straight gold diggin!

HAPPY MLK DAY YALL!!!! 

so with all the changes to our area and losing all the progressing investigators and what not that we had..definitely braced myself for a rough week...but i didnt even feel like a missionary this week--i felt like a straight up GOLD digger!!! we found soooo many GOLDEN and prepared people this week!! yeah it took a little extra effort and knockin quite a few more doors than normal..but man we found some GEMS!!! 

we decided to go through our area book and try out some former investigators..one night we set up a three hour block to just go knock on as many doors of formers as possible...after three hours of knockin we got ourselves three new investigators!! two out of the three werent even "formers"! they just happened to live in the apartment where a former had moved out..

we also found some new people through a rejection! get this..one night we set up for a recent convert named Manuel and good ole Wilson to come with us to teach a man named miguel (one of the news we got from knockin doors) but he wasnt home..so we tried alejandrina (another knocked door) she wasnt home...then we tried Marichuy and jose (investigator/less active) they were getting in there car to leave when we got there..then tried jerry....his brother answered the door and very clearly stated his disinterest and that we should never knock on his door again or else...so finally we asked him if he knew ANYONE that spoke spanish that might be interested in hearing our message..he pointed to a door downstairs! 

so downstairs we went! knocked on the door--they answered--cut right to the chase "hello. we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and we share a message of Jesus Christ and how through Him and His gospel we can find peace and joy in this life" (something like that) and they told us to come right on in!!! MIRACLE! turns out they skipped out going to the usual church they go to that night and were feeling pretty guilty about it so they were glad we came by! they accepted a book of mormon and committed to read it! we have a return appointment this week! lost one..gained two!  

oh! another time when we were looking through the area book, we found a teaching record of a family that looked like they had been taught a lot and were really progressing..the missionaries had dropped them because they moved and lost contact..we decided to give it a shot! when we called they answered "the sisters?! WE HAVE MISSED YOU GUYS! PLEASE COME BACK AND TEACH US!! WE ARE WAITING FOR YOU WHENEVER YOU HAVE TIME TO COME SEE US!" alright. sweet. haha the cutest family from peru!! the mom has committed to be baptized before the end of the month :) 

also, we didnt have a whole lot of time before our next teaching appointment, but we decided to knock a former and schedule a return appointment...but she invited us in so we couldnt say no! and good thing we didnt because we retaught the first lesson and the spirit was so thick you couldve taken a bite right out of it! she accepted a date to be baptized forfebruary 10th!!!! crazy because the other missionaries had dropped her because she told them "I was born a Catholic and i will die a catholic!!".....guess its hard to look THE TRUTH in the face and tell it no? she was crying and kept saying "i know its true i know its true!!!" we are scheduled to meet with her daily :)

and thennnnn just this morning we went to visit Jeni (i think i talked about her and elias last week...) she works all throughout the week so monday and tuesday are the only days we have to meet with her..im going to the temple tonight ang my comp is going on exchanges so we got up early this morning to go teach her! and it was WOORTH ITTT because this golden little lady is getting baptized February 22nd!! 

i really cannot believe how much our area is being blessed right now..it is UNREAL!!! i now understand PERFECTLY why that little slice of heaven got cut out of our area...we were focusing over there too much and missing out on the gold mine that is the rest of our area!!! all of these people have just been sitting waiting for us to knock on there door and bring them the truth :) i am 110% positive Heavenly Father knows  E X A C T L Y what he is doing, and He always does it on purpose ;) all we have to do is trust Him and go to work!! even more miracles happened this week and crazy opportunities too but my time is running low...

GOD LOVES YOU!! and so do i ;) until next week! 

hermana hull

out here teaching "The Mormon Way"...what you find in church libraries...

this lady is the coolest!! from Iraq!! getting baptized this sunday! doesnt speak a lick of spanish or english! the gift of tongues combined with the spirit is a powerful thing ;)

yay for Wilver!!! add him to the list of "tios" que yo tengo...

jessica <3 

ran into this guy on our way to an appointment...ended up teaching all of those kids the ten commandments using your ten fingers with signs to remember them! then gave them all pass along cards with our number on them and told them if they wanted to learn more to give them to their parents and we would come back again! the kids all scattered to their perspective houses..gave the cards to their parents..and then ran back outside to give us hugs!! love the little gems ;)

6 MONTH MARK

WHAT THE 6 MONTHS THIS WEEK?!?!

HELLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
so im pretty sure Heavenly Father has quite the sense of humor because He pulled a good one on us this week....

so we really felt like Carmen and Antonio were ready for baptism this week so we decided to do whatever it took to get them in the water haha we took over members, visited them almost everyday, on days when we couldnt visit them we read over the phone with them, watched the joseph smith video with them, said countless prayers with and with out them, fasted for them, etc....but they still wouldnt accept the date! they told us they knew they needed to be baptized and wanted to be...just needed to get an answer from God to know when..they wanted a sign...so we were praying like crazy for them saturday night to know what we should do...and we decided to go over early in the morning on sunday before church and let them know that as messengers of God..WE were their answer! when we walked in their apartment early sunday morning, antonio had been up for a half hour already watching the Joseph Smith video.. WHAT..and we told them that we were their answer, read a couple scriptures about acting in faith etc......kneeled down and said a prayer with them, both of them felt the spirit so much they started crying!!! but then they go..."we will be baptized, we know we should be...we just need an answer from God" what?! you just got it! but they promised to come to church...

funny thing about church this week is it was a big regional conference and the stakes and ward boundaries got changed......aka CARMEN AND ANTONIO ARE NO LONGER IN OUR AREA :( pretty stinkin sad about it....we lost a chunk of our area due to the boundary changes and it just so happens that the chunk they took is where all of our investigators lined up to have baptisms this month live (including Flor, the avalos, the cabezas...investigators/member families we love)......hahah good one...im finding Heavenly Father LOVES humbling me ;) 

but its fine! im so excited to explore more of the untouched parts of my area! i know the Lord is preparing hearts to receive us :) you best believe we are gonna be handing out baptismal dates like candy on halloween! im excited to work my tail off to find more of my hermanos(as)!!!

oh! cool story real quick though...
we went to go teach an investigator with some members..but he wasnt home..so as we were walking through the complex back to the car i remembered something president challenged us to do and so i stopped everyone and had us each walk with a Book of Mormon in our hands haha it was a freezing cold night so there wasnt anyone outside that we could see, but i was confident we would be blessed for making the little extra effort.. as we passed the laundry room, i saw a guy with his back faced to me and its funny how the spirit works these days because it was literally a "GO TALK TO HIM" in my head...so the second he turned around i waved and smiled at the window! he came right outside :) so i started asking him the typical questions..where are you from, how long have you been here etc...he is from Africa and his first language is actually french! (you best believe i whipped out every french word i know.. "par le vous frace?" 

and then he goes (looking at all the books in our hands) "so uh..whats going on?? whats that? NICE! we jumped right in to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it is another testament of Jesus Christ and that if he reads it he will find answers to any question he has ever had and it will strengthen his relationship with jesus christ, etc etc etc...and he LOVED IT!!! he goes "no way! i have actually been praying to find a way to grow closer to jesus christ..i just want to know him! can yall come back and teach me more? i live right here and am very interested!" and then he offered to say the prayer and talked about how he knew it was no coincidence we all ran into each other etc etc etc...he may only know like four words in spanish but still...MIRACLE!!!

anyway, yall have a great week!! love you so much! thanks for the prayers!!
hermana hull 

 saying bye to the avalos...little jashly kept going "im gonna miss yall" and started BAWLING as we left...SOOO ROUGH

SAYING BYE TO FLOR AND FAMILY.....

 BYE BYE ABUELA FLOR :*(

 AND CARMEN AND ANTONIO AND BABY MOISES

DJ LARRY and merry CHRISTmas!!

Ward Christmas Party! 

our mission president has really been encouraging us to talk to EVERYONE as of late and while i felt like i did a pretty good job at that, i realized i wasnt talking with EVERYONE...i was just talking to hispanics..or at least going out of my way to.. i just happen to be a spanish speaking missionary so I didn't really talk to anyone else....

well i got taught a lesson this week!

monday night we rolled up at a bus stop and there was this african american guy--arms crossed, headphones in, cigarette hanging from his mouth, pretty intimidating--and so i questioned for a minute whether we should even wait at the bus stop or keep chuggin until the next one....but i got a feeling we were safe, and then seconds later got the feeling we should go talk to him. in my head im thinking, "president did say talk to EVERYONE...but he looks like he would shoot me..." i kinda brushed it off, or at least tried too..when my cute comp goes "hey, i feel like we should go talk to him, but im kinda scared..come with me?" so we did! 

had a casual conversation...his name is Larry from Detroit..here in texas for work...i had a total "oh my gosh you are such a missionary moment" when he told us he was a carpenter and i automatically go "no way! just like Jesus! look at you following in his footsteps" ;) hahaha but it did end up being a nice segway into some religious chattin...i asked Larry if he considered himself religious..and this is how the convo followed...

"well id say i know enough to get me to the next life, maybe"

"oh yeah? what do you know? what are your beliefs?"

"actually uh..i got a rap about it.." 

"wait, are you serious? can we film you?"

"yeah"

"do you want me to drop a beat?"

"yeah sure"

"what kinda beat we talkin?"

"dont matter girl--just drop one!" 

and then he proceeded to rap the story of how he was in jail/homeless etc but Jesus gave him another chance and how he just wants to be the best man he can and touch other peoples lives etc etc etc..it was the most legit thing in my life. like 2 and a half minutes long!! had a chorus and everything!! wasn't anticipating that so i went a little too ham in the beginning and ran outta steam a little towards the end...but it was still the coolest ever. people started gathering around and stuff!! i cant only imagine what people thought was going on haha 

you best believe i showed my mission president the video and thanked him for encouraging us to talk to EVERYONE!!! you really never know what youre going to get ;) 

so i extend my mission president's advice to all of you..talk to everyone! especially this time of year! yall should be telling everyone about Christ's birth and what His life means to you! we are so blessed. 

that's the highlight of the week for sure..oh! please add "Flor" to your prayers. she wants to get baptized but told us that her husband told her that if she got baptized they would get divorced.....so maybe pray for her husband too? I don't know his name but a miraculous change of heart would be awesome. 

merry CHRISTmas!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!
i love yall!

hermana hull

P.S. - Christmas plans! 

 most hispanics actually celebrate christmas the 24 so we will be having a big christmas dinner with the cabezas (same family from thanksgiving) and caroling, and lunch with a diffferent family, and making cookies with a single lady and going to deliver them..christmas breakfast with the zone etc! AND SKYPING YALL!! That'lll be the best part fo shawty (as clark would say) 

saw hermana heckel at a new missionary training and it was the happiest day of my life!

oh! wilson got to go through the temple again!! such a happy experience!

the rap video itself (turns out it was 3 mins..) is too large of a file to send, but here are a few screenshots!!

 white girl beatboxing... I tried. 

DJ LARRY!