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.