Happy Monday P-Day! Now do you all love me again? I'm back in the South Zone this transfer and still with Sister Barona and Pday is monday and we are assigned to be the newsletter editors this transfer. So that should be interesting.

It's been crazy here! SOO many people! President Holmes predicts that about 900,000 people will come through temple square in the next month!! We have goals again (just like conference) and we're all working hard to achieve it. And just as expected, we got even more weirdos with the crowds.

I talked with a guy named Sean.....Sean Smith.....Sean Fielding Smith (who later told security first that his name was sean and then John and then asked "what difference does it make?"). Haha. I already told Kaycee and Randy but he said his "regalia" (if anyone can shed light on that, be my guest) is the griffin and hence he has the marks of the griffin tatooed on himself. Under his eye he had a teardrop and he had wings on his back and was hoping to get a tail sometime soon. Oh boy. He reminds me of cat-boy at BYU (dressed up in cat ears and a tail, hahaha) but a little more extreme and way into mythology and architecture. The problem with talking to him is that he would turn away while talking and be mumbling all the time so I couldn't understand him. He'd go from talking about how he crawled out of the window during primary because he didn't understand it and then turn his head "mumble mumble mumble" then "....Not that there's anything wrong with bullies" and I was like "WHAT?!?!?!" (in my head of course) and Sister Barona was too busy trying not to laugh. Oh such joy for this season!!

We had a great thanksgiving! All the sisters together not at Chuck-a-rama. We went to an event facility called Noah's and had dinner there. It was great! We all had a great time together and were very thankful for all that we were blessed with.

The lights are beautiful and I realize that while they are on and we are on Temple Square, we don't really get the chance to see or appreciate them because we're busy all the time. It's sad! But we're still feeling the christmas spirit!

I met a wonderful couple yesterday in the Tabernacle. The husband had been catholic and his wife was lutheran but they went to an episcopalian church because they had been divorced and weren't allowed to be catholic. So they said their church was a good in-between because it's basically like the catholic church only the priests can be married. We were talking about what happens after we die and the woman said she had always been worried about people that never had the opportunity to learn about Christ and what would happen to them, that it didn't seem fair that they would go to hell. I was able to share how those who didn't receive the gospel of Jesus Christ in this life would have that opportunity in the Spirit World and be able to accept baptism if they wanted to. It was wonderful to share that truth with them and the woman said that it settled her fears and she had always wondered about that. I shared Alma 40:11 about where the spirits initially go after death and how we all initially return home to God and then find a state of rest or a state of anguish. It was great and they were very lovely people!

We're all ready for another intense week! My feet had to readjust to going all the time; the square had slowed down after General Conference in October and I was glad to be working hard and having so many people to talk with on the square. I hope all of your thanksgivings were wonderful! Thanks for all the love and support! I wish you the best for this next christmas month!

Love, Sister Hulet

P.S. guess who wasn't that brilliant? I remember why I have my mom forward emails: because I'm not allowed to write emails to anyone but immediate family. Sorry! And to clarify: YOU can email ME but I can't email YOU. I write back with snail mail. Happy Christmas!!

Dear Family and friends:

It's snowing outside!! I'm so excited!! Anyway, I put up a Christmas Countdown on the White Board in the Sisters' lounge and there are 41 days til christmas!
I feel like a lot happened this week and yet, nothing comes to mind. Oh! First of all, we had a service project on Tuesday where we got to go rake leaves! I've been wanting to do that for a long time so I was really excited for that. To clarify, I've been wanting to rake leaves for a long time, not so much service :)
Also, Happy Birthday to Jen!! I hope you got my letter...sorry it wasn't as cool as it should have been. But just you wait :) Oh! I received my vaccination for the pig flu. So never fear. I'll be alive this winter.
Hmm...on some down time at the Humanitarian Center (I don't go to Welfare Square. it's the Humanitarian Center) some of the sister's discovered the fact that I know the words to pretty much every disney song there is. yep. so that was interesting. We got to show a bunch of youth around the Humanitarian Center and I got to make really lame jokes and get at least a couple chuckles. Oh, and Dad, you'd be proud (although if you saw the picture, maybe not) of me because I showed my skills of drawing a horse just like you did because a kid came and said he liked to draw. It was a pretty awful picture. I think I at least succeeded with the mane...

Hmmm...I'm really trying to think if anything quality happened this week. Oh! Ok so with the training sessions for the Preach My Gospel Marathon we normally receive training from the APs. But we had training from President Holmes on the restoration and the Book of Mormon and it was amazing. He truly helped me appreciate just how much Joseph Smith sacrificed for the organization of the church and how much that means to all of us; with the truth that we know today, nothing would have come to us if it hadn't been for Joseph Smith who was able to restore the message of Jesus Christ. Just as it was necessary in the bible for the prophets to be told God's plan for all of us, it needed to be communicated to another prophet for us in our time and I felt the weight of my responsibility of testifying of this truth and of the true existence of Jesus Christ. It was amazing!!

With training every day, I feel like it adds to our ability as missionaries to help the people we meet here on temple square/beehive house/humanitarian center because we're able to have that constant reminder of our purpose. It's been amazing.

Sister Barona and I had a great experience with a member named Rick and his friend Barry. Rick brought Barry here to temple square because of his zeal for the truth that families can be together forever. He had been a member all of his life, married in the temple, but hadn't felt the true significance of eternal families until he had had some health scares that brought to his attention how fleeting life can be. He then felt like he woke up and truly found his conviction in the gift that we've been given through Christ's sacrifice and how it is possible for us to exist as families and be with our families after we die. Barry's wife had recently passed away and Rick saw how hard it had been for him and wanted him to have the knowledge he had. So we showed him the movie "God's Plan for His Families" where it showed a family and different situations where they spent time together but also as they experienced the death of grandparents and found comfort in the knowledge that they would see those grandparents again. Barry said it was something he wanted to believe but just didn't know how he could know for sure. We invited him to have the missionaries tell him more and Rick told him how much it would mean to him if Barry would receive them. Barry accepted and I just pray that he'll be able to find his faith.
It was incredible.

Now this is too long but I wanted to finish with the crazy I talked with on the phone. It lasted for 30 minutes and he wanted free materials/movies from the church and I realize that this won't be that funny unless I can tell it in person. yep. Anyway, how is everyone doing? Any snow for you? how are your families? What are you doing for thanksgiving? Do you prefer real Christmas trees or fake ones? What's a Christmas tradition you do?

ok, that's enough for another two weeks don't you think? It's all so serious....sorry. I wish I could successfully tell the crazy story and I don't think I met anyone on the square that was too crazy. We've met a ton of just really good people. Last night there was this older chilean man that we had talked with before who always talks to me in spanish and a little english and I'm able to piece some of it together to get an idea of what he's saying. I only know some words and others cross over into english but it's all very entertaining. he's a really cute old man. He came with his wife and son last night and was wearing an ear-flap hat (is there a technical term for that??) and was talking about how cold is was and how he had never noticed the big dipper constellation on the temple (yep, there is one). It's fun.

be good. I hope you all have a happy holiday.

love,
Sister Hulet

P.S. Six months already! Can you believe it? I already have less than a year to go! I hate how fast time goes!!!

O.K., I am a little behind on postings -- here is Julie's latest (with a picture of her, Kaycee and Randy)

October 31, 2009

movie quote. but it sums up my performance at zone conference today. We went up to Heritage Park (I went in my first transfer; it's a pioneer village park at the "this is the place" monument where Brigham Young first came over the valley and said "this is the place," duh) and we did service. President had announced earlier that this transfer we would get the opportunity to do service, like other missions do. Our schedule is not the most flexible, though, so we had it for Zone Conference and on our Pday. But it was amazing. My comp and I chose to help outside (other options: sorting clothes, moving stuff out of an office) and we got to haul these ginormous pieces of granite to help build a sidewalk. Most of the pieces were already in the park for us so we just transported them with a wheelbarrow (but remember...BIG pieces of granite) and the rest we took from this huge pile of granite chips that had been leftover from the construction of the Conference center. It was awesome! I was helping to boost a particularly large piece into the truck and my head was almost smashed. yes.

Otherwise, this week was really nice. We talked with a woman from florida and shared about the beliefs of the church and the struggle of the pioneers to arrive here and establish the church. We ended at the Christus statue (large statue of Jesus Christ; replica of Berthel Thorvaldsen's sculpture in Denmark) and she became pretty emotional. She herself was a Christian and just felt very touched by everything and so blessed because she had just found out that someone wanted to hire her ASAP and she felt it was truly from God. She was wonderful and said she was so glad to have shared that moment with us.
I went on exchanges with Sister Sato (a japanese sister who came with me from the MTC) and we had a blast. I learned how to say "Jesus loves you" and "I love you" (that'll come in handy, eh??) in japanese thus adding to what I already knew ("how are you" "good morning" "hello" and I can count! to five!). ta da! I also saw mama koide and emma!!!! Ah! I was so happy!!! thanks for coming to see me!

well that's all. things seem to be busy for y'all (not that I know...it's just what I've concluded from my inbox, haha) and I hope none of you are stressing out too much. take care. let me know if I can help with anything. be good and no more sadness.

love, sister hulet