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 ;)

what just happened?

honestly i think the theme for the week is best summed up in the phrase "wait..what just happened?" mind if i give some examples?

-lady invited us into her house, taught her a quick lesson, said a prayer..normal right? wait..she was definitely in a bathrobe, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

-went over a training video on family history work online and decided to turn to the guy sitting at the computer next to us to try it out..asked him about christmas traditions..ended up talking about his mom and how much she loves christmas and it was her favorite holiday etc etc and then he goes "but its not like that anymore...shes dead.." "oh my gosh im so sorry!" "its alright that was 20 years ago" (and then this is when i made a mistake...) "how did she pass away?" "look her up on the internet..she is all over..heard of the infamous butcher massacre of 199something? thats her. she got butched up" ope! there it is! my bad! probably never going to ask anyone about christmas traditions ever again. WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

-decided to knock on a member's neighbor's door while we were waiting, introduced himself as Tupac (a rapper) and was super intense initially..but once we got talking asked "were yall casted for this? cuz yall are perfect!" then later in the convo "okay..what yall selling? cuz whatever it is-ILL BUY IT!!" ended up watching the HE IS THE GIFT video with him (if you havent seen it go to christmas.mormon.org) and giving him a Book of Mormon which he accepted happily! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

-a lady i randomly talked to at subway one time because hermana heckel needed to use the bathroom ended up coming to church because turns out one of her good friends is a member! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

-went to go pick up a new investigator for church, his great grandma answered the door...said "Mario" didnt live there..after describing him she realized she knew who he was and said he was asleep...i asked if she wouldnt mind knocking on his door and letting him know we were here to take him to church..(a little too bold? your call) but she did it! said he didnt want to get up...so i invited her to come to church! (little too bold? your call) and she said yes! so she went and brushed her gray hair and we inched our way to the car...no joke the whole process took about 10 minutes...and when we finally got her to the car...all of a sudden "Mario" comes sprinting around the corner full speed without shoes, shirtless yelling "GRANDMA!!! GRANDMA!! DONT GO! THEY'RE COMING SOON TO TAKE US TO THE RANCH!!" (what?) to which she responds "WHAT? SEE? I CANT EVER DO ANYTHING I WANT! WHY DID YOU TELL THEM YOUR NAME WAS MARIO! YOUR NAME IS FRANSISCO!(then she turns to me) sorry mami, maybe next week." WHAT JUST HAPPENED

-LAST BUT NOT LEAST!!!

a recent convert named kimberly called us up an hour before the scheduled temple trip for the youth and told us she found a family name (as missionaries we are only allowed to go if a recent convert has a family name to take to the temple) so we were STOKED!!! so we ran to the bus stop, grabbed a bus, ran the two blocks to the chapel, jumped on a computer, made her an LDS account, put in all the info, print of the name, zooooooooooooomed to the temple, got the bishop, gave her an interview in the waiting room of the temple, AND DID SOME BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATIONS!!!!!!!!! she kept telling us how amazing it felt to be in the temple and that when she was baptized for her aunt she could feel her there with her...so precious!! it was so last minute and crazy to coordinate but we did it!! you best believe when we finally made it home and took a breath the first words that escaped our mouths??? you guessed it...WHAT JUST HAPPENDED??????

this work is wild sometimes, but i love it so much! sharing the gospel is ALWAYS  a good idea!! no matter how crazy it might seem. do it! you wont regret it. i promise! the church is so true! 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!! 

paz y bendiciones

hermana hull

 holler at your turkey legs!! yay for leftovers!!

 thank you Greg&Traci SMYTH cousins for the sweet christmas package!!!! IM LOVIN IT! 

 HOUSTON TEMPLE!!

 BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS!!! Our ward LOVES SMASHING CAKES IN FACES...im down..happy birthday Elder Ayala and Elder Jarvis!

martha stewart and moving vans

 "estoy agradecida para.." (translation: I am grateful for...) hand turkeys with the cabeza girls!! 

missions are the best pitchers....always throwin me a curveball!!! definitely never expected to help a little old  man from Louisiana and his 4'9 wife move out and into a new apartment complex for 6 hours on a casual saturday on my mission...always figured that was elders quorum stuff! haha it was a looooong and tiring process, but after everything got figured out and settled in their new place, i had the opportunity of blessing their home. never done that before!! again..thought that was more elders quorum/priesthoodly..but turns out you dont have to be a priesthood holder to bless a home! you could really feel the spirit enter into their home as the prayer was being said and i know ive never given a priesthood blessing before, but i felt like words were being put into my mouth...i didnt feel like I was blessing the home, but actually Heavenly Father was blessing the home...so tight!

thanksgiving was a blast!!! we were given two thanksgiving feasts and ample leftovers...the first house tried their best to make an american thanksgiving..definitely got the turkey part down..but the salsa and spicy salad was something new ;) but then we went over to the cabezas' house where hermana cabezas had made a thanksgiving feast martha stewart would have been proud of!! literally a work of art and tasted DEEELICIOUS!!

now that it is december..we going fulll force with the "HE is the GIFT" initiative..if you haven't heard of it go to: christmas.mormon.org and watch the little video! it is the absolute best! i think i've watched it seven times already but i cant even get enough!! this Christmas season we are encouraging all of our members, investigators, random people at the bus stop etc to accept the gift aka Jesus Christ and think of a gift they could give to Him! this is such an awesome time of year to really reflect on all of the amazing things we are blessed with! 

sorry this week is kinda short and lame but im running short on time! but don't worry, i love y'all just as much and miss ya more! have a blessed week!

paz y bendiciones,

hermana hull

ps ya'll thought teaching primary was hard? try teachin it in spanish ;) hahaha mission accomplished!!

 hermana and hermano cabezas and her martha stewart magazine turkey!! literally the most beautiful foul i have ever seen

 the whole feast........

 ya'll should go there...

oh! forgot to mention! with the whole moving fiasco we had to borrow the other hermana's car...my comp accidentally left the lights on while we were unloading so good ole wilson came to the rescue!! he is the absolute best!! we are so lucky to have such stellar members!! #spoiled

"ELDERES! ELDERES!!"

hola hola como estan??

so this week was a bit of a whirlwind, saying bye to hermana heckel-getting her all moved out, wiping the tears, etc-and then saying hello to hermana endicott!!! fresh outta the mtc and rockin it! hermana endicott is from utah and its shows haha she is in shock constantly by how different houston is  her desires to serve the lord and the people of this area are soooo strong! i love her and her efforts ;) my baby is a cutie haha 

miracle for the week: we were riding our bikes back to the apartment when all of a sudden this lady across the street jumps out of her car and yells "ELDERES! ELDERES!" i stop for a second..and let her know that no we arent elders, but yes we are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! she went on to tell us how she was baptized in honduras, but has been inactive for about 10 years...but that she would love us to stop by and have us give her the lessons again! so naturally we said of course! when we stopped by a few days later, we had an awesome lesson with her and her 16 year old daughter who, come to find out, isnt a member! they both committed to reading the book of mormon daily and praying to know if joseph smith was a prophet..

when we went back over yesterday, the apartment was filled with about 7 other people...so naturally we asked if they could all gather around for a lesson! one of the ladies wanted to prove us wrong any way she could...but we were able to bear powerful testimony and distinguish the flame before it got out of control..they all agreed to give the book of mormon a chance and we are planning on visiting them all again tonight! we have been praying for new people to teach so this was a HUGE answer to prayer!! i'd get called an elder any day of the week if it had the same ripple effect!!! 

this week ive had a huge reassurance of how aware our loving Heavenly Father is of us-our individual needs, concerns, fears, doubts, weaknesses. the idea of being a trainer freaked me out at first, but i know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are helping me out BIG TIME! i feel 100% confident that i can do this. its not going to be easy, but im having so much fun! 

my motto for the week i found in isaiah 26:4...read it ;) 

LOVE LOVE LOVE YALL
hermana hull

 elder andersen from sactown..homies from home are the besttttt

 we love our little baby jashly!

 sometimes you have a cool recent convert that can do graffiti #blessed

 sometimes you find out your recent convert family is moving back to mexico #sadday

hermana ramos is the absolute best! i love her so much 

HULLSMITH street for ME! 

 eddy is the man..straight homie

 abandoned school bus? solid find

 sometimes you have to smash your face in a cake to please the crowd ya know? (bye to hermana heckel consolation with cake face smashing...) 

 final goodbye with my mission mom! love that girl...

generation pic..(hermana heckel's trainer, her, then me)

 family pic (great-grandma, mom-hermana heckel, two daughters-me and her new trainee, and my baby-hermana endicott) 

diggin the boots

teaching my baby well ;) 

HAPPY!!!!

Manuel is getting baptized this sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we found out he hadn't been drinking recently and decided to ask him about baptism and what would be stopping him from taking that step..he said he wanted more knowledge of the church first...Emilia (his wife) told us to ask him the baptismal interview questions so we dropped everything and whipped out the questions. He knew and bore powerful testimony of every single point! at the end we invited him to be baptized this next sunday and he pauses for a second...then looks me straight in the eyes and says, "Si, Voy a hacerlo!!" (Yes, Im going to do it!) YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It took everything in my power not to tackle that man in a bear hug!!! i am so so SOOO happy for him and for his family and how its going to bless their lives and others lives for years to come!!!! AND THE BEST PART IS: Manuel (his son) is going to get the priesthood this sunday and be able to BAPTIZE HIS DAD!!!! the church is so true...its unreal..i love this..MIRACLES STILL HAPPEN!!

okay..so now that im not exploding with that amazing news...remember Irvin? the less active that wants to be president of the united states?? so we go to meet with him at the bench like we always do..and he takes out his backpack..and proceeds to whip out a bi-lingual bible (nice), the Book of Mormon we gave him (sweet), and then....an 800 page autobiography of Abraham Lincoln...you could tell which one he read the most ;) but it doesnt stop there! he then asks us to interpret his dream...i politely told him that Heavenly Father doesnt always communicate to us through dreams, although we talked about Lehi's dream for a while, which he liked. he DID come to church this sunday and absolutely LOVED the testimony meeting and is committed to bear his testimony next month! vamos a ver! 

oh..i learned how to crochet. and the lady teaching me (who we were going to extend a baptismal date to) doesn't seem very interested in the gospel right now, but we'll see! you never know! 

read helaman 16 about Samuel the Lamanite!!! God isn't asking US to go stand on a wall and call people to repentance..he just wants us to live what we know and share it when we can...and he will protect us!! 

hope yall had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!! love you all bunches!

paz y bendiciones, 

hermana hull

 learning to crochet! 

 trunk or treatin'.. my bishop was a bumblebee!

 HAPPY HALLOWEENIN BEFORE DISTRICT MEETING!!

 more happy halloweening..

 the zone.............

the weekly

this week was a little more low-key but a solid one nonetheless!

so a lot of the Hispanics call me "flaqita" (skinny girl) and have the insane goal of making me fat...cool thanks...

my hermana's tire popped and it was a pain and a half to try and fix!! granted i've never ever changed a bike tire before..but this was a real struggle! she had one of those self-sealant tires that ended up sealing the tube to the rim and the tread to the rim and itself so we had to cut the tube, use a wrench, scissors, a knife, etc to try and get this thing off! we finally gave in and called the elders to help us out...i shouldn't admit it, but i was happy to see them struggle and try all the things we had already done before they (out of luck..and we loosened it) got the tire off the rim!! they were sweet though and helped us get the new tires pumped and back on the bike in riding condition!! or so we thought...we left it overnight at a members house and found it flat again the next day with a slow leak problem...we walked m i l e s....but its okay because i happened to be working on patience and humility this week!!! i just kept in mind that i would be blessed if i bear my burdens well and that a flat tire isn't that big of a deal because i have legs for a reason! use 'em!

the member we visited is our favorite ever..hermana cabezas!! definitely talked about her before...but here i go again! she is incredible!!! SO STRONG in the gospel and her purpose and everything..she inspires me! she doesn't change who she is to "fit in"--instead she is so magnificent that people "make room"...definitely a quality i hope to have one day!! they say missions are the refiners fire right? bring it..i can handle the heat haha

cool food for the week: definitely got fed alfalfa...Marcia claimed it was a traditional dish from Angola...haha check that off the bucket list!

also, as a companionship we focused on obedience this week...i love the quote "selective obedience brings selective blessings"

fun story: so we were sitting waiting wishing at a bus stop when out of nowhere this tiny hovercraft thing buzzes passed my head WHAT?! so i turn around to see where it could have come from and am pleasantly surprised to see a guy with a remote control..YES!!! when we asked him about it he just grinned and said "CIA stuff..you aren't supposed to know" whatever that means..and proceeded to take an xbox remote controller out of his pocket (where does this guy buy his pants? they are so practical) and another hovercraft thing!!! it was just a YES THIS PLACE IS UNREAL moment <3

oh! and Emilia and Manuel told us that they know of an LDS Chapel half a mile from their house in Mexico! so when there visas expire in a couple months they can continue going there!! they also said that we can go to church with them there when we come visit...i didn't realize i had made those travel plans with them..but my answer is yes ;)

had a super spiritual lesson with our dear Jessica! she has been a member over a year now and so we talked about temples. she is the sweetest and has such a strong desire to go to the temple! talking about it made me think of when i got to go through for the first time......there are no words to describe it!!! so special! how blessed are we to have such a holy place here on the earth? God has given us a sanctuary where we can enter with our problems and burdens....and then leave feeling light and at peace!!! I CANNOT WAIT to have the special opportunity to go to the Houston Temple next week!!! don't take for granted having a temple near home...its the most beautiful gift God has given us...your temple recommend is like an invite to go to our Heavenly Fathers h o u s e...how are you going to RSVP???

well i love you all more than latinos love making gringas like me fat!!

paz y bendiciones,

hermana hull

 bike struggles

 fun photo we got from Jessica! 

 hermana heckel got SHARI'S BERRIES AND SHARED!!!! thats called comp unity

 this is marcia from Angola, Africa!! love her!

 and i seriously LOVE THIS CHILD<3 sorry about it..but im actually not because he is such a dime

 

sometimes as missionaries you watch the district at night and pretend you are having a slumber  party...ice cream and all! its the little things ;)

 also WE ARE SO BLESSED!!! IT WAS CHRISTMAS TODAY! PACKAGES ARE THE BEST THINGS EVER!