Re: Happy New Year!

Email received December 30, 2013

Dear family,

I am super happy that Christmas passed super well and it sounds like you guys had a very fun time. Actually the day after Christmas went really well. A lot of people were in their houses and we taught a lot and worked super hard. Elder Mortensen has taught me a lot. He has really taught me how to be more relaxed about the work and remember that numbers are really people and not just something to report to the zone leaders to show off or something. We’ve got to remember our purpose in each house. Sorry if i took up a lot of your guy´s time. I was able to do all that i needed to do that day and i felt very happy all day long. Elder Santiago is very impressed with your Spanish and Hermana Gutierezz thought your accent was perfect. He really enjoyed talking to you all. He is such a good missionary. I am so impressed with him. It’s weird and kinda hard for me to think he will be gone soon. Me and him went on an intercambio last Tuesday and we talked for a long time. He told me he is having such mixed feelings right now because he really is excited to go home and start his life but he says he has loved his mission more than anything in the world. And he also gave me some advice. He told me that throughout the mission i will pass through plenty of moments of Gethsemane. But never let those moments get you down. You have to just roll with them and put all your trust in the lords plan and brighter days will come. The most important thing is to fear no man. Never let your basic fears or anxieties get in the way of preaching the word. You never know who needs to talk to you on a particular day. So open your mouth and be friends with everybody. Its weird to me now looking back to just one year ago- i don't think i was very personable. I was always a little intimidated talking to new people. Well now im serving people who will be your best friend for just spending two minutes asking them how they are. they really are such a special and dear people to me. I love them so much. I love this work so much. It’s such a special time to be a part of this work as well. I came out at the right time for me i know it. I’m right where i am supposed to be and like i told you at Christmas, I’m really home. Now new years will pass pretty crazy i assume. We will probably have to be in the house early that day. But my plans right now are to go teach our part member family and hit them super hard with the word of wisdom, they have already committed to live it again but i want to be sure they understand why especially for that night. The 14 year old daughter told me she really likes her beer but i testified that this is a commandment from god and he will give her the strength to follow it. I know he will. I know she can. I have the faith she will. Its not a bad thing to have hope and faith. Even though a lot of the times you will be let down a little bit. The investigators a lot of times for whatever reason don’t come to church but the lord really does know what he is doing. I’m only here to follow his plan. It’s all we can do and i still hold faith that miracles will happen and the people will feel the need to come. They are very laid back and the more i think about it, the more i start to realize I’m pretty laid back too. And if i can get myself to church every week i have faith that they can too. I love you guys,

Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Re: Hola!

Email received December 17, 2013

dear family,
Sorry about yesterday, we were in azua for a long time but it was a ton of fun. I really enjoyed seeing the missionaries i knew and the spirit was very strong. My poor companion really didnt know too much of what was going on because it was all in spanish. He doesnt have bad spanish just that usual gringo block. Tal vez yo tengo eso todavia pero cada dia estoy mejorando poco a poco mas. Me gusta mucho el idioma. I really am loving the DR. I definitely can feel you all walking with me everyday. Its really such a blessing to have a family who loves and prays for you. Especially with the knowledge of forever families. To me its such a blessing preaching to people about a message of families being together forever. What a blessing it is to these people to have a temple so close by. I love the santo dominigo temple a lot. My mission president gave me a temple recommend holder with a picture of the temple that says Mision Santo Domingo Oeste 2013. Ok so i will explain the whole socks and flip flop thing oh and the pants as well because if you noticed, I made those pants i was wearing, kinda. Anyway so in the mornigns for study we need to be in missionary clothes but not shoes and i don´t actually leave the house until 2 in the afternoon. It's the schedule president gave us trainers. But anyway i get this call at about 830 here and it was Brother Roper telling me he was on Calle Las Mercedes looking for our house so i went out to the street but was too lazy to put my real shoes on so i just took the chancletas with my socks. the pants, its a tradition for every dominican missionary to make pants down here. Meaning you find a man who makes pants and ask him to make you some. So i made those pants for pretty cheap and they are pretty nice. Luckily all my shirts and clothes have been holding up great. I will be able to skype with yall at 3 my time so noon for you guys. I am super pumped and yes i plan on just using 40 minutes because its the guidline in the white handbook. I have some pretty crazy stories to tell you guys. I told a lot of stuff to my comp this week. He has been really struggling out here especially with his testimony. I tell him everyday that no matter what he will never regret the decision to endure to the end of his mission. And reminded him that its just like the himno says, Solo el que trabaja, se siente feliz. The only way to feel happy is to work. Its all we can do. Wow its crazy how grown up everybody seems. I know its only been a few months but it just seems crazy is all. Cant wait to play some ball with adam when i see him. We will play dominican style. They definitely play a little bit different down here.
Well I love you all and hope this week is great!
Love Elder Hulsey

Email received December 9, 2013

My dear family,
estoy muy tranquilo, algo un poco diferente aqui es la frase que lo que? es como que tal. So i have some pretty big news actually, im training right now so my new comp has only 1 month and is fresh out of the ccm. Crazy right? the lord has trusted me with a pretty big responsibility and im super pumped for the challenge. Its definitely different but im super excited. His name is Elder mortensen. He is super tall and super funny and his spanish is improving everyday. Im super blessed to be training a guy like him. It sounds like adams birthday was a lot of fun. im happy he is my little brother. So i still don´t have all the news as far as skype goes but i will know for sure next week. By the way expect an email a little later next week. We are going to have a christmas conference next monday and it will go all day. We are going to this place called azua for it and im pumped because out on there basketball court there is this huge utah jazz logo. ha there is also this company here that has totally ripped off the jazz logo and im going to try and take a picture of it to show you guys. ITs pretty funny. I heard the jazz arent doing to good this year though. oh well still going to be a fan for life. So basically the dominicans started preparing for christmas when i entered the field. We always sing christmas hymns here in sacrament meeting. Something cool is that we received permission to eat with members on the 24th and the 31st of this month. Im super excited for this. We already have this member named nancy who said she has been dying to cook for us ha im so grateful for her and her family. super nice people. yes my stone passed the last week of the transfer. I was really fine, ya i was uncomfortable and in pain but i was blessed with strength beyond my own. I know the lord hears all of your prayers and has allowed me to feel this many times here. I don´t want you guys to ever feel worried or sorry for me. There are people with a lot worse here. I have been able to give quite a few blessings here to quite a few really struggling people. I know the priesthood is real. I know i have direct access to a loving heavenly father who is always waiting to answer my prayers. Much like president monoson i find no greater joy than following a spiritual prompting and finding out it was the answer to somebody prayers and i always the lord to know that when he needs an errand ran, Elder Spencer Hulsey is ready, worthy, and able. I remember this talk by jeffery r holland we listened to in the ccm. It was very powerful. It was part of training for new mission presidents a few years ago and it hit me super hard. He talked a lot about christs mission. Often times on missions we get to caught up in the hard things that we miss out on the good things. I find out 3 people from my group already went home due to anxiety issues. It really made me sad. I am not saying in the least that these people deserve any degree of disrespect or dishonor. But i remember in the talk Elder Holland pointed out some great stuff. Why cant everything just be easy, why isn't my only fear that of catching a cold due to the amount of time i spend in the baptismal font, why wont these people accept the truth, why wont they read the book of mormon, why is it simply just hard at times? well if you look in the bible at christ´s life and say wow sounds like he lived the easy life you would be absolutely and 100 percent crazy. Do you think it was very easy to be cast out by your own people, do you think it was easy to suffer the atonement, do you think it was easy to be tempted by the devil after fasting 40 days, do you think it was easy that despite all the miracles signs and wonders the people still rejected you, the message, and everything you knew would give them happiness? then why if it was never easy for the man we represent should we assume it to just be easy for us? The truth is its not easy but i promise you it is worth it. I cant even remember the faces of people who have rejected me, or scared me or anything else that was bad. I know they happened but i really find it easier to just remember the good.
Anyway i love you all and hope you have a great week,
Love,
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Email received December 2, 2013

Querida familia,
So really quick i will be staying in Bani for the next 6 weeks at least. I will be receiving a new comp tomorrow though which is good because Elder Manubay has been here for the past 8 and half months and he really needed the change. it was only his second area and he is finishing his mission in may ha but anyway it sounds like thanksgiving was a blast. I ate the pies you sent me and they were very good ha its been a while since i have had pie but the flan down here is super good. i love being down here in the republica. Church well its always interesting and always different. Last week the chapel was full but this week it was a bit empty but its ok because the branch does have the animo to work with us and we are pumped to get things really going down here. We are working so hard to accomplish our goal and it does look like we have at least one family already reactivated with a few more on the way. We have been teaching less actives like crazy and we are having a big bonfire for an fhe tonight way out in the boonies and we hope some less actives can come. Wow poor grandpa i hope he can pass. I hear the jazz arent really doing too well this year either ha looks like i left at the right time huh? ha anyway everybody sounds a bit baby crazy over there but its awesome. I love having a big family and a super close family. Something kinda funny is the branch right above us has this recent convert named frank. He is the coolest and a super funny guy and we are trying to set him up with our young womens president so yesterday we had another choir practice and we totally got them talking and he fell so in love but she still isn´t sure. He made her help him with the hymns though and i think it will all work out for them ha Anyway i decided that i will also be bringing these two little girls home. one of them is super funny and has a problem with her voice so she sounds like a man but she is only 6. She is adorable though and the other one is a sad story. There is this special needs girl who has palsy and lives in the poorest part of my area. Her family cant afford much but they are less actives and are really trying to get to church but its hard because they don´t have a lot of money and live pretty far from the capilla. They told us she loves when we stop by though. she loves feeling normal and being treated kindly which was the biggest reason the family joined the church. Because nobody told them their daughter was cursed just that she was loved and a blessed daughter of heavenly father. She always smiles at me as we walk by and i always smile and wave at her and its hard to fight back tears sometimes. so she is coming back with me in 20 months. Happy birthday to adam this week. Can´t believe he is already ten. I toats remember when he was born. i sure do miss that little guy. So i sent a letter home in the mail this last week. There is something in there for everybody, nothing too long or too special but stuff that i could do. I will get to skype with you guys at christmas. I should get more details later on that.
I love you all and hope this week is fantastic for you,
con mucho amor y un abrazo por cada uno de ustedes,
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Email received November 25, 2013

Querida familia,
I'm sorry my letter kinda freaked you out last week. I guess i just couldn´t really think of much to say but i promise i had a fantastic week. I love you guys so much and thanks for the all the prayers. I hope you know i pray for you all as well. Ha actually last pday we celebrated thanksgiving here as a zone. Our zone is very american so we all decided to get together and have a little party. We couldn´t cook a turkey though so we just bought some rotisserie chicken ha it reminded me of some good times me zack and jeff had. My president is a really good guy. He is very spiritual and you can tell he has so much love for his missionaries and for the work. He is a strict man but very sincere and very obedient. There is a very real opposing force here to the work. I have seen a lot down here in just the past 2 transfers and things that really i just can´t share because they are very sacred but I promise i am totally fine. The lord loves and protects each of his missionaries and i have been blessed with strength beyond my own. We had so many less actives in church yesterday, it was truly amazing to see the capilla fairly full. I loved it so much. The work is really starting to take off with the less actives. We taught a lot of them last week and we are really only struggling with getting this one woman to return. I'm pumped for uncle Ben. That took a while but its good that it happened por fin. so about the humanitarian stuff, I would love if she sent some things but in truth i don´t think i could be the one to hand the stuff out. If she wanted to she could send it to the mission office or something and they should be able to distribute but I don´t think its a good thing for me to do. The hardest part about my mission so far i think has been having to tell people i cant help them out financially. Its super hard but i can always share a quick message, give them a pack of oreos, and testify to them of the love our heavenly father has for them. I thought a lot about the song love is spoken here this past week. I have seen some pretty messed up homes here. The physical structures and the families that live inside them are full of problems. I thought about the line, mine is a home where every hour is blessed by the strength of priesthood power. What a great line. I know its true in our home and it can be for their homes as well. Thats what i am most grateful for. I grew up in a home knowing that no matter what happened the priesthood was always there. I had a mother and father who taught me gospel truths my whole life. When i was blessed to know that everything would be ok with you guys when i left in my setting apart, i didnt really understand how until now. I know mom that we are a forever family, what else matters? I hope thanksgiving is a blast for you all. We do have fhe´s with the members but we are not allowed to eat there. I havent really been sick but we did eat some weird food from this one restaurant and my whole house including my native zone leader got incredibly bad tummy troubles. Transfer calls will be here on sunday and i am thinking my comp will leave. I will be finished completely with my training so depending on the amount of missionaries coming in, i will be training. If its the lords will of course. I did receive the package yesterday. Thanks so much for sending it.
I love you all,
Elder spencer w. hulsey


ps here is marisol at her baptism

(No Subject)

Email received November 18, 2013

Dear family,

First a big happy birthday to Caleb. I miss that little guy and I'm looking forward to talking with him at Christmas. Its weird because i cant even imagine what he sounds like. I learned a lot about patience and overcoming adversity this past week. Bani is a real make you or break you area. and we can only do so much but we still wake up and start working anyway. I love being a missionary. I hope all is going well for you guys. I really hope you are able to find more missionary opportunities as well. So i have only had one zone conference here but we have a big mission conference coming up in December. Interviews are every 2 transfers and my president cant speak too much English so its for the most part all in Spanish. Ha pero esta bien, mi espanol no es perfecto pero puedo entender y puedo contestar las preguntas. Estoy mejorando cada dia y pienso que ese es la manera que el Senor quiere. Well I love you guys and I hope you are having a great week.

With love,
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Re: Happy Veteran's Day‏

Email received November 11, 2013

Querido familia,
Yo tuve mi primero bautismo en jueves y fue confirmado ayer. Tengo mucho felicidad por eso! really i cant even express how awesome it was. She was so nervous to do it in front of everybody, we actually had quite a few people show up to it which was awesome as well, but we were able to calm her fears by having everybody besides the witnesses close their eyes and reminding her how happy heavenly father was for her. I don´t know if i will see many baptisms here or not but im so happy i at least got to see Marisol get baptized. And im still committed everyday to go out and find the people who are ready. Thats how preach my gospel says to measure success. Are you still studying it? I cant really answer your questions about how its different from the discussions but i trust you will come to know it soon enough. wow that is crazy about russel eh? it really does go by just too fast. Mom you have absolutely no idea how much you have done for me and how much you do for me. Thanks so much for not chatting with the other moms or anything like that. I feel all your love and all your prayers. Frankly i feel like i have the best mom in the world. Y entonces, FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!!!!!! Im so blessed to have you as a mother really. I have seen a lot down here. Too many struggling families and im always reminded just how blessed i am to have my family and the promise that if we keep the commandments, we will be together forever. Im going to be working super hard this week with emphasis on reactivation. The time is now. I know i am a part of the great and maravillosa obra de los ultimos dias. No puedo expresar mi sentimientos con palabras pero yo se que el Señor esta conmigo cada dia aqui. Yo se que ese es verdadero. Yo se que jesucristo vive y nos ama. Soy un representante de el aqui en la republica dominicana. Tengo mucho amor por ellos. Si es dificil, si muchas personas me odian pero eso no es importante. porque soy llamado por dios para ayudar a estas personas a encontrar salvacion. Dios quiere que yo haga eso. Caun grande es mi llamamiento? I really do love what i do. So we have these two sisters in our zone, and one of them has been sick lately i guess and they haven´t ben able to get out in a while. The zone leaders asked us to go to the hospitial here in bani to help them get some kind of a test. So we did and while we were waiting a cristiano pastor came and started to try and throw down some doctrine with us. Elder manubay knows the bible like the back of his hand but we refuse to contend. We just invited and despite the many traps he tried to trick us into the lord kept his promise. That if we opened our mouths they would be filled and we would not be confounded before men. He told me he just couldn´t believe in the words of joseph smith. I asked have you read them? and he said an interpretation of them. So i asked him to do this, read the book of mormon, which is ancient scripture translated by joseph smith but not his words, and forget his doubts but only have faith. And then you can believe by the power of the holy ghost that this is true. Salvation comes through Jesus Christ and these are his words. Its very nice to have the lord on your side and to know when you speak by the spirit you are speaking the exact words he wants us to say.
I love you all,
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Email received November 4, 2013

Dear family,
Sorry for writing so early for you guys but today is a holiday here. Halloween kinda works like this here i guess, its a whole weekend. So basically its been halloween for the past few days here. the 31st was super crazy though because the day before Boston won the world series and Bani is full of Boston fans. Haha we heard the loudest cheers and all manner of shenanigans that whole night. Something kinda funny about Dominicans is they dont know that the United States are more than just new york and boston. They always assume thats where im from so just to help them out a bit i say i am from a campo a cerca de Nueva York se llama Utah. Im honestly doing really well. For the first time in a while we had more than one investagator attend church. Its been raining a lot here and the problem with our branch is that its huge and people can only afford motorcycles so when its raining its almost too dangerous to come to church but there are definitely some faithful members. I was pretty scared to death yesterday though ha not for my life or anything but we had this guy julio nunez show up to church. We were absolutely thrilled and i explained that this is a fast sunday and we will hear testimonies of the members to him. Then Jugo stood up. We love jugo a lot but he said some things he really shouldn´t have over the pulpit and then to make matters worse the district president stood up and called him out on it in front of everybody. Testimony meetings are always super interesting ha but anyway julio said he really loved meeting anyway and that his door is always open and we could visit him whenever. we are working really hard to try and teach the members the doctrine now too. The thing is i know i was called here for a reason and im just trying to do my best to help out this branch. Its all i can do. Predicar mi Evangelio huh? Its a really amazing book. I don´t really know how you did the work before at all but everything in preach my gospel is supposed to be based off what the spirit tells you. We study it like crazy and its super helpful in creating lessons plans that should directly help the persons direct needs. If you guys can try and look up this talk by Jeffery R. Holland he gave at the mtc back in March. I got to watch the brodcast of that in the CCM and it was really helpful to me in trying to become a better preach my gospel missionary. I really love studying in Chapter 6 and also in chapter 10 specifically in the como comenzar enseñar part. I think those really explain what we try to do as missionarys. In truth we aren´t just here to preach the palabra in your faith but we are here to be representatives of jesus christ. So chapter 6 explains what we need to do to be a good representative. This past week we were out tracting and it was raining super hard and we didn´t have umbrellas or anything so we were just getting drenched which kinda helped because more people were letting us in but we came up to this one house and heard this quien invito las mormones? this woman then turned around starred me right in the face and said super sternly no we want nothing to do with you we are catholic for life. I simply told her pues esta bien entonces solo querremos ser amigos y ayuda le. She just kept shaking her head and saying bye so we kept on trudging through the rain. Manubay then talked to me and said its alright i mean we will see her at judgement day right? it got me thinking though. I don´t want to see any of these people at judgement day going in the wrong direction. It really hurts me to even think about. i pray really hard for everybody who rejects the message. I guess what i want to say is missionary work much like the life of Jesus Christ can not be for yourself. Yes it was raining hard and yes its terrible being rejected but its not important. I know its true. I know it will bless these peoples lives so its not worth it feeling sorry for myself. im so happy everything is going well at home. Thanks so much for everything i got a letter from grandma and it made me all teary eyed. Im so happy we are an eternal family. I might be needing a good sweater or two because di que, dominican for supposedly, it gets cold at the end of November.
I love you guys so much,
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Email received October 28, 2013

Querido Familia,
Muchas gracias por su correo. Tengo mucho feclicidad cuando estoy leyendo sobre ustedes. Mami te amo. Oro para tu cada dia. Te extraño mucho pero yo se que estoy donde necesito estar. I love being here mom. Its the best decision i think i ever could have made. I dont even know why people would ever pass all this up. Its a struggle as you know but even though there are a lot of bad times, there is always hope. I have a lot of hope for this area. We are trying so hard but the people are just very laid back. Its hard for them to understand the importance of keeping commitments. But I know i was called here for a reason. I know it wasn´t random. And i guess this is just the lucha. All we can do is work. I really love to read in the scriptures too. In spanish they are even easier to understand. I was reading about abinadi this past week. It was pretty obvious he knew he was going to die there and i to be honest he may not have known all the reasons why the lord had asked to do what he did, never the less he did it. He preached the word with power and authority and though was rejected by many he was able to touch one heart. Alma the mayor, and look at all the good that came out of that. I really don´t know everything but i know i have a sacred calling and i am going to fulfil it. What do you mean the time is going slow? its blowing by mom. My days sometimes feel like they are two hours long. Im really working hard and having so much fun along the way. They really love to play dominoes here. You often see a group of older people sitting around and playing a game ha it does make for easy contacting. Our pool is kinda growing. We get rejected a lot but if you read in preach my gospel it defines how our success is measured. WE have to be commited to find people. WE have to be commited to teach and to baptize and to reactivate. WE have to be diligent. I really love the obra mom. Church was different this week because it was district conference. President came and spoke at it and it was really amazing. He talked about the work of salvation. We did sing in the choir and it was pretty funny. I will definitely have some wonderful memories about it. We have one piano player and he is our zone leader Elder Gatherum. He is an american and hes not the one who cooks. Me and him do get a long really well though. This will probably be his last transfer here though because he is going home in january. Well things are sounding great at home. Keep faithful and strong.
With love,
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Emails received October 21, 2013

Dear family,
This past week was a very good one to end the transfers on. We had interviews with the president last Thursday and he said my Spanish is sounding super good. He is a spiritual giant. There is really no other way to describe it. I really love him. I haven´t had any problems with my kidneys. I am being as smart as i can with the water i drink too i promise mom. I don´t plan on wasting one second of the lords time y entonces no quiero tener problemas con mi salud. Its super important to have the spirit with you always. Its the thing that really gets you through all your ups and downs. You go through a lot on a mission. You experience a lot and people look to you often to do something you really have no idea how to do but god is a very smart man. He won´t put you in a wrong situation with a wrong person so just be obedient. Follow the proper counsels and use the spirit. Thats the only way to have success. Also its very important to notice the little miracles. Oh so im staying in Bani with Manubay for one more transfer. Actually our house didn´t change at all which made me super happy because we have a lot of fun here. Zack is absolutely right. Its the only way. I think maybe for people in the church we treat repentance and the atonement as such a scary thing. Its a hard thing but its not scary. In truth its just happy. It makes everything so much easier in the end. So never be afraid to use the atonement when needed because it was made for a reason. Oh acapella. Cant believe those days are over sometimes. I trust wilcok kept the choir in line. We have a choir here in our branch but i think it would make wilcok cry for all the wrong reasons. Not too many Dominicans have a good voice. But its still a pretty fun. Tell emma its really going to be ok. I have had to learn this concept here, The lord will always bless you with strength beyond your own in the moment you really need it when you are humble and obedient. Its all going to be ok. Halloween should be pretty fun it sounds like. I think dad should go in a gorilla suit though, or maybe save that for field day or algo como si. Pues muchas gracias por todo. Yo se que estoy en el mejor parte de mi vida. Me amo todos las personas aqui. Ellos necesitan muchos cosas y se que el senor quiere darles todos. Mom i had such wonderful experiences this last week. I want to tell you about them all but I think im a bit too nervous to do so. But do know that im so happy here. I feel so good. It is hard tu sabes but im growing a lot everyday. And everyday its getting that much easier. I feel that is the purpose of life. Not to get everything right away but precept on precept. Everyday I can tell myself that i did a little bit better than yesterday. I start to notice every little thing the lord does for me. I know he lives, i know he loves me. I want to help these people as best as i can. I don´t think the lord can experience more joy than when a lost sheep is found.
I love you guys,
Elder Hulsey

Re: Hello there‏

Email received October 14, 2013

Dear family,
I am loving life here in the DR. Ok so we cant drink from the taps but water is really a non issue. We have filtered water bottles that we can drink straight from a river if we wanted to sin problema and we live right next store to a big water factory called Agua Crystal. And so we are able to buy purified water for super cheap so no teprecupes ha excuse my dominican slang. So anyway haven't been sick at all really. Tired but never sick. My native zone leader cooks for us and we all buy the food and do the dishes and such all in all it all works out. I always have enough money mom really. I have never ran out of personal food or anything so we are really all fine over here. So this week was super exciting for us. Basically our area book was the saddest thing you ever could have seen. Bani has been open for a super long time and so we had a lot of freaking stuff in there. I even found stuff from an Elder Wilkes i was wondering if it was the stake presidents son, But anyway we were praying for a way to really help our area because its been a bit of a struggle. I then had a thought during personal study and reflection time and I remembered what you always said about keeping a good area book. So I talked with my comp about it and we decided to act. It was amazing. We got permission to essentially start anew and so we started literally at the ocean and are working our way down talking to everybody and keeping a good record. The blessings are coming too as Marisol finally committed to baptism. She finally read and got her testimony after being an investigator for the past 8 months. She really wants to baptized on halloween and the assistants are ok with it but we are gonna call president and be sure. So thanks so much for always talking to me mom. Because of you acting on a thought that i believe to be one hundred percent inspired by the spirit people in Bani are receiving the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, The only true way to salvation. I'm super pumped for the home ward too. And just like you said really try to make her feel welcome and invited. Ill be honest with you our branch here is quite possibly the most apostate thing i may have ever seen but I'm grateful heavenly father has placed me here. I'm so happy for the chance i have to help out the branch here. Anyway that's way awesome for Zack. We do email but he didn´t tell me that. our email are a bit funny though. Kind of like these weird half spanish half english and the occasional guarani from him. I love this work and i hope you guys are able to find more opportunities to get involved. Are the missionaries Elders or sisters? are the Spanish or English or both or what? I love you all so much. We have interviews and transfer calls this week but i am pretty sure i will be staying with Manubay for another transfer. You are usually with your trainer for at least the first 2 transfers but with the amount of missionaries there is a possibility of me training this next one so we will have to see.
Con amor,
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Email received October 7, 2013

Dear Family,
Life in the DR is super great. I am glad you got that letter. There should have been a map in there so you can track where I am at. Bani is such an amazing place. People here don´t always understand the message though. It makes it a bit more difficult but I have learned a lot of good lessons about patience. I know I have the truth and therefore everything will work out for the best if i am obedient. That's really the key to everything in Missionary work. There are also a lot of evangelicos who don´t really like or rather understand the church. I am working super hard to build off common beliefs though. I am trying to be like Ammon. So The voodoo lady actually now has a baptismal fecha. We are working really hard with her to get her ready for it. its not for a while but I really admire her faith in accepting the invitation. I don´t see too much voodoo but I know i have been cursed a few times. I watched conference in Spanish so it was a bit hard to understand but i at least got the main focus of each talk. It sounded like they hit marriage pretty hard. And yes they just broadcast it to our church. I remember a talk elder bednar gave a long time ago but we got to see the rebroadcast of in the CCM. He started with saying if you write down everything that is said word for word all you have done is made a set of large plates but if you write down your feelings you are more apt to learn. They definitely hit member missionary work too. I am so glad you are sharing the gospel back at home. Its such a blessing to get to do it everyday. Sure its hard but its also really fun. I love being a witness of Jesus Christ. Hey way to go Emma. I do miss the Lindon Elementary sometimes. I really love my comp though he is a super great guy and he is very in tune with the spirit. We work hard but we also have a lot of fun. So we don´t have a time for dinner so we get two hours for lunch and we usually have a big lunch at home where my native zone leader, Elder Santiago, cooks. Then for breakfast i usually eat oatmeal, cereal, or just like grandpa some vienna sausages and for dinner i usually have enough time in between planning and bed time to make a sandwich. Si estoy aprendiendo la idioma. Es dificil a veces pero yo se que vive mi senor. Y puedo vencer todos mis desafios aqui por medio de su poder. Es una benedicion en mi vida para sentir su amor y su poder cada momento aqui. Y con cada persona yo tengo la oportunidad a ensenar. Muchas gracias por todos sus oraciones y todo su amor. We have a washing machine in our house kinda. Its two spinners really. One of them dries the other one washes but its a little rough on clothes. They say you just get used to the crustiness of them. I don't really mind though its really such a blessing just to have the water to wash my clothes really. And soap is pretty cheap here as well. I know a marvelous work has come forth. there is something super special about this country. It was the first one Chris Columbus found. I feel super blessed to be here. Thanks again for everything and have a great week.
Con amor,
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

 

Email received September 30, 2013

My Week was really good. Bani is a real make you or break you area. its super hard and often times you wont get the chance to see the fruit of your labors but I know i am helping people feel the spirit. I love contacting a lot because it is a time where i can testify to people who literally have nothing that if they listen to our message they can have everything. I love telling them that they are a child of a loving god. I know they feel the truthfulness of this. I remember this last Tuesday we found this lady out in the middle of nowhere and as missionaries we love to talk with everybody so we went up and started a conversation probably about 7 at night so it was pretty dark here. Anyway she had tons of voodoo in her house because a robber had broken in and she was super afraid of it happening again. She already didn´t have much to begin with. But anyway there was a different kind of feeling in that house. We said a prayer though and in the prayer my companion blessed the house with safety and with the spirit of god. And instantly the spirit had filled the room. We taught her about the restoration and she loved the message. she loved the spirit we brought to her that night. She is progressing now and we have a baptismal fecha for her on the 4th of January but it should move up soon. She is a fabulous lady. Anyway it sounds like things at home are going super well. So kind of a funny story but i got to go to the relief society session here To play techie with my comp. We live stream conference and that's how we watch it. I loved the talks though. Especially The first counselors She talked about how members need to involve themselves in missionary work. i really want to be a missionary for the rest of my life. I love doing what i do and i definitely feel your prayers. thanks so much for all you ever did for me. its so hard here but i know the lord walks with me everyday. i know he lives and is with us everyday. I love being his servant here.
Con mucho Amor,
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Re: Another week gone by!

Email received September 23, 2013

My dearest family,

So sorry for writing so late. It probably wont be a long letter because i got to get back to work. So today we got permission to leave our area and go to another one in our zone called Nizau. It is quite possibly the most beautiful place ever with a perfect view of the ocean. We left right on time but accidentally took the gua gua that was headed for the capitol and not bani so we had to negotiate a bit and find a new gua gua. Well the gua gua we found was super crowded but way fun too. Church was really good yesterday. I didn´t teach the pmg class but i did give a talk and that went pretty well. The language is a bit of a struggle of course but it really isn´t as bad as i thought it would be. Heck I'm even teaching an English class this Saturday morning. Pday we usually all get together as a zone and do fun things. Everybody in my zone is super cool. I'm super pumped for Emma. It really sounds like she is breaking her shell. I hope she is having fun too. A very happy birthday to Maren. I hope she knows how much all of her letters have meant to me and helped me. That's so crazy about patriarch Bean. He was the first person I went to for missionary month. Its weird now being on a mission. The news made me sad but I have never felt so close to the lord at any time in my life. I love getting to spread the gospel for him. President is a very reverent guy and a very inspired and strict man. He is a perfect president for me. He has challenged us to reactivate a family and get a baptism once a month. It will be hard but I know we can do it. I absolutely love contacting. Just sharing quick messages with random people and helping them feel hope. Thanks so much for everything. Your package came at the perfect time. We had a big zone conference with Elder Civic of the 70 and thats where i picked it up. The conference was great by the way. It was super cool seeing people from my CCM group. Well I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week.

Con Amor,

Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Email received September 16, 2013

Dear family,
Sorry it took so long but i love my first area here. Its technically Campo and not city but its actually super nice. It is really big, its called bani. Its super close to the ocean as well.
My companions name is Elder Manubay. today is his 16 month mark and he has only had two areas in the mission. he has been here for the past 6 months i believe. but its OK because all the members in our branch really do love him. We are pumped to work super hard out here though. We have this tiny little branch of about 38 members with well close to 500 less actives so our work is definitely cut out for us. Church is definitely interesting though. I really do love the people here. I got to teach the preach my gospel class and it was by far the hardest thing i have done here yet But it was super rewarding too because it helped out my Spanish a lot. The lord has definitely blessed me with the language. honestly its not even a super hard struggle for me. I definitely have a lot to work on but I'm picking it up pretty fast. I live in a house with the zone leaders and my comp is the district leader. we have by far the best zone ever. Speaking of one of the hermanas actually left this week to serve her mission in Utah. She was just waiting and serving her until her visa came through. She said she got a call from her president that said she would need to learn Englsh as well. She is going to the Provo mission so i told her if she ever got to go to Lindon and our house was included in her area to look you guys up and talk to you if she needed some help. her name is hermana Rodriguez and she is one of the coolest persons i have met here. Basically its really hard being away from home and having to learn and grow so fast all at once but I put all my trust in the lord. he has helped me get here and he is helping me through every step of the way. I really love the Lord I believe talk by Jeffery R Holland last conference. Because for one it reminds me that i am not perfect either. Its hard dealing with less actives at time but all god has ever had to work with is imperfect people and he probably gets frustrated with us, especially his missionaries, all the time. It really helps me want to work harder though. it makes me want to pray a little bit harder, read a little bit more intently, and listen a lot more to the real teacher the spirit. he knows the people perfectly. Another reason is because i witnessed a miracle yesterday. We had 4 investigators and 4 less actives in church with us. After each of the lessons i kinda left with that discouraging thought of well i really hope they can keep their commitments. And the words would always come to my mind, Lord i believe help thou my unbelief. My unbelief was helped this Thursday when I saw pedro, yefrazi and manuel at church. I love this work. I want to do this forever. Its really hard, my days have seemed pretty long at times but the its such a blessing being able to focus on one thing only. And being able to use and feel the spirit every minute of every day. yo se que somos hijos de Dios. y se que tengo una pefrecto familia para mi. Me siento sus oraciones cada dia y las ayudan me a vencer todos mis deafios aqui. Muchas Gracias por todas las cosas.
I love you guys all so much,
Con mucho amor,
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Email Received September 5, 2013

Mi querido familia,

I love you guys so much. I am so blessed to have been born to you. The Dominican republic is a slice of heaven. I got the opportunity to go on splits last Friday. It is part of the training here. on your 5th and sixth week you get to go either the east or west mission on splits with real missionaries. My comp's name there was elder Bickmore. He was amazing. he really helped me a lot. He said my Spanish was really good. I guess I learned the trick is not to be afraid to use it. I mean i definitely don't know Spanish yet but I know i never will if i am afraid of making mistakes. You got to be humble and you just got to do it. I love being here and I love doing what I do. I love talking with new people. in the field i met this guy named Mario. It started raining super hard so he invited us under a little overhang to keep dry. he could speak English so I talked to him for a long time. In the end he said he had been all over the world but had never met a people quite like the Mormons. he wanted us to teach his daughters but they lived in a different area. We did tell the other missionaries though. Sounds like your birthday was a total success. I'm so blessed to have a great family. My family is definitely my Ebeneezer. I haven't had a super easy time here. Its been rough. But knowing that my parents, brother, and cousin have all felt this way helped a lot. The best was realizing that the savior had felt this way before specifically for me. he suffered literally everything I've suffered here just for me now. You guys struggled watching me leave by myself and I cant imagine what heavenly father felt when he watched Christ suffer completely and utterly alone. I cant imagine what he felt when his only begotten son cried out in total loneliness father why hast thou forsaken me? But the message that we carry now and the hope that we get to spread to all the world is that Jesus Christ has risen. He has suffered it all and we will live with God again. I kinda had to grow up over night. I know i am not the same. My language is coming along just fine. I work very hard and the lord has blessed every effort. I'm just really struggling with subjunctive form but i know the lord will help me out with it. I pray for you guys constantly and I definitely feel your prayers. I'm super sorry if i don't get to email next week but I might not have a p day. I love the story of Ammon and actually one of my new favorite stories is when Alma takes 7 others with him to the Zoramites. it makes me feel my cousins. it helps me remember that we are all in the same fight together. It reminds me once again that i am not alone here. The lord never said it would be easy. But its not easy for investigators to change either. And in the end all he asks of us is to open our mouths to them. Tell them of his love and of his plan and invite them to follow Jesus Christ. I love my mission so much. I wouldn't trade a single moment. I still can't believe I've been out a month. I love you guys and you continue to amaze me.

Con muchismo amor,
Elder spencer w. hulsey

ps if you are looking for a book to read i heard of one called witnessing the hand of the lord in the Dominican Republic. its about the church's history here. Just thought it might be interesting if you could find it.

Re: Happy One Month‏

Email Received August 29, 2013

querido familia,
I cant believe its been a month either. Its going by super fast. I wish you guys could meet them all too. So today we broke a record for the DR mtc as we now have more people than ever and have had to open up the 3rd and 2nd floors to the ccm. I'm kind of sad though because we have had to eliminate some patron housing but I trust the lord knows what he is doing and will still find a way for people to come and receive the blessings of the temple. I have met even more people now as there are people from Nicaragua, Guatemala, Chile, all over. Its so nice getting to meet new cultures even when you can't understand a word they're saying. I miss the Jamaican sisters already. They were incredible. One of them gave a talk last Sunday and she told us all if something is worth doing it's worth doing with all your heart, and a mission is worth doing. I don't want to waste a second of the lords time and I want to serve him with all my heart here. My threesome is going well. Its harder to teach for sure especially because we are all very different personality wise. church is pretty awesome here. We always have sacrament meeting at 9, then district meeting/Sunday school then priesthood followed by doctrine class with the president and then a church video and at 6 we get to hear a quorum of the 12 devotional each week (we get to hear them on Tuesday mornings as well and these past two have changed my life) and then we have an ice cream social and walk around the temple. So the devotional on Sunday was by Jeffery R. Holland and it spoke exactly to my needs. He explained how we are all God's investigators. We are here to learn and to grow and become perfected in Christ. It is devastating to hear when a missionary comes home and loses their testimony. they keep saying my mission is supposed to be pretty high for that but I'm not going to be a part of that statistic. The tender mercies of the lord are truly all around. I had an amazing one last week at the university. We had one more book of Mormon and I was praying so hard for somebody to give it to. we walked past this girl sitting in the corner alone pondering about something and at first we walked past her with out a thought but i had a thought, nothing big or grand where the heavens opened up for me or anything but I just thought you need to go tell her heavenly father loves her and she is important to him. So i acted. I turned around and started talking to her. My Spanish isn't perfect but I know with all surety of my heart she felt Gods love for her. Even if it was just for 5 seconds she knew how important she was to heavenly father and I was reminded as well. The spirit always does his job with out fail. She accepted the book and I hope she calls the missionaries and gets more information. I pray so hard for dad everyday. I put his name on the prayer rolls each week so he has people from all over praying in his behalf in a few different languages even but to the same god and for the same purpose and I know he will do this and do this well. I would suggest reading 2nd Timothy 1:7-8. It has helped me everyday here and every step. I have nothing to complain about ever. I'm so happy for Emma. Homecoming was my first date too and It was a ton of fun. She will have a good time with Spencer and I know I wont have to beat him up or anything after two years. Thank you so much for all your positive and encouraging words. I really am blessed with such a great family and I know God is aware of all our needs. We have nothing to fear. I love you guys and i pray for you constantly. Keep up your good work
con amor,
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

(No Subject)

Email received August 22, 2013

Hola Familia,

I am having a great time over here in la Republica Dominicana. I love being a missionary. Nothing has ever made me so happy. My comps names are Elder Burgess, from Idaho, and Elder Mccombs from California. Both of them are amazing and my companionship is working tremendously. Its super hard to teach in 3{s but I am loving every step of my journey and its super good to learn because The gospel needs to be preached by the mouth of multiple people. The lord allows us to struggle to make us into who we need to be. He needs us to understand his ways are higher than our ways. Humility before the lord is the hardest lesson to learn I feel. Because things always came so easy to me I don't feel like I always did the greatest job of thanking the lord for everything. I am making up for it as best I can now. Elder Scott gave an amazing devotional last week and It was the first one foreign mtc{s were able to hear and watch with in a day of it being given. It was awesome to be a part of. I am glad stake conference was fun. Probably my favorite part of a Sunday is doctrinal class with the president. Everything must be answered in the scriptures or white bible. Oh by the way I have no way of getting stamps right now so to all who wrote me a letter thanks so much. It means the world to me and I love hearing from everybody but I have no way of sending you anything in the mail at the moment. So ya I have been exposed to so many cultures in the past little while. I get to see a lot because the ccm is also patron housing for the Caribbean. I love talking with everybody especially the little kids. With my companion obeying mission rules of course but hey love the missionaries and I shake all of their hands. They are really good examples to me. My favorites right now are the Jamaicans though. They are so funny and faithful. They are frustrated right now too because everybody else is learning Spanish and we all speak in Spanish and they can{t speak it ha but we have taught them a few basic things so they aren't always confused. I am so excited for you guys. Actually kinda freaking out because Eli started school. And it sounds like Caleb is growing up too. Elder Pena loves the picture of Caleb and Eli. As far as language goes I am progressing as the lord needs me too. I read Grandmas birthday card and It made me cry a little. I felt the spirit very strong. I am so happy the missionaries found her. We are all so blessed for that. Grandma reminds me of the Haitians actually. She has been very faithful through it all. Those guys have lived through so much and I am blessed by their examples. Tell Emma the job is going to be a blast. Its a little difficult at times but the harder she works the better. I can't really think of anything I need to be honest. I think living here has changed my perspective a lot. When we went to the store last week I saw man fill up his water ball with sewage run off and That experience mingled with several scriptures has changed my life already. I love this people. I love all the Caribbean people. I hope and pray for opportunities to serve multiple missions in this area. I look at my white shirts, pants, ties, shoes and that's all they are to me but to some other boy here those things are what all the missionaries where. They are the coolest things to them. They are rare treasures and blessings to them and I am honored and happy to leave all that i can with them to help build the kingdom even more. My departure date is September 10th. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Love always,

Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

(No Subject)

Email received August 15, 2013

Hey mom!

Thanks so much for all of this. I know it couldn't have been easy but you must know how much I love these people and how much I am dying to share this message with them. My companion is a good guy. He tries his best and I love him. I will be in a threesome for the rest of the experience though because we just got a whole group of Latins in and elder Peña is going to be with them. Oh and the Haitians left. I am a bit sad about that but they will do amazing things. They are the nicest most faithful guys I have ever met. They have been working as hard as they can their whole lives for this and they are doing the true work of the Lord. By far my favorite teacher is Hermano Rubio. He is a Dominican form of Zack. I have seen people who remind me of a few of our family members. Elder Horner is definitely Sam Reber and Elder Peña is totally Jeff, ha. He is even a huge Walker Texas Ranger fan haha. Oh we also got a ton of Jamaican sisters in. I actually haven't been sick at all but a guy in my district has a colon infection. The doctor here says that its common for north Americans though. Oh and by the way If I ever get sick here I am supposed to come back to the MTC and have the doctor here check me out. He is a super funny guy from America and he and I talked a lot because of my kidneys. He just said be wise and drink water. anyway school should be fun. Summer sure blew away huh? Well I know Dad is going to do great things. He has the lords blessing and I have been to the temple twice now and have placed his name on the prayer rolls. I know the lord will bless him and all of you. To help solidify this point I want to share a very amazing experience I had. So the role play we do here is all with our teachers. My teacher Hermano Rubio has been dubbed the hardest one but I love it because its supposed to be the real thing. His role play name is Jose Cuevas and everybody in my district leaves the lessons very downhearted because he is so difficult. And he knows the scriptures very well. I decided with my companion and through much prayer and study that we need to Just get to know him and understand how our message can help him before even saying we have a message for him tonight.  I had studied hard and used my scriptures and got to know him super well and taught according to the spirit. I felt the spirit incredibly strong through this all and I know all of this came because of him. Last night I had never felt it so strong and I challenged him to be baptized (again because he said he was already baptized before by immersion in the Church of Dios) and he totally accepted. All things were made possible through Christ here. I am just some little boy from Utah but the Lord is using me to be an instrument in His hand. He is turning me into who I need to be. I have learned so much this week and it is as you say a baptism by fire. But even seemingly impossible tasks are made possible through the love and grace of god. I haven't regretted a single minute of this. It's scary and hard at times but I am doing it and I know you all can too. Its a blessing having all your prayers. Thank you for helping me get here. I pray for you all everyday and night. I love you all. and yes I can receive packages here. By the way I have received more mail than any other elder here ha so thanks to everybody who has written me.

Con mucho amor y abrazos,

Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

(No Subject)

Email received August 8, 2013

Thanks so much for the email it means so much to me and I know I can tell you anything. I know this is the hardest thing I have ever done but I am doing it and it has been getting easier everyday. I love the food here it's all native Dominican food but with less parasites. Its mostly just rice beans meat and bread. I have this feeling all the time that I am like Samuel the Lamanite and I have a big wall I need to get on top of to preach to the Dominican people. The wall is called Spanish. Cada día I feel the lord helping get a little higher on the wall. It takes a lot of hard work but I love it. I know he will do the same for you as well. Thanks again for the email and I will talk to you more next Thursday.

Tequiero mucho
Elder Spencer W. Hulsey

Elder Spencer Hulsey is on his way!

Elder Spencer Hulsey's visa came through on Monday, July 29th. He was set apart on Tuesday night, July 30th. He flew to the Dominican Republic to report to the MTC there on Thursday, August 1st.



Up on time and doing personal study the morning after being set apart



The ride to the airport on Thursday (4:45am)



At the airport with siblings



At the airport with Mom and Dad



At the airport - last picture with the family

Spencer opening his mission call!

Pleasant Grove High School Class of 2013 Mission Call Openings