Go Back to Canada

October 25, 2010

Dear Family and friends,

This week seemed to take a while and I have no idea why, but that's alright because it's over now! It's not to say that it was a bad week, but it definitely wasn't the one we wanted. We were finally able to teach some new people- which is super good. I was hoping I'd remember how the lesson rolls because it has been a while for the beginning ones. I did just fine though. I love those lessons because you seem to learn more and more for yourself as you teach them since people bring up new questions and new concerns so it makes you look at it from a different perspective. Out of the 4 lessons, I think 3 will be good so long as they act on the desire they have to learn by reading and praying about what we teach. I think that's the greatest part of the gospel and the work we do, because we don't force people or anything. If they don't want to act on their desires, it's really their loss. They aren't hurting us at all, but they sure are hurting themselves. I just wish people could see that.

The people we taught have been quite different. First we taught this older English man named Robert who had questions about prophets and why they were needed. We presented a really good lesson where we resolved his concerns to the best of our ability and the spirit was there, but in the end he told us "I enjoy your company............but leave me alone". That was defiinitely not the response Elder Davis and I expected from the lesson we taught. But we weren't frustrated because we did our best to help him and it was his choice to reject it, so nbd( haha I just got your nbb Face). Next we taught a guy named Mark. He likewise is English. We were able to teach him a good quick lesson and invited him to church. He said he would, but he was going to Poland this week..... just our luck. The next guy we taught is named Amjad. Can you guess where he's from???????? How about I just tell you, ok? Iraq. He is really good though. He told us about the joy he receives when talking about Jesus and he just wants to learn more about him. We taught a good and spirit filled lesson about the beginning of the Plan of Salvation(God's plan for us to be able to return back to him) up until Christ and his role in our life and then we bore our testimony and it was sooo good. I'm excited for him to learn more, I just hope he is too. Funny story about that is that halfway through(well right before we started the lesson), a Jehovah's Witness came to the door. So we sat quietly and listened to what he had to say. He actually helped us out though because it helped us know what he wanted to learn. He should be great! The problem with teaching Muslims is that we can't invite them to be baptized. We can teach them about it, but we can't invite. They have to ask to be because of the family problems that can arise. Last one was Kobe. He is originally from Ghana, but he had lived in Italy for the past 18 years until now. He is awesome and he already knows that Joseph Smith is a Prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. We are excited, but we also think he might be a member already...... guess we'll have to wait and see. Anywho, those were the people we taught.

There were some really funny times though, like when this English guy just started yelling at us, complaining about these Pakistani's and Polish and then he told us to "go back to f'in Canada". Needless to say, it was funny. We had a good laugh about that and will for a long while.

This week we also taught a less active the stop smoking program(which is so effective. In fact, it's 100% if it's followed 100%). Anyway, to cut to the chase, the Zone Leaders convinced her that if I truly cared about her I would dance.........I tried my hardest to not do it, but you do what you gotta do for the people..... So Elder Davis in his cheeky-monkey ways(one of my favorite English phrases/words) made a video of it with his camera. Sue should be sending it to you sometime Mother.

Also this week I gave a talk in church about Jesus and His role as our Redeemer(well I made that my topic based off of Luke 1:68). It was good and I was so relaxed. It's amazing what a mission can do for your public speaking skillz. Oh and just so you know Mother, I played the piano in sacrament meeting becuase the priesthood was performing a number. I'm definitely getting better at piano, but I'm still not that good.

Um..... thank you so much for the cd's Mother, Prince of Egypt is always playing now.... almost constantly. Also thanks for the photos. I just love pictures. I need to go buy an photo album thing so they will be safe.

This week was definitely one where I have been pondering on the principle of Faith. What an important principle in the church and just in life in general. Why would we do anything if we didn't have faith in whatever it is? Well since I'm on a mission, it really has been Faith in Jesus Christ that I have been thinking about and wanting to focus on. It's essential for everything, both spiritually and physically. The scriptures constantly talk about it both in people exercising it and gaining it. As you can see whenever Jesus would perform miracles, He'd talk about their faith in the role of their healing. That's not the only thing that faith is needed. We need faith for everything, especially in accessing Christ's Atonement. In order to be cleansed of our sins, we need to repent. But what truly leads us to repent? It's our faith in Christ. He is the one that makes it possible to be cleansed, so as we have faith that we can be, we then repent. And as we truly do that, we can be cleansed through the love-filled sacrifice of our brother, Jesus Christ. We need to focus on our faith. It is at the beginning of everything. Once we have the faith, we act. It goes along with President Uchtdorf's talk about slowing down and focusing on the basics. Now tell me, what greater basic is there than faith? There is no such thing as too much faith, and that's what I'm working on!

I love you all soo much! Keep the updates coming and I'll do my best with letters to you.

Stay strong, live long, and have faith in Christ!

Love,

Elder Hulet

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Extra from the Mom:

I did catch Elder Hulet on the computer this morning and we chatted (well, kind of) for a couple of minutes. This was one of his comments:

Well I need to go. Usually we get here at like 10:30-10:45 my time. I would like more Anthony and friend updates. I'll be sending a response to mark since he mailed me a letter.

If you write him, he will write back. If you want me to forward him a message/update in an email or on facebook, I can do that. I know he misses you guys. Momma H.
p.s. - did you note that he LOVES pictures

Dear Poppits - No Transfer

October 18, 2010

Dear Poppits(yes they sometimes use it like in Pirate of the Carribean),

This week was a really good one in the sense that we talked to sooo many people and that we had lots of new investigators that seemed like they were so good, but it was disappointing because all of these new investigators have all been flogging(not being home for the appointment) us. So we aren't really teaching anyone right now..... but we're trying so hard. If only they'd just keep their appointments. There is no room for sadness or mourning because there are always more people who need to hear this great message we have to share so you just have to keep going and going. This week was also a nerve racking one up until saturday night because it was when we learned whether we were being transferred to somewhere else or staying. Elder Davis and I were so not wanting to go anywhere and.............WE'RE NOT!!!! WHOOOHOO!! I love this area and this ward and Elder Davis and I love being companions.(mother, I hear you have contacted his mother already too. Needless to say, I'm not surprised....) I just hope that I'll be here for Christmas now. 6 Months in Walsall sounds good to me. Now to the week.

This week was good with Ian. He got the priesthood on Sunday and i am soo excited for him. I think the Lord has some great things in store for him in terms of the Church. Now we are trying to get his wife and son(s). His wife and his one son are starting to come around. She loves having us over and his son, Kieran(a pretty common name here. I had never heard it until I got here), came to a ward games night and enjoyed it. I am soo pumped for his family! Ian is awesome and I can't express my happiness when I think about possibly getting his family to want to learn about the church and find out for themselves the truthfulness of it!

One other thing we learned this week in District Meeting, in regards to missionary work, was how we could be more effective finders. How we could find the people that are really searching for truth and also teaching people and planting seeds of the truths of the gospel so that when they are ready, they'll remember what we said. The main thing we focused on was getting our unique message out to everyone we talk to, one of which is that God has once again called prophets on the Earth to help guide his people. He's given us someone who can give us direction on how to protect us from the evils in this world and what we need to do to be able to return to God and be able to live with our families forever!!!! That thought is so great and so true! I'm grateful for the knowledge that I have that I CAN be with my family forever, because true happiness, for me, in the life after this couldn't exist without my family being there beside me. All of us can come to know for ourselves, which is probably the best part of it all!! I think it's one of the smartest things God wants us to do- not just to take the word of someone as truth without asking God ourselves if it's true so that we can know ourselves and not just having someone tell us it. I'm so grateful for that because yes, I grew up learning about God and the church, but I didn't know for myself of the truthfulness of it. But now I DO!! I KNOW that this Church is truly Jesus Christ's Church and that he loves everyone of us because we are his children. I KNOW that God has called prophets again on the Earth and that the living prophet today is Thomas S. Monson! And I KNOW that through ordinances, done by the proper authority, and as long as I live my life in the example of Christ to the best of my ability, I can be with my family forever! And what a great blessing it has been to know this. This is why I'm on my mission. This is why I talk to strangers about the Church everyday. This is why I love what I'm doing and I know I'm in the right place. The one thing I can only invite you to do is to ask God yourself. So that you can find out for yourself. Don't take my word for it- Take Gods!

It's amazing how much you can see the happiness and joy you can see in the eyes of people that have found out for themselves the truthfulness of the gospel. Just the other day, we went to visit someone who has been less active in the church and as walked up the stairs to her flat, she was over-joyed to see us!!!! It just made my day. She was just soo happy because she hadn't had much contact with the church for a year or so because she didn't know much English and we came and visited. She should be coming back come next week and it will be soo good. Not only she was happy, but so was her daughter and her husband. It's just fills your soul and heart with love when you see how happy people are. We as humans(or maybe it's just English people) don't usually seem happy or don't show it. Any why aren't we? Just look at the beauty of the world around us and the families we have. Be grateful for everything and look for the good in everything because God doesn't give us anything that won't help us in the long run. He helps us because that's what a loving Father does!

I love you all and miss you all. Sorry this email wasn't too informative about what's been happening- it's because there hasn't been too much. Letters to many should be sent out in the next couple weeks.

Love Elder Hulet

A Baptism!

October 11, 2010

Dearest family and everyone else,

This week has been a great week!!!! because of the baptism!!!!!! It was sooo good. I was chosen to baptize him because his first choice was doing poorly(sick for those who don't know England jargon) so he couldn't be there. So since I'm his favorite missionary(just speculating, but I'm 99% sure it's true), he chose me over Elder Davis! It was such a good experience and the spirit was soo strong! Baptisms really can be some of the most spiritual events to attend, so go if you have the chance to. To answer your question mother, I did sing. I sang "I Need Thee Every Hour". Our normal piano players were gone so we went with someone else who i thought knew how to play, but she couldn't really. At first she was late so I thought I was going to have to play(I was busy already with baptizing, singing, and saying the closing prayer), but then she came. Not to sound mean, but she wasn't great and I almost wished I had played and just sung my song a capella, but it went all right. The spirit was still strong and the service was still awesome! I'll provide some pics.

Other than that this week was pretty lackluster and pretty frustrating because all of the investigators we have(besides Ian who was baptized) stopped progressing because we couldn't get a hold of them or something. Anyway, we just need to find some more people to teach that are truly prepared to receive the gospel. We have some people we've spoken to that seem pretty good, so we should be alright. It'll be a good time with lots of finding!

We did receive some help with our Slovakian couple. We went and taught them on Friday night with the returned missionary from Lichfield. It was sooo good that we had him with us because now we kind of understand where they really are and what they believe. That night they also had some other Slovakians that they found that were homeless, so Alex was able to talk to them too. Anyway, we learned that they really don't know much about their own religion(Catholic I think). They say they are Catholic/Christian, but they seem to be worshipping Mary. They were wondering where Mary is and why everything we had tried to teach them was focused on Jesus Christ. Needless to say, it's a good thing Alex was there and has shed some light to us on what they believe. He was able to share his testimony about the Book of Mormon and how they can know for themselves of the truthfulness of it by praying to God and asking him sincerely. Well at the end of it, the other Slovakians requested a Book of Mormon and we now have no idea what to do with Jarro and Katrina..... I think we'll keep trying to teach her English and then maybe see if they'll progress at all in learning about Jesus. We are so lost at what we are to do with them, but that is why we are supposed to rely on God because he knows each individual sooo much better and knows what they need to learn. Maybe we're here just to introduce them to the gospel and maybe later they will come to an understanding or maybe they'll really start to understand and learn. I don't know. We'll see how it goes.

Well from what I hear/see, everything is going well outside of this little Island. Chase is looking cute and there is no doubt in my mind that I'll be the favorite by the time I come back as long as my pics stay on that mobile(did I spell that right for the little things on babies cribs and stuff?). Thanks for the email mother, was Dad racing so hard that he forgot to send me the email??? Sad day- I only hear from my mother and 2 sisters and I don't have an update on PSU football- jk.

There wasn't too much more that has happened here. We sure have run into some funny people though- like usual considering it's England. I tried talking to this one girl yesterday and she was going on about the illuminati and how they were going to take over the world in 2012 and how Satan is more powerful than God(super duper false) and she basically has no hope and faith in God which is sad. I just had to laugh. I think she has been watching "Angels and Demons" a little too much and has freaked herself out or something. Trust in God and all will go well- if only she'd listen. We also have this other guy that is crazy. When describing prayer, he was talking about aligning your body so that you get a better signal to talk to God and how the lower minded "infidels" around him are overlapping his soul and his ability to communicate with God. Oh man- well at least it gives place for a good laugh.

Elder Davis and I are doing great. We get along "rill" well. We are constantly making up songs and we usually have a mini football game in our flat with one goal being the doorway and the other the window area between the curtains to the balcony. It's lots of fun. Just wait for our release of the remake- "If you want to be my convert" It's almost done and the lyrics are award winning thanks to myself. I'l give you a sneak peak:

If you want to be my convert

You gotta get with my friends

Their two names are elder

Teaching them begins

It's going to be awesome. Transfers are coming up- we'll learn about it on saturday and transfers will be on Monday, so I don't know if I'll be emailing on Monday or not, we'll see. Maybe I'll have Sue give you a heads up.

Anyway, I love you all sooo much!! God loves you more!! and I'm so greatful for prayer and the ability to be able to communicate with my Heavenly Father and that he is always there listening and wanting to answer my questions and be able to help me. He is such a merciful and loving Father!!! If we are wanting to be receiving answers though, we need to make sure we are listening because what's the point of answering your prayer if you're not listening or planning on acting on the answer. I know that God will answer your prayers if you pray sincerely because of his great love for us. Try it sometime. Pray to Him with all your might and make sure to listen because who likes one-sided conversations?

I can't express how much I love and miss you guys. Keep doing what your doing! and stay good!

Love,

Elder Hulet

Almost Three Months

October 4, 2010

Dear Fambily and all the other lovely people that are lucky enough to receive this email,

This past week was wonderful!!!!!! Oh, um..... Happy Birthday Little Brother(:P)!! Hope it was a good one at home and for conference. What a present you received- hearing the prophet speak! Oh man did I love general conference! For those who don't know what it is, it is where the prophet and apostles and other leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speak to everyone in the world. It is amazing because they are giving us help and guidance that they have been received from God. It isn't just for the members of the LDS Church and if you'd like to watch some and see the living prophet speak, you can go to lds.org(i think, or maybe mormon.org) and watch them. It I got that wrong, ask my mother and she can direct you to it.

To answer your question Dad, I was able to see all of the sessions except for the sunday afternoon one. We went to the stake center and saw the saturday morning session live. Sunday is basically an all day thing for conference here in England and others in the world. We went to the stake center at 10am to watch a recording of the priesthood session. The recording of the saturday afternoon session then followed at 1 and then we watched the sunday morning session live at 5. We were at the stake center on sunday from like 930am to about 745pm. It was a long time being there, but it was awesome. I got the most out of this conference than any other one I've ever seen. It's probably because I never really paid too much attention to what they all had to say. I just love conference now!!! It teaches you so much and it reaffirmed my testimony of President Thomas S. Monson as God's prophet and mouthpiece on the Earth! His talk at the end of the sunday morning session was sooo powerful. I wish we would've had some investigators there with us. The missionaries from Wolverhampton has one there that they had just met and hadn't really taught anything, but she went away saying that she know's that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God!!!! So awesome!!!!!!! I invite everyone to watch that talk by him and listen to your heart and mind and feelings. I promise you that if you do, that you WILL know that he truly is a prophet and the leader of God's church on the Earth!

This was a good week(made awesome by conference, but a good week in general). We didn't have as much time this week to find people because of General Conference and also a large training meeting we had on Thursday. I've learned sooo much from this week on how to be a better teacher, person, member, just a better everything basically. I've learned the importance of the Spirit in missionary work(and life too, but I'm not to focused on that right now). He is the one that does the converting and guides us to what we need to teach and say to meet the needs of each person we teach because each person is unique and there are different things in the gospel that will help them at that time. The gospel is soo great because it is there to help everyone in ways that they probably don't know. Yes, we talk about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon a lot and the reason is because if they start to learning the gospel and reading the Book of Mormon, it will bless and improve the quality of there lives. We are here to not just spread the gospel, but help improve others lives by learning about the gospel and abiding by it's principles. I love it! My mind has just been opened to how this gospel helps everyone and the importance of it since I've been out here. I encourage all of you to just look into it if you haven't yet and just be open-minded and I know you'll want to learn more.

Sorry about all of that, I was just on a roll writing. This week is the week of Ian's baptism!!!! WOOHOO!!! I'm so excited for him. He is so ready. We are going by tomorrow to hopefully watch the Testiments(movie about Christ and his coming to visit the ancient America's after His resurrection) with him and his wife. He is doing so well and has stopped smoking both cigars and cigarettes. I'm so excited for him!! You can see the difference it's made in his life and hopefully that will them move to his wife wanting to know more and same with his 2 boys. I sure hope they want to join him in this journey and I know that he wants them to since family is soo important in our church and I want him to be able to experience the joy of this gospel with him family!

We have tried teaching English to Jarro and Katrina once now. I think I've learned more Slovakian than she has english :) Hey Elizabeth, Boh je vas Otec v nebesian. Pozna vas osobne... there is more but I can't remember the order of the words. To everyone: Boh miluje vas!!(God loves you in Slovak unless I have it wrong gramatically which i'm pretty sure it is). It is a struggle right now- considering that I've never had to teach English before- but we learned that there is a return missionary in Lichfield(stake center) that just came back from Slovakia on his mission, so we've spoken with him and he's agreed to help us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That will help so much! We had been looking for a Slovak Book of Mormon for them for the longest time, but we learned they don't make them yet, so we got them a Czech one since the languages are close. We learned from the RM(returned missionary) that they've finished the translation, but now it is going back through to make sure it is correct.

Also we just got a new investigator that should be super good. His name is Roy and he's either from Jamaica or South Africa. I don't know which one. All I know is that he's black and super awesome. He allowed us to come by to answer a question he had about Adam and Eve and how could we have come about if they only had 2 sons, Cain and Abel.(the answer is found in Genesis 5 btw) So we read that to him and he then flat our said "Now that I know that, I will come to church." We then taught him about the Restoration and it went sooo well. We applied the training we received and the spirit was so strong!!! It was sooo good and he is so awesome. I'm excited to teach him again.

So yeah, life is going awesome and I'm loving it. It's crazy to think that my 3 month mark is this week. Has it really been that long?? Wow is all I can say. I love all this post i get and emails from everyone- I feel so loved!! And best of all, Elder Davis is starting to get jealous which is super gut(german for good btw. and yes i know my comp isn't german anymore)! Elder Davis and I have been so blessed in finding people that are welcome to receive our message and see how it can help them. We are still working hard to find more, because there is no such thing as too many people to help!

I love you all, sorry if I'm no good at answering questions that you present to me. Um..... if you've sent post, this is the first p-day in the past 3 that I've actually had a chance to write, so that's what I'll be doing today. Keep me updated on your lives, I love to read about them! Sorry Mom and Dad that I didn't wish a happy anniversary or say Happy Birthday to Kaycee and Grandma. I did remember and love you, it's just kind of hard to do anything while so far away.

So I just wrote a whole bunch, but then it got deleted-so annoying. It was to grandma and you dad if you know a George and Isabell Cannon who at one point were the mission president of my mission from like 66' to 69' or something like that. They had 5 sons and 2 daughters. Also do you know someone that had a son that served in the central England mission or something like that from 68' to 70' that lived or lives in Parowan. I bring this us because there is an man in our ward named Stan Woods. He is probably one of the oldest members here in Walsall and has been in the church the longest out of everyone in our ward. He told me about those guys when he said that he was able to go to general conference when he was a stake president here and he said he stayed in Parowan at one point and even spoke at the church in like 70'. I don't know if Grandma remembers him or knows who the other people are. Stan couldn't remember the name of the one that had a son serve here, which is why I don't have the name.

I love you all and I'm so grateful for all, family and friends, that you've done for me to get me to where I am now because I know I wouldn't without you! I am especially grateful for you Mom and Dad for all that you've sacrificed to give me the life I've been able to have. I couldn't have asked for a better one so far!!! I love you soo much!

Keep on working hard and I love all these emails and post. I love hearing about your lives!!! so keep it up!

love, Elder Nanders