Still Staying in Blackwood

It was transfer week -- but he stays.

June 22, 2011

Dearestestest Fambily and Friends,

Life is good! I think I say that lots, but it for sure is right now. It was transfers this week and I am staying once again in Blackwood and still with Elder Holland. It should be good and I'm excited. I really do love this place and I have found a new passion about my calling and responsibility as a missionary and in the words of McDonalds, "I'm Lovin' it!". God has just been blessing us with some more people to work with. There hasn't been anything super duper fantastic that has happened, but I know that God works in all of our lives each and every day. It doesn't have to always be so miraculous, but most times I find that it is the small things that really show His love for everyone. Elder Holland and I are progressively understanding how we need to work together as a companionship as well as the area through help and inspiration from God. I'm grateful for it because this is really his work, so He knows what is the best thing for us to do with the area. I'm really really excited for this next 6 weeks. I'm exited to grow in my desire, understanding, and love for others because I know that as I do that I am able be a better instrument in God's hand to bless everyone around me. Life and God is Good!

This past saturday was so beautiful. We had the baptism of 2 young boys who were just beaming with excitement to be baptised. It was a really good service. Elder K came back for it(we made him speak at it too :P), I sang a duet with the ward mission leaders wife, and the best thing of all was that Morgan was baptised by his grandfather. It was so good. I hope to be able to include some pics in this email.

We met a couple of people that we think could be really good. We met with this one lady, who is a friend of a less active member we are working with, and her son. They are in search of finding out their roots. She was adopted at birth, so she is now in the hunt to find her mother and her family. It is quite interesting. We went and had a nice chat with her and were discussing a bit of what we could do to help. She then offered to have us over for food and cake(she makes the best cake in the world. She gave us a slice while we were there and it was lush(that is a term the Brits or the Welsh like to use, at least the young ones) and she said it wasn't even one of her good ones- we're eating at her house today!!!!!!!). They could be really good, but most of all I'm just excited to help them find where their roots come from.

This week we also did some major weeding pops. They were ginormous weeds, which just made it really easy to pick out. It just reminded me of home which is a good thing. We usually go work on a members allotment with him every other week. We also were able to do some hedge trimming. It was Elder Hollands first time every doing so and he said he loved it so much.....like addicted to it. Weird, eh? It's true, he is :)

The weather here has been quite interesting. It can't make up it's mind if it wants to be rainy or sunshiny(if that's a word). So it keeps switching off and on within each day. It gets annoying when you try to dress appropriately. I will not complain though because I'm not having to do this in 90-100 degree weather. I would probably die first.

So this past week or so I've had some really amazing experiences with the priesthood. I don't really want to talk about the experiences, but I do want to talk about the priesthood and what it is. The Priesthood is what separates The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from every other church. It is the authority and power to act in God's name. It is what was given to the 12 disciples that you can read about in the New Testament and has once again been restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith and has been passed onto all worthy males in this Church. The Priesthood is necessary for the ordinances(baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, eternal marriage etc.) that God has told us are needed for each of us to be able to return to live with him. Yes, some of these ordinances are performed by quite a few churches, but what you need to find out is if these ordinances are being done with someone holding the authority to perform them or in other words- someone who holds the priesthood from God. If you think about it, we read in the Bible an account of Jesus Christ himself being baptised. What you need to look at is who did he go to? Did he go to anyone and just ask him to do it? Did he go to some religious leaders of the Jewish church? Now ask yourself, why did it have to be John the Baptist? I'll give a clue that it has to do with authority. We are blessed in this the latter-days to know that this authority has been restored on the earth after having been taken away with the deaths and martyrdoms of the apostles through Joseph Smith. I know this to be true by reading the Book of Mormon and the witness I have received through the Holy Ghost and also through many spiritual experinces.

Life is so good. I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am. Keep finding the joy and the happiness in life. That's what it's all about. I love and miss you all so much. Keep being awesome.

Love,

Elder Hulet

I'm Caught Up - Yeah!

June 13, 2011

Dearest Family AND Friends,

This week was an up and down week. We could've done so much more, but Elder Holland got sick and we just didn't seem to get to do all the plans that we wanted to. I'm really excited for this week though. It's the last full week of the transfer and WE HAVE A BAPTISM ON SATURDAY!! It's actually going to be a double baptism- Morgan, the grandson of a returning member, and then also the son of one of the members. They are 9 and 8 years old respectively. It is exciting- I know I am excited for both of the families. It will be a great day to look forward to this week.

Life is going good. I feel good, but I feel I could do so much more. This week we were trying to really put the effort into the work, so we biked about 50 minutes to get to an investigators house to teach her since we couldn't get a hold of any male members to drive us. Her name is Nicole and she is 17. I think I spoke a bit about her last week. Anywho, we were able to see her and teach a lesson with a couple of members that met us there(one youth her age and another lady). It went alright enough to get her to go to church still. She didn't attend Blackwood ward because the Merthyr ward building is closer and easier for her to get to with public transport. But at least she went and the missionaries there said she enjoyed herself. So hopefully she'll give us a ring to schedule a return appointment. She is awesome, I just hope so bad that she will call sometime this week.

That was really one of the highlights of this week. There is something really cool that happened to Morgans grandpa, Des. Like I said before, he has just started to return to church with Morgan having started to come to church and be taught by us. Anywho, we have been see what we could do to have Des baptise Morgan when the time comes. He finally had a chat with the Bishop last sunday and he told him to wake up 30 minutes earlier and read from the Book of Mormon. This suggestion came in response to Des saying that he hasn't been able to feel the Spirit(Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, etc). Anyway, Des followed his counsel and he told us about all of the great experiences he's had. He said he is just happier every day and people notice and comment on it. He talks about how he can't seem to put it down when he picks it up. He is just loving it. The best thing that he's noticed is when he didn't have enough time to read one morning because of being rushed out. He said his day was miserable. He couldn't work and function right. So he stopped working for the day and came home and read and that is when he felt better. Oh man, I love hearing experiences like this, because this is exactly what the Book of Mormon does for me. It doesn't make sense exactly that a book could do that for you, but if you give it a try and you read it with a sincere heart and desire to learn from it, Life Just Gets Better! I love it.

This past week, well actually just last night, E. Holland and I had a good discussion about the gospel, focusing on baptism and repentance. This biggest thing that stood out to me was the idea and the meaning of repentance and how to gain forgiveness. The thing that he mentioned was the fact that repentance isn't the idea of confessing and asking for the forgiveness of the sin, but it is the changing of ones ways in reaction to what you know you've done. It's where we have that change of heart that can be seen in King Benjamen's people that you can read in Mosiah 2-5(some of my favorite chapters just so you know). It's where they had seen where they were and then they made the honest effort to change their ways which they showed when you read that they experienced a change of heart where they had no more disposition to do evil. That is one of the main parts of repentance. The next part is then the action we take, to show God that we truely have changed and will try to hold strong to our change, in being baptised for the remission of our sins by someone holding the proper authority of God(or what we call the Priesthood in our church). The big part that I wanted to focus on is really our need to have this desire to change our ways so that we can then receive a forgiveness of our sins. So that's something I encourage you to work on. Find that true desire to change our behaviors that aren't in line with God, or really anything good.

I love you all so much. I miss you tons. And I hope as always that you are finding sucess in finding and holding onto the happiness in your life. When you find it, don't forget to remember how you got it and to thank God. Keep being awesome and of course, sending me post.....

Love,

Elder Hulet

CAERPHILLY CASTLE

Randy says that this is the biggest castle in Britain. I would love to see it. Guess a picture is good. This is in Caerphilly, Wales

More Catch-Up

June 5, 2011

This week was a good week! We got pretty darn close to achieving our goals. I hope that we'll continue to be able to get closer and closer and eclipse it so we can continue to set higher goals. We had a couple hurdles this week with investigators dropping us for the time being and Melvyn(the one who read the whole Book of Mormon)'s wife hating us which makes it difficult, but we had some awesome experiences and things happen that made up for it. Elder Holland also started to get sick on Saturday and Sunday, so we weren't able to do as much as I was hoping to do but it was still a good week.

The best news is that Morgan passed his interview and will for sure be baptised (british way of spelling it if you americans were looking to make fun of me...) on the 18th of June!!!!!!! I'm so excited for him. It will be a double baptism with an 8 year old boy of a members who we have been teaching and preparing too. They are both really good and clever boys. The other good news was from a couple other individuals that we were able to meet. One was from us trying by a person who used to investigate the church and he happened to be interested. So we tried by his flat on friday and he let us right in. We had a nice chat and he said he had read some of the Book of Mormon and that we'd be alright to pop by again to have a hchat about it. He is 19 years old(at least that's what I've been telling everyone) and he's really chill and nice. I'm excited for him. The other person was a referral we got from church headquarters because she had ordered a Book of Mormon online. So we went by to see her with a member. She is a 17 year old girl who is just interested in searching religions so that she can find the right/true church. We told her what we do and about the importance of the Book of Mormon and she said yes to having us help her to find the truth. I am super excited about her because of the interest she showed and because of the awesome young women we have in this ward that would really help her out and make her feel welcome. We'll have to see how everything goes with them this week and hope they continue to progress and show a greater interest in the church and it's teachings.

Today for P-day, we went to my first British Castle- Caerphilly Castle. It is the biggest one in Wales and one of the biggest in the UK. I hope to get some pictures of it sent out. Also..... Happy Birthday Mother!!!! You are soo old, but that's alright because I still love you!

So this week there seemed to be a pattern in what I was studying. There seemed to many instances where the word "free" or a form of it arose. The first one that came up was "salvation is free"(2 Nephi 2: one of the first couple verses) which to me seemed pretty interesting for those two words to go together since it doesn't seem right. So I decided to research it a bit more and see where else the word free is used. The connection I made with it deals with our agency- our freedom to choose. When you think of salvation, we learn in the scriptures that it is only in and through Christ because of his atoning sacrifice for us. So how is that free when we still have to do the repenting and good works? That is exactly what I asked myself. The conclusion I was able to come to was the fact that Christ performed the Atonement for everyone, whether we apply it or not. So the ability to gain salvation in already in place. Then we know that agency deals with our choice, so we have the freedom to choose whatever we want to. With those ideas in place and the knowledge that the only way to achieve salvation is through the choices we make- to repent, have faith, get baptised, go to church, and all that good stuff- then we can therefore conclude that salvation is free because of our freedom to make all of our decisions. Agency is big. Salvation is big. So if we use our agency wisely and correctly, we can attain this "free salvation" by following Christ and doing the necessary things. Your future is in your hands. You make all of your decisions, not anyone else. So use your agency to find the truth, follow Christ, and attain that eternal happiness that is promised with salvation.

I love you all so much, but I need to go and stop rambling on. Keep finding the happiness and hold onto it. Just make sure to find the happiness that can eventually be eternal and not something that lasts for a couple seconds. Stay cool and keep writing to me because it makes my day to read about others lives.

Love you all,

Elder Hulet

Another Catch up

May 30, 2011

Dear Family and friends,

This week was an alright week. We hit quite a few of the goals we had set for it, so I was definitely happy with that. We didn't really have tons that happened- at least nothing like last week. We did get to see Melvyn again(the really good guy we met last week. I didn't remember if I mentioned his name or not) although it wasn't on the day that we had a return appointment for. He got us a bit worried with that, but we, the district leader Elder Morrissey(from Idaho Falls... if you wanted to know mother) and myself, were able to catch him in on Thursday and have a nice chat at the doorstep. He had in fact finished the whole book and when we asked what he thought to which he had many questions and said he was a bit skeptical, but he still had an open mind about it. He's good and we'll answer his questions when we can have a proper sit down lesson. He said he was going to read it again because you can't get everything the first time around, so we gave him some advice for when he reads. We told him to pray along with it and to also have those many questions in his mind as he reads, because then the scriptures and God can help to answer those questions for him then. We wanted to help him to find out answers for himself and learn of the truth himself instead of just telling him. I think that is the best way to learn. We are then also fulfilling our role as missionaries- to invite and to help. We don't just tell him and then expect him to accept it, we help him on his way to find truth for himself, so that he can truly be converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is good. Now we just need to somehow find a way to get in and allow us to teach and help to point him in the right direction for him to find answers to his questions....

Like I said before, this week wasn't too exciting, although we did have a stake broadcast from Salt Lake to the whole UK at Rhiwbina on Sunday. Unfortunately that meant that our investigators couldn't really make it to church since it was a fair distance away, but it was still good. I really have no idea what else to really talk about. I did get my bike back this week...finally! It took over two weeks to get fixed. It was ridiculous. It also cost 55 pounds to get it fixed. But, at least we are now on bikes again instead of walking. That should help loads with being able to get more work done in the area. We are doing pretty alright though. We have about 4 good investigators right now. One that we just got a baptismal date for(Morgan the 9 year old). It took long enough to get the permission from the parents.... We also learned that a 12 year old girl that we're working with can't get baptized until she is 16 so says her Father(who she doesn't live with for the majority of time except every other weekend), so that was unfortunate to hear. She is good and has already read to 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon. We'll see if her father will change his mind any time soon. In the mean time, we'll keep working with her. Maybe we can get her mother interested too now... We'll see.

Life's good. Elder Holland and I get along alright. I think he's happy now because we actually get along fine unlike most of his other companions... I could see where they did, but he is getting better and hooray for patience!

I love you all. Sorry if this letter isn't the most informational. I hope all is going well and that you'll update me with your lives. I'm working on responding to the wonderful letters I've received recently. Thank you for those. They make my day and my companion jealous and mad!! Keep finding the happiness and being good!

Love,

Elder Hulet

Waaaay Behind

Catching up on about 4 weeks of behindness.

May 23, 2011

Dear peoples across the water,

This week was a pretty alright week. It wasn't filled with too much excitement, but we did have one really good experience and new person to teach. Unfortunately, I will not tell you yet, so you'll have to wait patiently. First I'll speak about the weather.... it has been raining off and on ever since Elder Holland got here. It doesn't rain in large amounts or for long amounts of time, but the rain just falls unexpectedly- as unexpectedly a black rain cloud happens upon the area, or maybe the unexpected part is because it's just been one large continuous one. The temperature has been alright though and we haven't gotten too wet, so it's been alright. My bike is still broken/ waiting to get fixed too, so we've been on foot and it just isn't that efficient since there aren't tons of people just walking around to talk to. Hopefully I'll get it back this week and all will be back to normal and at highest working capacity.

So now the really cool guy that we have an appointment with this Tuesday. We met him while tracting a street in Blackwood. It was quite funny the way that I started the conversation with saying, "we're sharing a message....that God loves you! ..." and then mentioning that he shows this love for us by calling a prophet. I don't think what I said is why he kept talking with us, but he did. We ended up speaking about finding God and truth and also about planting seeds of truth into our lives and the lives of our kids. He was really interested in all 3 of those things since he has had a rough life, his parents and family didn't plant good seeds with him( leading to tyhe hard life), and the fact that he has 3 little kids and is worried about raising them up right in the world today. It went well, so we gave him the Book of Mormon and the chapter Alma 32 , about finding truth and planting seeds, to him to read and set up a return appointment. Now this was at around 8 pm. Later that night at about 9:15 we got a call from him with questions about prophets and what he read in the restoration leaflet. He then proceeded on to tell us that what he read in Alma 32 just reminded him of his life. He is so good. He said he was going to read to read the whole book by our next appointment. He's not lying either because we called him on Friday or Thursday and he said he was already 1/4th of the way through. I'm so excited for him. It's just a testament to me that he was prepared by God to receive this message. He may not have had tons of contact with members or the church, but the experiences he's had in life prepared him. I'm so excited for him and his family because i know that this message will bless their lives!

I love what I'm doing. It changes lives and helps people to achieve the changes they want to make. I forget who said this quote I'm about to quote, but it's so true in talking about the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. "It makes bad people good and good people better." You see peoples lives blessed when you do what I'm doing and it is just so amazing to see. I love you all. If you know it's true, keep that fire burning inside you. If you don't yet, give it a fair chance and plant the seed in your heart like it tells us to do in Alma 32. I love you all and hope you guys are finding happiness in your life. Keep being awesome and writing of course!

Love,

Elder Hulet