Sister Hull in Ecuador: 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