Sister Jenika Hull will be serving in the Ecuador, Quito North mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Follow her weekly updates here............

Monday, February 29, 2016

Everyone says at your year crazy things happen.....they aren't kiddin!!

Mama,

Thanks so much for getting all that stuff for me. You are seriously the bestest ever!

Sounds like a great week that you have had. I am happy to hear that it is warming up and melting that snow. I just want it spring so we will be in the same temperature again. Haha because it is no fair that you get all the snow! haha ;D

I had no idea that Sky View went to 5A that is super legit and to take second is awesome. I was talking about basketball the other day while falling asleep. I just can't believe it has been two seasons since I played. Time just keeps flying bad!

I am happy all is going well with you at home and that you are all still happy and living strong in the Gospel.....

I guess it is about time in my letter to well get onto my week, huh....

Well first and foremost I have to say that my title to this email is ......as sad as it is.....is very very true. Yes I did hit my year mark this past week but that is not any of what actually went on that was exciting.

Most the time I send the usual....my week was a pretty normal missionary week......but this week was nothing and I mean nothing of a normal missionary week.....Let me tell you.

First and foremost....I am not dying and neither is my companion. We were just very, very sick little missionaries for 2 days, that we could not even get out of bed. You might be wondering what did you catch but it was different for the both of us. She had some sort of cold and mine....after a process of exams....has been found to be a parasite.
So Tuesday night at about 1:30 am I could sleep at all because my stomach was hurting and then at about 3:30 I threw up.....sorry to say it but it wasn't my week. I didn't throw up again but I felt awful and I mean awful but now I feel better and am taking pills to kill the little thing that has caused me so much pain. I completed a year in bed....by the way.

But this is not all to the poor story of the week I completed a year.....on Saturday night. We were in the house going through the carpeta de area(area book) trying to call a few people to find some new investigators. We had finished and were headed out and I ran to the bathroom real quick and the next thing I know I found my companion with a huge bloody hueco(hole) in her finger in which she had put in a bowl of water. I had to use my first aid skills (thank goodness for girls camp) and took it out and wrapped it to try and stop the bleeding and treat her for shock because all she could say was....."I did something dumb and President is going to be so mad"..... I found out that while I was in the bathroom she was trying to fix a rack we have to dry clothes and a metal bar broke and took a huge chunk of her finger with it. It wouldn't stop bleeding and was huge gash so we got a hold of the nurse and headed to the hospital. Let me just say we were not home on time.....like home at 11pm....because we were at the hospital for 5 hours and my comp now has about 18 stitches in her finger and can't write because she is right handed and can't use it at all.

So as to say that statement is really true. I was going to do some nice poem-like email but I think the blood and nastiness fit this week :P

I just want to share that I know Christ is my Savior. I know faith is power. I was reading in Enos today and love that book with my whole heart. It is probably my favorite now. It is because of faith we can learn from it. I mean he had the faith enough to ask for his enemies that they would receive the gospel and be saved. He was promised that they would and what I have found is that is truly happening and I am apart of it. I am taking this gospel to the Lamanite people. They are the literal ancestors. How cool is that. I know through faith we can see miracles like Enos. I invite you to study that chapter this week and you will learn more too!!

Love you all!! A TON!!!!
Hermana Hull

PS Us in bed as sickies
PPS Found some Hermanas at lunch
LOVE YOU



Monday, February 22, 2016

I understand more.....

Mama!!

I am so super excited to go to DISNEYLAND with the Band. That is super cool and such a neat experience that they have to be able to do that and enjoy that before the band...sniff...sniff... gets split into different schools. Do you know what they are going to do with that or will everything just be separate??

Sounds like you have had a wonderful week and that you are doing well. Does Jodi still work at Shopko?? Who else is not there?? If Jodi is still there could you get her email?? That is crazy. People change. Everything in my mind is still the same there. That is what you get when you have been away so long!!

Thanks for that about Jasmine. It helps a lot.. And now i am missing the wedding but it is okay. It is all the plan of Dios(God) and he is the one that knows what I need.....I also realized I am now going to be closer to being an aunt....so that is an upside :D Haha

I am just so happy for you all and that you are all in so many different things. When i first started my mission I just wanted everything at home to pause now I see how wrong that would have not just because it is impossible but because that would stunt the growth that each of you has. It is super fun to be able just through email to see how much we have all grown up physically...well some...cough..cough...Jaden... to how each of us is growing everyday more spiritually. That is such a huge blessing to us and such a way that we can is only through God´s Plan for us and the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. I am super thankful for all the ways I have grown and continue to do so as i am being a missionary and representative of my Savior Jesus Christ!!

So this week was super awesome. It went by like a flash and I don't remember most of it but the highlight was definitely ELDER HOLLAND. He is such a powerful speaker and to be able to shake his hand and feel the peace that an Apostle of the Lord can bring was absolutely stunning. He spoke to us very directly and stated many times not to waste a single minute of our mission because really it is one of the most pivotal parts of our lives. Really it was such a blessing and also a powerful recuerdo(remembrance) of what I am doing here as a missionary. ¨¨The Salvation of a Human Soul is not an easy thing.¨¨Elder Holland. I know this is true. That is what we are trying to do every day as missionaries to bring people to the knowledge of the truth and it is hard but soo soo sooo worth it. Every door that is slammed in our face, every hard day, every sickness, to be a missionary is worth it. It is not easy but it is super worth it!!

I just can't believe how fast time flies and how blessed we are to be in this Gospel. Stay strong, Pray Hard, and study often and all will work out for our good!!
Love you tons!!
From the wet Hermana Hull.....freak storm outside.... :D

PS i would love some lavender and floss threaders in a package..and american candy is always good :D
PPS Could you send a homemade ice cream recipe to??

LOVE YOU TONS!!!!

Ecuador Quito North Mission



Meeting Elder Holland




Tuesday, February 16, 2016

I am so thankful to be a missionary

Mama
Hola Presidente!!

I am doing well. We are seeing some good pruebas of our faith here in our sector but we are working on ideas and seeking the revelation to really find the escogidos. I am grateful to be here. When I first got the call that I would be here for 6 months in one sector I wasn't to excited. I knew it was what the Lord needed but I wasn't to happy but now as time has gone on in this change I am grateful to be here. It has not been the easiest change but the one I needed to grow and learn what the Lord truly desires of me. Hermana Ukle is a rock star. She is doing really well and progressing. She is happy to be a missionary. Having a lot of homesickness in these past couple weeks but finally talked to me about it and I think she is doing a lot better. We are up to date on 12 semanas and it is helping both of us learn so much it really is a great tool we have as missionaries.

I was studying in the manual Misional today. And I am just so grateful for that little white book. It truly helps us have success as missionaries if we are just willing to follow the rules of the mission. Obedience really brings blessings and I have seen it over and over in the mission. I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was truly a prophet of God chosen to restore his Gospel to this earth. I know the Book of Mormon changes lives because of the power of God which it holds. I am so thankful to be a missionary and love this Gospel with my whole heart and am changing every day to become better than I was yesterday.
Thanks truly for all you do Presidente.
Hermana Hull

Well that is my email to my mission president this week. A member who has a son on a mission told me that he asked his son to do that each week and so i decided to share it with you this week. It is a good way to see what i do as a missionary each week.

WOW sounds like a full week of travel for you guys and that you were able to have so much fun. I had no idea that the Provo temple was so close to being done and dedicated. That is super legit. I remember when we went to stadium of fire with Marvin and Lauralee and we ended up going to see it and it seemed like it was just being started. That wasn't to long ago and now is being dedicated. That is so exciting to have another temple on the earth. The jovenes(youth) of our ward got to go this week and so that was super fun to see all the excitement about the temple and a lot of members asked me about the ´´Utah´´ temple or Salt Lake. They are all very surprised when I say there are many more that just that one and that one is 5-10 minutes away from my house. That is such a huge blessing that we have to have the temple so close to our home and when it is closed for cleaning we can go to many others within just an hour. I love the temple and miss it a ton but am excited also to be able to go back after my mission. I know it is the house of the Lord and that he truly resides there. I know the covenants that we make there are not only for the time we have on this earth but forever and make it possible to be with our families for the eternities. I just love it.

So Jasmine is engaged! That is super exciting and surprising. But I am so happy and excited for her.

So this week you asked about Carnaval. We had to stay in on those days unless we had a cita fija(appointments). So on Tuesday we didn't get to go out because we called all the citas to make sure they would be home but all of them had forgot and had gone on vacation. It was a good day of cleaning and study. But we did ´´play´´ Carnaval. That is how they put it that they play it. We had one cita on Monday with the familia Zambrano and we had a fight with what is called "carioca". It is a kind of spray foamy thing that comes in a can like spray paint that you just spray. It was super fun to do and play and it doesn't get you as dirty as eggs and flour :D

I am just so blessed to be a missionary here in Ecuador at this time. I truly love my calling as a missionary at this time. It is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done but the best thing for me for sure. I have changed and grown so much and continue to each day. I see my weaknesses but I am learning every day of the power of the Atonement and that is such a blessing to me to be able to grow and change through this time of my life so that I can be an even better disciple of Christ and daughter of God. I love missionary life so much and am so thankful to be here at this time doing this wonderful work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh, Anita is a member that I just love a ton. She gave us lunch yesterday because our mamita fell through and she just wanted to say hi and that she loves you and is grateful to you that you have let me come on my mission. She is great!!

Love you tons and hope you have a wonderful week! Pray for our sector and that we can find new people. We are seeing this a bit and it is helping us build our faith more and so that would be awesome!!
LOVE YOU TONS!!!
Hermana Hull

Sorry forgot a subject......Elder Holland is coming this week. He is coming Wednesday so I will write more about that next week.... :D Love you
Eggs and Flour for Carnaval

Carnaval Mess with Zambranos

Wet Hermanas


Portrait of Hermana Hull


Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Carnaval....never believe it!

Mama!! Sounds like you have had a wonderful week and will have a wonderful weekend this next one with visiting Jill and her family!! That will be fun!!

Well this week for me was a good one but first I want to type a quote from Elder Holland that I found this week about missions.

The Atonement and the Missionary
Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.

For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” 11 then little wonder that salvation is not an easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.

When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

That just really stood out to me this week and I know it is true!!!

So this week has been a good normal week up until this weekend, that started Carnaval. Which is this crazy festival that happens every year that makes us missionaries have to stay inside. I mean it is crazy what they do they have parades and stuff that they have like they have in Rio. It is crazy and then they go and play Carnaval which is kind of like a giant water fight in all of Ecuador but they also add espuma which is foam, flour and eggs and in different parts whatever you can find, but it is fun and I am enjoying it. Except for the egg and flour that Hermano Zambrano put in my hair. That was gross. But you know I got him back just a little. So that is about my week. I am sorry it wasn't to much about what happened to me I just loved this quote a ton and wanted to share.

I love you a ton and hope you have a wonderful week and know that I pray for you often and care about how you are doing!!! Love you tons and tons and tons more. I am doing well and my comp is too and we are just loving the life of the missionary. It is the best one I could have and definitely can't imagine my life without it!!!

LOVE YOU!! HERMANA HULL

Teaching with Pres. Richardson's Daughter

Carnaval Parade

Parade

Flour and Eggs for Carnaval Fun!?

What a mess!

BLT for Lunch made by Hermana Hull



Monday, February 1, 2016

The Atonement is so Powerful!!!

Mama and all ya´ll!!

Wow wow wow wow wow!! Why didn't winter happen like that last year too. I sure do miss that fluffy white stuff that falls from the sky. It is so pretty and breath taking. I think I will have to live somewhere with the four seasons for the rest of my life unless I decided to live in Ecuador after my mission then I would just have to visit Utah a lot during the winter :D

I totally forgot about the whole basketball thing that goes on during the winter. I hope that they are doing well in their games! I love basketball and am excited to play more when I get home. But I mean that and Ultimate. Haha but they can wait!

My feet are doing better and my knee is feeling good but I am in an ankle brace. But please DON'T WORRY. I just twisted my ankle a little in a hole while I was walking. But it is getting better quickly and I am up and working hard!! :D

So this past Saturday was just the best thing of my life. Jenifer was baptised. It was literally a miracle to witness. She is the first baptism here in Carcelen Alto for about 5 months and first convert that wasn't a child that was 9 in 9 months. Those are great and we really needed it for the sector and the work to keep moving forward here. Not only that but she has made covenants with her Father in Heaven and now has that wonderful blessing of the Holy Ghost with her for always is she stays worthy.

The baptism was just so filled with the Spirit and just the best ever. But it came with a lot of work. The font was absolutely disgusting while we prepared to fill it up. So the baptism that the Elders had 2 months ago someone forgot to unplug the font and the Elders saw it the day before and unplugged it but it was covered in this yellow slime that smelled like dead skunk in the middle of the road. So we had to clean that out in time to start filling it to have all we needed done, but then all the sudden the water started to come out RED. WHAT?!?! So we had to clean it out again but then finally it all worked out and we were able to get it filled and it was all worth it to hear her testimony about how she felt something that she didn't know she was missing and to see her smile was just the bestest and then Sunday was super special with her confirmation too!!

I just love the power of the Atonement. The people change through Christ. It is nothing to do with me or what I am doing here. But with Christ and the enabling power and his church and truth, they truly change. It is amazing how far people come but when they do they can change with him when they know it is true in just a couple weeks. I know that the Atonement is what carries me through everyday and after what we can do it is what continues to carry us through it all. Sometimes I imagine us like Elder Holland describe in his talk in the conference of last April. We are there and falling and we have just a hold of a slippery rock and we are doing all we can to try and pull ourselves up but we can't, our muscles are cramping and there is just nothing left in them and then we give our last effort and know if we don't do it now we can't do it and so we give what we have left and then those hands with marks of his sacrifice grab our wrists and pull us up and carry us to safety to then make sure that we are okay and knows that he is there. He doesn't leave us. He was always there. He just needed us to give our all and then he is able to give us his power to make it to his safety. I just love the Atonement and don't understand it perfectly for nothing. But i am learning and that is what i love.!!

Love you so much and hope you all have a wonderful week!! You are the bestest!!
love you
Hermana Hull


PS Here is an awesome talk from last conference about the atonement!
Strengthened by the Atonement of Jesus Christ
By Elder Dallin H. Oaks
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles