are well. 

 

The other day when I was studying during personal study I had this analogy come to me, and I shared it with Sister Suaybaguio, and she has since made me share it with everyone else.  It really helped me understand things, and since sharing is caring I suppose I'll send it to you as well.

 

Life is a brick wall.  It is very thick, and there is absolutely no way we can get through it.  God is on the other side of the wall, and somehow we know about it, but we can't see Him.  It is too high to see and too thick to go through.  We bang on the wall, we hit the wall, we run into the wall.  We get some scraps and bruises from trying to get through the wall, but there is nothing we can do about it.  Some dust might fall off of the wall, but that is about it.  We are seperated from God.

 

The Saviour has the power to put a hole in the wall.  He invites everyone to come through it.  Some people refuse to even look at it.  They see the few scratches they recieved from trying to get through the wall, and say, 'I was hurt, and so I don't believe there is any hole in the wall.'  These are those people who don't believe in God because they've prayed before and it wasn't answered they way they wanted it to be, or they see all the bad things in the world and don't recognize all the good. 

 

The second group of people see the hole, and try to get through it.  It is kind of jaggedy, and they get a lot more cuts, and a lot more bruised, but they do push through it.  They are very injured and very hurt when they get to the other side, but they do make it.  When they get there, though, they look around for God but can't find him.  They don't recognize Him.  These are those people in other churches who realize what Jesus Christ has done, but they don't know the power of the Atonement because they don't have the proper authority to recieve the ordinaces of salvation.

 

Hopefully we are all in the last group.  We look at the wall, and it is kind of scary.  We know we will get hurt, because we have before, but we also know that we could get hurt a lot worse.  But we realize that the Saviour is standing there with His hands outstretched.  We walk over, take His hand, and he begins to lead us through the wall.  We do get hurt, we do get bruised, just like the people did without the Saviour.  But the Saviour, he has the Balm of Gillead, and that can heal us.  It doesn't magically cure us, but as he applys it to our wounds (and our hearts) over time it heals, and we become new.  When we reach the other side of the wall, we are perfected, we are healed.  And we are still holding Christ's hand.  He takes us to the Father, places our hand in His and says, 'Here she is, Father, here is Jasmine.  I brought her to you.  She got hurt, but she followed me, and now I've brought her to you.'  Then Heavenly Father takes us to live with Him.

 

I know this is possible.  I know that the pains, trials, and mistakes we make in life can be healed through the Atonement of our Saviour.  He is full of grace and mercy, and the only way to overcome spiritual and physical death.  I'm so thankful for Him, everyday of my life.  I couldn't make it through this mission, or my life, without Him.

 

If you are not relying on the Saviour, stop.  He doesn't ask you to kill yourself before you ask for His help.  If we don't allow Him to help us, we won't recognize Heavenly Father when we reach the other side.  And that would be a mistake.  I promise you that if you turn to Jesus Christ, your life will be changed, and you will be so thankful.

 

I love you,

 

Sister Hull

 

PS

Everything is fine here in Swinton.  It is so different from Stafford, so much bigger.  I get quite homesick for Stafford, to be honest.  I knew where everything was and where pretty much every member, and a lot of less actives lived.  Here in Swinton, I'm not sure that I will ever know my way around.  It is basically just another bit of Manchester City, which is huge and so it is hard to seperate the area  from the other missionaries areas and things.  But it will be okay, I hope.  I've only been here a week, and it took me longer than that to learn Stafford, so I can't expect myself to know Swinton in my first couple of days.

 

There is a lot more bus contacting here, which is not my favourite thing in the whole world.  In fact it is one of my more least favorite things to do on the mission.  Imagine bus contacting for one and one half hours on the way to district meeting..  Well, you probably can't imagine it.  It's terrifying, and awkward.  I'm sure I'll get use to it at some point, but it's  hard. :P

 

I'm glad to hear that Jordan got to the MTC alright.  I'm sure he was very ready to get there and get started.  Sometimes you just have to jump off the highdive and into the pool.  Once your in the pool you just have to not drown for the first little while, until you can swim.  That sounds like a really bad impromtu speech analogy.  Speaking of which, there is a couple here in charge of taking care of the YSA.  They say some of their calling is simply to teach the YSA how to speak to each other, because they don't talk!  Imagine.  I told Sister Cannon that my friends had no problem with that.  It was getting them to stop talking.

 

Is Jordan going to send all his emails to me as well?  Because I can't go on his blog.  That would  be completely disobedient. :)  And I refuse to be disobedient.  If not, forward them to me... pleaseeeeeeee. :)

 

I love you, mom.

 

Everyone, share the gospel with someone this week.  Write and tell me about the miracles you see.  Because you will see miracles.  Loves.  JH.

 

PPS  Did you ever get my Christmas card?