THE BERG #14

14 MONTHS!

hey yall! so if by some crazy accident i havent told yall just how absolutely amazing it is to be a missionary...ill tell you again..BEING A MISSIONARY IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! the joy i feel everyday out here is ridiculous...my cheeks hurt allllll the time becuase i cant slap this silly smile off my face!!! teaching and testifying of my Lord's precious truths is a joy like no other!!!! let me tell you about some unforgettable moments this week!!!

*brother lewis. ok this guy is the coolest! so we went to visit a different investigator--but she wasnt home..so we decided to try a referral nearby. when we walked inside he GOES OFF (*for about twenty minutes, mind you) about how his mom is a pastor and he is the co-pastor and that he doesnt want to hear anything new becuase if he hasnt heard of it in his 52 years of living as a christian he's not interested.."i dont wanna hear about no new book. no new stories. because ive heard it all. no maam. nothin more etc etc etc" just standing there listening to this man close his heart--broke mine. so i asked if we could say a prayer with him. he was a little caught off guard but stood up and agreed. we all held hands in a circle as i offered the prayer. the spirit zooooomed into the room and obviously started softening brother lewis's heart because as i prayed he would agree and say a fervent "YES" to different blessings i asked humbly for.. at the end of the prayer i asked if we could share some truths that would add to his strong testimony and love for our Savior..he complied and so we began to teach.....simply, but BOLDLY. his eyes moved back and forth from sister lenhart's to mine and he ate up every word we said...at the end of the lesson he said "i know earlier i mentioned that i didnt want to hear anything new.....but i can tell that this book (the book of mormon) hold great wisdom that can strengthen me. i have no problem reading it..in fact, i want to. and you two should come back. i want to hear more. you know how you can just see Jesus in some people?? i can see him in yall...man! i like yalls spirits!!" HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?!?!?!?! it was a powerful experience to watch a mans heart go from solid rock to silly putty right in front of my eyes!!! dont doubt that people around you that seem closed off and unprepared to receive the gospel cant be changed by the simply but powerful truths and the spirit they bring!!! 

other cool things...

*got to leave the mission to visit an investigator in a mental hospital....best part is when we showed up to teach her she informed us that she would be discharged that nigiht!! definitely an answer to prayer :) we can now continue teaching her more frequently and she can come to church!! 

*1st road kill in my life...i hit a bunny and may or may not have shed a tear or two...it was traumatic!!! but these country roads we drive......are nuts. 

*one of our investigators cousins is visiting from the south side of chicago...his name is arthur and homeboy is straight outta the h o o d. like really. but i had a moment when i realized i have totally turned into an awkward missionary when i went to shake his hand goodbye and he pulled my in for a hug and i just F R O Z E. literally in shock! hahaha oh man..it was soooo uncomfortable for everyone! 

*gave a talk in church on reverence...it was cool because i read about how just like commanders in the army--first priority is to block enemy lines..cut off their communication..and satan uses the same tactic. he tries to distract us and make us irreverent which jams our communication line with our Heavenly Father. as i sat in sacrament i tried to focus on that priniciple and make sure my line with God was clear...im a visual person i think so i pictures my drawers--when i was young;)--jammed with tooo many clothes and then as i would eliminate a distraction or irreverence i would picture removing a sock or a shirt out of the jammed drawer until it finally opened....(i dont know if im explaining myself well..but i get it!!) doing this little mental experiment led to tremendous results! i got SOOOO much out of sacrament meeting--definitely had a revelatory experience that edified and uplifted me :) i invite yall to do the same!!

well i could go on forever..but i think ill end here and get yall some pics ;)

truly love you all!!

paz y bendiciones :)

hna hull

love love L O V E sister len<3

ARTHUR! aka south chicago...he just doesnt quite understand the "hands-off" thing...he'll get it soon...or else ;)

THE BERG #13

holy cotton. its a thing down here....

SO...like i mentioned last week...sister lenhart and i are still in rosenberg..didnt get transfered..but some crrraazzzyyy stuff went down!! sister lenhart got made an STL too..so we are team STLs..im supposed to train her how to be one as we go ;) AND we got another set of missionaries in the area aka our area got split!! bittersweet initially...but now im LOVIN IT!! i was sad at first because the part that got cut out of our area had the majority of our progressing investigators...BUT we found some new ones and are super stoked for the opportunity to work with the other sisters to just EXPLODE this area!!! we really feel like Heavenly Father has been preparing these people for a while and NOW THIS PLACE IS A GOLD MIND!!! ex 1 we went to try a less active member's house **knock knock** not home...so we try their neighbor **knock knock** answered!!! had a nice two minute lesson, said a prayer with her, but then found out she was moving (still within our area though ha ha..YES) and then asked her who else she knows that would be interested in a message of jesus christ and she tells us about her next door neighbor...**knock knock** "message of jesus christ? come on in.." 15 minutes later she is committed to read in the book of mormon and pray about getting baptized. ex 2 walking out of walmart today and i see a lady struggling with two young sons to get them out of the car so i offer her our cart..she is super grateful and wayyy nice so we tell her we are missionaries and offer service and share messages that bless families etc etc turns out she just moved here and hasnt found a church yet...gave us her number and everything and asked us to call her asap!!! WHO ARE THESE GEMS?!?!?! it really is such a blessing because when i first realized how they cut the area i was like fiddlesticks. we are starting at square 2 (not square 1 because we had some people...but still) but then Heavenly Father was like no worries! if you are obedient, i got your back!!!! HE IS THE BEST!!!

 highlight of the week though was ARIANA's baptism!!!! she is the sweetest, most spiritual little girl i have EVER met! the baptism itself went really well (got to play my uke ;)) and there was an amazing amount of ward support and her non-member mom came, etc etc but i must say...the most memorable part for me was before the baptism......

 so the baptism was supposed to take place after church..so halfway through 2nd hour we go and turn the font on...right before sacramment (we have it last in this ward) we go check it again and decide it needs a little more time....so when we go to turn it off right after we take the bread and water....the font is nearly over flowing!!! like if someone put their big toe in that font it wouldve overflowed!!!! so we start taking bucket after bucket of water and dump it into a nearby drain thing..mind you we are in this tiny, enclosed room with a steamy overflowing font AND we are lifting buckets of water like crazy ladies....needless to say about 15 minutes and 5000000+ buckets later two sweaty sister missionaries made it back to hear the end of sacrament meeting hahaha it was AWESOME!!!! i guess you could say we really take the saying "whatever it takes to get 'em baptized" to heart haha 

well i hope yall have the best week!! yall are awesome!! 
 paz y bendiciones!
los quiero muchisisimo!

hna hul

all my "daughters" are beauties!!! #traineees

ariana's baptism<3

the other sisters!! how fun is it that hna whitehead is back serving with me?!?!?!?! they got to stay at our house from wed-today in our one room one bath apartment ;) SLEEPOVER EVERYNIGHT!!! 

l

THE BERG #12

SISTER LENHART AND I GET TO STAY IN THE BERG TOGETHER FOR ANOTHER TRANSFER WHOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! we are BEYOND stoked to be together again!! people--including ourselves--are absolutely SHOCKED to find out that less than two months ago we didnt even know the other existed.....we are convinced that we go wayyyyy back pre-mortally ;) 

this week i gave a training in zone meeting about planning...i stole a quote from Dallin H. Oaks that goes like this, “None of us should be like the fisherman who thinks he has been fishing all day when in reality he has spent most of his time getting to and from the water, eating lunch, and fussing with his equipment. Fishing success is related to how long you have your line in the water, not to how long you are away from the apartment. Some fishermen are away from home for twelve hours and have their line in the water for ten hours. Other fishermen are away from home for twelve hours and have their line in the water for only two hours. This last type may wonder why they do not have the same success as others. “The same principle applies to missionaries, whom the Master called ‘fishers of men.’ A missionary’s line should drop into the fishing water the moment he or she leaves the apartment” (Dallin H. Oaks, seminar for new mission presidents, June 20, 2000)." i loooove this quote because it is soooo true when it comes to missionary work...the planning and preparation we do allows us to be FISHERS OF MEN the second we step foot out the door...our line is in and we are ready to preach the gospel...without that plan/prep we find ourselves "fussing with [our] equipment" rather than fishing..and i would argue that the same principle applies to everything we want to accomplish in life! i remember back in dance..we would spend the first 45mins of the hour stretching and warming up and i used to get so frustrated and think it was such a waste...but with that preparation we were better able to perform the steps given to us because our bodies were warmed up and ready to go! 

my mind is literally blown on the daily by how much the mission is preparing me for the rest of my life....there are things i learn EVERYDAY that i strongly believe would be impossible for me to learn anywhere else!!! 

sorry to hop on a soap-box for a second there ;) but to make up for it ill send yall some pics!!

LOVE YALL MUCHO!
hna hull

what the jess?! reunited with fambam last pday! jess drove up and took us to this sweet vietnamese sandwich place?! LOVE HER 

friendly reminder ;) super fun exchange in missouri city with hna carling!!! 

what can i say--im a trend setter ;) #thesewatchesarethebomb!

potbelly pig babayyy!!!!

movie night with mandi!! she loooved the restoration video (actually on netflix) and we looooove her!

more family reuniones!!! these troopers drove down and surprised me after church on sunday! brought me chocolate, a cake, and a bag from guatemala....and its not even my birthday!!!!!!!!!! i LOVE my h1 family <3

THE BERG #11

howdy howdy!! 

just another LOVELY week in the berg! we had the honor of taking shirley to THE TEMPLE FOR BAPTISMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she found a name on tuesday, had her interview wednesday night, and we drove to the temple thursday morning!! shirley had the opportunity to be baptized for her grandma :) and she LOVED IT!! she told us she cant wait to find more names to come back soon AND SHE WANTS TO WORK IN THE TEMPLE ONE DAY!! im tellin you guys...shirley is THE BEST MEMBER EVER!!!!! it was an amazing experience to be with her for that special day :) PLUS we got to do some baptisms as well!! i actually found two family names and then was baptized and confirmed for 5 more! it felt AMAZING to do the work for them....BUT ALSO to be immersed head to toe in water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and this might be kinda weird to mention..but the guy that baptized us had tattoos on his arms...and to me it was the coolest thing ever...not because he had some sweet designs or anything..but because it was another testimony confirm-er that the atonement IS SO REAL!!! here is a man who had a super rough passed..made some mistakes...but he has been washed and made pure--cleansed by the atoning blood of our Savior--and his sins are forgotten :) and now he is bringing salvation to hundreds of souls!!!! the church is just sooooo true it hurts sometimes!

also....our members are AWESOME!! went over for dinner at the GRANT's house and had heard a rumor that bro grant played guitar...so we requested dinner and a show ;) holy herrah guys...this man can PLAY!!!!!! it was soooooo tight watching him in his element!!! i am so thankful for people who are not afraid to share the gifts God has given them to others...it made us sooo happy to hear him play! it encouraged me to continue to develop my talents and not be shy about them ;) 

ALSO...we decided to try some former investigators this week...and struck gold with a man from nigeria named brother walter! he had been investigating the church about five years ago but for whatever reason, his investigations were discontinued..UNTIL NOW!!! not only was it awesome to teach him the gospel and feel his receptive spirit...,BUT HE ALSO TAUGHT US SOME NIGERIAN!!!!!!! and he gave me a nigerian name....you may now refer to me as "Osassey" which means "God is the mightiest/biggest/greatest/all powerful/etc"!!!! i LOVE IT! i felt spoiled that Heavenly Father was blessing me with two things i love when it comes to brother walter....1. someone that eats up the gospel and loves every minute of the discussion and 2. someone that can teach me more language/culture! ITS THE BOMB!!! bro walter is actually a minister of a different church of about 1000+ members...but sister lenhart and i have AMMON-esque plans for them...baptism bro walter-he'll teach his congregation-baptism of thousands ;) yes, we need your prayers to pull this off!! 

i really do appreciate the prayers that yall are already saying for missionaries everywhere! i know for a FACT yalls prayers are what keep us going ;) 

love yall to the mooooooooooooon!! (speaking of which..we got to look at the harvest moon through a telescope at our investigators house...THE COOLEST!!)

PAZ Y BENDICIONES

hermana hull

got our hair done by this little cutie!!! LOVE HER AND HER BROTHERS! 

temple time with shirley!!

cake-pops with mandi!! 

went toad-catching with mandi's boys!!! they found a gazillion..and then released them back all at once! it literally looked like moses and the plagues! haha

THE BERG #10

hello lovelies!! probably one of the best weeks of my life!! 

SHIRLEY JACKSON SCOTT GOT BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the baptism was GLORIOUS!!!! when we saw her the day before, she told us she felt really nervous but "im okay with that..im ready.." 

then saturday evening when she made it to the church she said "im not nervous anymore..im excited..im ready!! i know im ready!" after she was baptized she stood in the water for a second with her hands clasped on her forehead with the HUGEST smile on her face!!! when she came out and gave us hugs (soaking wet but didnt mind one bit) she just kept saying over and over "i feel good..like wow..i really feel good! im clean. im happy. i feel sooo good!" shirley was literally glowing :) sister lenhart and i were then able to sing a song to guitar accompaniment provided by sister lenhart. shirley asked us to sing "I am a child of God." her eyes weld up with tears as we sang the words that are soooo familiar to us, but new treasures for shirley. it took me back a little bit to realize how profound the words to that song really are...how much ive taken for granted the knowledge that "i am a child of God.." and all that really entails <3 

i am looking forward to going to the temple THIS WEEK with shirley to be baptized for her ancestors. she mentioned after her baptism that when she was in the water her dad (who passed a couple years ago) came to her and she got an overwhelming feeling that she NEEDS to do baptisms for him and his family! i can only imagine the spirit that will be felt when we take her family names to the temple!! I CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

as if that wasnt enough...we had two investigators come to the baptism. one of which was stacy! we asked her how she felt about shirley"s baptism and she said "it was awesome!! everything was so nicely done and you just felt good the whole time ya know? and when shirley was in the water?! whooowie! i mean wow...thats a good feeling. im sooo excited for my baptism!" stacy now has a renewed desire to be baptized and will be working her hardest--along with a ton of support--to quit smoking and drinking coffee so she can be baptized on the 19th of september!!! 

second was mandi. although her sister is a member--she had never attended a baptismal service before. she commented as well on the peace and calm that she felt throughout the entire service and she commented to sister lenhart that she wanted to "know more about how it all works...the whole baptism thing"!!! 

we truly are being sooo blessed right now in our area and we KNOW it is because of our exact obedience and diligence. we are kickin our tails to do EVERYTHING the Lord asks of us so that we can be those instruments in His hands...the two main scriptures we keep in mind as motivation are  3 nephi 5:13 "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

along with 2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:"

we are all disciples of Jesus Christ! dont forget the promises you made when you were baptized! and if you arent keeping those promises right now..good news guys..YOU CAN REPENT!!!!!! do it, i dare ya!

have the best week sharing the gospel!! i know i will ;)

love yall!!

hermana hull

had the saweeet opportunity to go to the gator park at brazos bend!!!! it was the scariest/coolest thing EVER!!! we saw a total of 16 alligators and a bazillion banana spiders ;) the biggest gator we saw was 8-10 feet!!!!

check out my bishop's suit?? #straightclass

THE BERG #9

hello again everyone!! how we doin?! 

i have some SUPER exciting news for yall!!!! but let me tell the story....

so remember shirley? the absolute GOLDEN investigator??? i believe i mentioned she didnt come to church last week and crushed our little hearts....but we were excited about her interview with President Calvert (mission presidency) on tuesday. we werent able to make contact with her on monday--which worried us a little, but we felt confident she would show for her interview............she didnt. she doesnt have a phone currently so the only way to contact her is at her house. so we knocked on her door all day long, asked neighbors..even tried a referral she gave us and asked them if they knew where she was...asked our other investigator who lived in an entirely different complex if she happened to know shirley... it was a long shot but we asked her anyway...turns out ella (the other investigator..im fixin to tell yall about her in a sec ;) DOES know shirley...in fact her son married shirley's sister!!! but after multiple attempts to get ahold of son and sister we still came up empty handed....it was lame breaking the news to president calvert--who had driven down from houston--that the interview wouldnt be happening that night...wednesday passes..thursday...friday...no contact...until FINALLY saturday night (after praying like crazy in the temple all day--oh! i have to talk about the temple too!) we found shirley and stacy (other investigator) sitting outside chattin!! shirley explained to us that her mom and sister had surprised her and she was with them for the week..but that she had been reading and studying and was planning on coming to church the next day.. sunday morning rolls around and sure enough! shirley came and announced her baptism to everyone in relief society and so we gave bishop the go to announce it in sacrament meeting as well! after church she got a priesthood blessing to help her be strong against the temptation to smoke and she passed her interview with president calvert!! (bless his heart for making the drive again!) so SHIRLEY WILL BE GETTING BAPTIZED SATURDAY AT 7PM!!!!!!!!!!!!! we are soooooo soooooo beyond thrilled for her!!! calling her golden doesnt do her justice anymore...this lady's straight PLATINUM!! 

ok so ella...she was a referral from the spanish sisters in the area. so we found her sitting out front, rockin on her porch smoking..the first thing she says to us when we explain we are her missionaries is "i want to stop smoking and gain more faith" i laughed a little and told her "well, you are talking to the right people ;)" after a teary first lesson (her..not us) we invited her to be baptized-which invitation she gladly accepted--and closed with a powerful prayer. at the end of the prayer i felt inspired to ask her if she had the faith sufficient to believe that God could help her stop smoking today...she said yes. so i took her pack of cigarettes and she committed to herself that she would never smoke again!!!!! IT WAS AWESOME! we've seen her a couple times since then and she is still going strong ;) 

ok temple...so i had the blessed opportunity to go to the temple for Rosario (from h1) to recieve her endowments!!! i was shocked and honored when she asked me to be her escort!!!!! i was a tiny bit nervous because i hadnt done a spanish session in a while and would need to do all the translating and what not beforehand..but the second we were in the temple all worries high-tailed it!! it was an INDESCRIBABLE JOY that filled me up the whole time being in the temple with Rosario (along with many others from my h1 family!!!) it truly felt celestial <3 the temple is the goal guys...get there as often as possible!! somewhere i NEVER regret going!! 

well, the church is true guys! promise! 

love yall mucho!

hermana hull 

mini-missionary again!! sister keenan is a DIME! 

bikes and exchanges! 

JUMBO MANGO!

little investigator ariana=angelita <3

TEMPLE TRIP FOR ROSARIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 13 MONTHS!!!

THE BERG #8

hey yall im fixin ta tell ya about my week! (legit. "fixin ta" do whatever is a legit thing out here. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!)

so this week we had another opportunity to house a mini-missionary. sister martin is from sugarland (about twenty minutes away), is 17 years old, and is THE CUTEST! it was an absolute BLAST having her roll around rosenberg with sister lenhart and i for about four days...i wish she could’ve stayed forever!!! 

but while she was here we had the opportunity to visit with shirley...the golden child...shirley really is inspiring! she trusts the Lord sooooo much and is ridiculously humble and just eats up everything we teach her...we met her a week ago and she is already reading in 1 nephi 13 and is living all the commandments!! WHICH IS AMAZING becuase she has been smoking for about 20 or so years and as soon as we taught her that smoking was against God's commandments and testified that God would help her quit if she prayed and read and depended on him etc she stopped the next day and has been going strong for about 6 days!! she told us the temptation has left her and she no longer feels the need to light up!!! it reminded me of the people that listened to king benjamin in the Book of Mormon...after being taught correct principles and having the spirit testify to their hearts that what he taught was true, they no longer wanted to sin..."Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” (Mosiah 5:2) we are soo sooooo excited for shirley and her upcoming baptism!! pray that she stays golden ;) 

hmmm what else...oh!! so sister lenhart and i were setting goals as a companionship and we decided we need to take care of ourselves better physically so that we can feel the spirit more..we arent eating mcdonalds and shakes everyday--dont worry--but still....so naturally we decided we had to go out with a BANG!!! so we made the trek out to needville to eat at a member-owned restaurant called Jay Cafe....we went HAM!!! we got the juicy jay burger (huge burger stuffed with cheese), quality texas fried chicken, homemade mac n cheese, rolls, fried okra, two pie slices, and the triple chocolate cake!!!!! IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! but like the people of king benjamin..it wrought a mighty change in us..."Yea, we ATE ALL THE FOOD which thou hast GIVEN unto us; and also, we know of their GREASE and FAT, because of the LACK OF THE Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our STOMACHS, that we have no more disposition to  EAT LIKE PIGS, but to EAT HEALTHY continually." so eat healthy we shall ;) #1nephi19:23likenthesciptures
well, i love yall muchisisisimo!!! and hope your week is blessed!!
hermana hull

here are some pics ;)

 hay huggin

Look at this dog's eyes!  

mini-missionary sister martin xoxo