I'M OFFICIAL - But Only Until Thursday

WHEN I UP, DOWN TOUCH THE GROUND

July 27, 2009

WHEN I UP, DOWN, TOUCH THE GROUND PUTS ME IN THE MOOD

Ok subject line=line from winnie the pooh's song for those you that were cool enough to see those cartoons. It continues and says "up down touch the ground in the mood....[smacks lips twice] for food."
It's delightful. In case you were wondering, that's what I do for exercises in the morning. Up-downs :) (and that will only be funny for Hulet progeny and parents, so sorry you missed that one).

Actually, we do exercising at the nearby church gym, the field or running up and down the hall or around the parking garage. It's...kind of the same thing everyday. Which, now that I mention it, is a lot like the work here. I generally have a hard time thinking of what to type because I meet such different people each and every day and it all sort of blends into one continuous time period. Hmmm but let me think...oh! I know!
I told you all about the native american cursing man and I heard, although possibly just a rumor, that he comes every single day to the square and stares at the temple. He does so, because something happened to his wife and child a while ago and he believes that they're being held hostage in the temple. Oh yes. For those of you out there, his wife and child are in no way being held hostage there. poor man.
What else can I tell you? I met a woman from Italy who walked in and said "I want to know more about this religion". Golden!
Actually there was also a woman from Sweden who did that. It was amazing! So hopefully they'll have missionaries that will visit them and tell them all they want to know. It's truly truly amazing to me the people that come with a sincere desire to know more about the church. Of course we have had our share of the people against the church that show up. It makes it interesting because they all ask the same questions, use the same arguments, and still don't listen to the answer. The frustrating part is that they're blinding themselves to something that could be really great for them if they'd only try and see the truth in it rather than immediately come to SLC wanting only to prove us wrong. A lot of them come up as church camps.
I think I had another good member story but...nothing comes to mind and heaven forbid I should repeat a story (that's for you becky).
hmmmm....it has been a really good week, I just don't know why. I did get to present a tour to a large motorcoach for the first time this past week. It was English and at the end we gave everyone a guest card to fill out and said "We'll give you some time to fill out the guest card and then give you this pamphlet". Response? Blank stares. I had no idea what it was that didn't make sense to them. Try again: "You're welcome to fill out the cards with any comments or request any information if you'd like...." Blank stares and no movement. "You're all welcome to leave" ta da! that worked to get everyone moving but no one filled out the card except lovely lady #47 who told us she couldn't hear most of the time and our words ran together and she missed the history but it was otherwise enlightening. That's ok though. I can take it :)
Hmmm....I would like to say that I made my comp Sis Kwok some Muddy Buddies and guess who didn't like them? So I don't bother cooking for her. We'd rather cook together and eat sushi. So great! It's my favorite now.
Ok down to the real business. So last transfer ended and I recognized on my part that I wasn't doing the best that I could. I felt it was ok to go with a "Hi, how are you?" and let people go with a smile, but I have a new determination to teach these people. I know and you know that they come here for a reason, but they don't know that. So we gently ease ourselves into their little hearts with a joke and start teaching them. I've seen as I've prayed for greater faith and greater boldness that it's been easier to get to know the person and identify what it is they are looking for in life and then apply it to something in the gospel of Jesus Christ, something in the bible, some part of the church that relates to them to spark some interest in the church. It's been amazing. And I've decided that it doesn't matter who the member is, I'm going to give them that opportunity to share the gospel, albeit indirectly, through myself and Sis Kwok.
I've also been reading more of Jesus the Christ and a friend (who recently came back from his mission) had told me (while on his mission) that it just changed the whole way he thought about Christ. It's so true though. As I've read, I've gained a better appreciation for who Christ was and how He got to be that way. It's made me think more about how I need to be more patient with myself as I improve little by little and how as long as I do my best with what I have now, it's good enough.
So keep working hard with what you have, keep praying for me, and keep finding opportunities to lift up and serve one another.
This week I saw Kurt and Helena (now married!!) and Amy and Colby Peck. That was cool.
That's all. Sorry it's soo scattered-brained. I'll be prepared next week (maybe...).

Love, Sister Hulet

PS!! PS!! I saw (two days in a row!!) this lady walking AND breast-feeding a baby at the same time! So more advice: Don't do that!

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Another Chance Meeting on Temple Square

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My Name is Enrico Pellini....

July 20, 2009

So exciting news for today is that it was.......dun dun dun dun! Transfer day! And guess who....wasn't transferred? No sir. I am still with Sister Kwok (whom, as some people have found out, is affectionately called "Kwoky" or "Kwokidile"). She's the new district leader of south zone. Yay! So more responsibility for her and I get a pager and get to tag along for the fun. But no more newbie status.

So I had a really good week! Extremely exhausting at times (in that we were often really late getting home and getting dinner) but the sacrifice was worth it as our tours were received well and we seemed to have better contacts with people around the square.

I feel like there was a funny story during the week but I can't think of anything. Some good stories though are that we talked with a wonderful member who was from England who had joined the church while her husband was off in....somewhere middle eastern. But the cool thing was that she had first learned the gospel when she was 16 and her sister was 14 or so and their mother had decided not to receive the missionaries in her home anymore. But the two girls had been interested at the time. Then maybe 20 or so years later she (Jacquelyn) was married and her husband was off you know where (actually none of us do because I can't remember) and the missionaries stopped by. Jacquelyn wrote to her husband each time the missionaries visited to make sure he knew what they were saying and what was going on at home.

After a while, she wanted to be baptized but, at that time, needed to have her husband sign a card allowing her to be baptized (we don't want to break families up over religion...) but that was the first letter he received. He was curious and asked around the military base about the "Mormon" church but no one knew. He finally talked with an archbishop from the town who asked "Do you trust your wife? Does she love your children?" Both answers were yes and the archbishop said "Well, if feels right then it's right. Your wife wouldn't do anything to hurt you or your family." and she was baptized and her husband and sister and mother joined the church. It was amazing! She was amazing!! It just made me so happy!

There were some people from Belgium here yesterday that we were able to talk with (haha, of course I tried out my dutch; it was what they spoke) and the two different groups were really attentive and interested in what the church was all about. So Kwok and I had the opportunity to teach them a little about the church. It was great! I can't really think of the other cool stories we had.

There is a regular comer-to-temple-square that likes to tell jokes to all the sisters to "brighten your day as you brighten mine". I got to share the cinderblock joke and he deemed it worthy of learning and sharing with others :) So he likes to exchange jokes everytime I see him. He's nice. I feel like I already told you about him though.

Oh to answer some questions, church here is held on sunday early in the morning for us sister missionaries. That way we can all be on the square by 9 am.

Also, I didn't SEE them but I heard about some protestors...something something rainbow umbrella. My informant named them as kiss-ins. Sorry to have missed that haha.

Also, has anyone heard of Tyler Wilkinson? We were privileged to have a mission movie night where we watched his documentary and now, on occasion, you'll hear sisters say "for tyler!" as they: run up a large hill back from gym time; rush off to be on the square in spite of their lack of energy; shove someone down the stairs...oh! no. not really.

What else is new??

Oh! I know! here's some free publicity for a guy named Ren. We met him yesterday. He was in town recording an album for his band Ren Street. He told me to check it out and send him an email after my mission. He said its funk, pop, something something something...basically groove. Yeah, so check it out?
Oh! i have another great (as in not great) member story. It goes like this:

Kwok: Hi! how joo doing?
Person: Fine.
Kwok: Is this your first time here?
Person: No, no. I've been here many times.
Kwok: Oh! Do you live nearby.
Person (oh wait! he's a member....): I'm a stake president in Idaho.

conversation killer and he moves on as Kwok and I stand there unable to say anything. Thus, we move on.
But, we have met some wonderful members, don't get me wrong. I just think these stories are funny. And it's like the "What NOT to do...."

I'm just rambling now, but I have learned some cantonese: how to say "Hi I'm Sister Hulet. I am from America" and "I don't speak cantonese" (chuckles...). Excellent.

what has been cool is I've been able to identify more and more things about the church that has truly made my life better and happier. It makes it easier to tell people about why I am on a mission and why I want people to know about the church. How it's helped me be a better person as I interact with both family and friends. How it increased the unity of my family as we read scriptures together, prayed together, and spent time with each other; keeping in mind that we would always be together if we lived as Heavenly Father would have us live and thus strengthening that relationship knowing we would be putting up with everyone for eternity. Better to let go of the little things now before they become eternal grudges. And the fact that I know there is always someone to turn to when I need help and when I realize that I can't do anything by myself I can receive the help from Christ to make up the difference for my weaknesses.

That reminds me of one last experience (I can't believe you read these emails....). We met a group of two couples. One man was Jewish, his wife was Christian but not practicing in any religion. The man had good friends who were members and felt that "If every person in the world were members of the LDS church, it would be a better and more peaceful place." He had originally come from an Eastern European country that had been under communist rule for a while. He had managed to escape, ended up in Portugal and then California; mastered portuguese and spanish and english. He even, during the course of our conversation, said that he would convert to the church if he was able to give up coffee.

He was crying towards the end because i don't think any of us like to admit to weakness. I left him with Ether 12:27. It made me sad because he knew it was true, he just didn't have the hope and the faith to work through his weakness. He was great to talk with though and truly amazing.

that's that. I better go. sorry it was a long one this week. I'll work on more abridged versions in the future.

Love, sister hulet

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OF COURSE WE TALK, DON'T EVERYBODY?

July 13, 2009

Whew. ok, I have to type double time. I have ten minutes to write this and, as always, so much to say.

Ok so we're coming up on the end of the transfer (but still, as far as you know, I've been here "under a year"). It's been quick and yet not so quick. It's funny trying to imagine what another year and 3 months of this will be like. I'm excited though.
Every night it's hard to remember exactly what I did that day. It's even harder to imagine the days before. We meet SOOO many people. So, highlights....hmm. First of all, we went to Welfare Square for P-day today and it was really cool how much work the church does for people that are less-advantaged and for humanitarian purposes. If you ever get the chance to go, do it.

I'm trying to think of people i met....some weird people as always. There is a guy that comes pretty much everyday (we can't decide if he's homeless or not) whose wife died a while ago. He walks around and likes to tell jokes to the sisters to "help brighten [our] day because [we] brighten [his]". I shared with him the cinderblock joke and he really liked it (he asked me multiple times to repeat it so he could tell other people). Success! Someone thinks I'm funny!

Also, we met this really amazing kid today who is from PA. His family are all JW's and are trying to really force him to be one as well. He's a member though and up until this summer, it's been 6 years since he's been able to go to church. He was soo so happy to be here in SLC and was just taking everything in that he could so that he could take it with him as he returned to PA. He's 15 and he wants to go to BYU and he just wants so much to go to church and be active but can't because of his grandmother and father. It made me sad and I felt so useless because we couldn't help him. He'll be good though. He's pretty strong.

It's been interesting this week as I'm trying to learn to be better about being able to teach right off. Often people will say things that will tip me off about something that relates to the gospel and I want soo much for them to want to learn more so that they can truly have the blessing of the gospel in their lives. For instance, a woman who was very much into meditation and very spiritual but didn't want to learn more about the church although I was able to relate with her with regards to the peace that one can find in the temple and reasons why only members of the church who have been able to prepare themselves are able to go in. But, she wasn't interested. Even after all we can do, people will still have their free agency.

A lot of the people will come and they'll be Christian and understand more that we, as members, are also Christian but they don't see the differences between our church and their church and feel content where they are. The problem I have is in asking people to change (by learning more) because people don't like change.

Anyway, I'll have to tell you about the antis that came later because I'm out of time. I love you all and am off to write letters to all of you that wrote. Thanks so much btw!! I love mail!!

Be good!

Sister Hulet

Read More 0 comments | Posted by Momma H.

No Time to Say Hello, Goodbye

Dear Friends and Family,

Wow! I was kind of overwhelmed with the emails, haha. Sad thing is that today was the day my comp and I decided to try and better follow mission rules and keep it to a half hour long. Sorry! but I will send forth letters to those of you whose address I have. to the rest! I still love you and if you will send your mailing address to my mom I can send you off a nice handwritten letter that is unlikely to be readable. I try though!

So I'll keep this quick and good (not that anyone was in doubt that it would be good...). First of all, the story that sticks out most in my head is this:

Yesterday we were talking (contacting) to people outside of the Tabernacle. There was a chinese man standing there in a blue baseball cap. We sauntered over to him, in the most inconspicuous way (so that he wouldn't think we actually WANTED to talk to him, but rather bumped into him), and asked him how he was. He said he was good. We asked him if he had been inside the tabernacle before...it was open if he wanted to see. He kind of started muttering at us and yet TO us that "first she wants me in then she tells me to come out...now back in again...." Sister Kwok and I just kind of looked at him and each other, not really knowing what to say. He turned to us and said "Sometimes you need to learn to ignore orders."

I kind of snickered but both Sis Kwok and I kept our composures. Then an asian woman popped her head out of the tabernacle door and motioned to her husband to come in. We, naturally, looked at him smiled and walked away. We had a good laugh once he was inside the tabernacle. So so good (which is Temple Square lingo for basically Everything! Everything is "soooo good!" it's insane and, try as I might, I've started to say it!!).

Besides that we've had some good days and some slow days; some hot days and some rainy days. Oh! I know! Well, I missed having fireworks and barbecues for the fourth but it was still a great day. Who knows if there were fireworks?

But I did meet an amazing person named Evan who actually graduated from PSU! What's so amazing is that he came onto the square and just seemed to want to know EVERYTHING! We were able to take him over to the sisters that were giving a tour but we told him about the book of mormon and he just seemed so prepared to hear what we had to say. He said that at PSU he had been a part of the Christan Crusaders and I was able to talk to the sisters after their tour and they said that he knew he had come to Temple Square for a reason; he had been put on 24 hr layover and he knew it wasn't a coincidence that he came. It was awesome! I love to see people like that!

I'm still working on being better as a missionary. It's so easy to just talk to people about their hometowns, about yellowstone, and just life in general but being able to talk about the gospel in a way that truly relates to them and communicates how important it is for each and everyone is difficult and it hurts when they don't want anything more. You kind of pour your soul out and become attached to the people here really easily and then see them walk away not knowing the joy that is to be had, that's just within reach. It hurts and I think we all can relate to that. But we move on and really embrace moments when people like Evan or the tour that we were able to take with 5 guys from India who all wanted to learn more. It feels good :)

Anyway, I better go. Time's up. The pictures attached are of my district at the MTC (minus the district leader) and of me and my comp with a worker at the This is The Place park (our Zone conference).

Love you all!!!

Sister Hulet

Read More 0 comments | Posted by Momma H.

I'M OFFICIAL - But Only Until Thursday

WHEN I UP, DOWN TOUCH THE GROUND

Another Chance Meeting on Temple Square

My Name is Enrico Pellini....

OF COURSE WE TALK, DON'T EVERYBODY?

No Time to Say Hello, Goodbye

Sister Hulet

SOON TO BE HOME SISTER HULET

...........................

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