Fwd: DNA to Liberty

Spain has turned from Spring to summer while we were locked up so when we were turned loose on Saturday to do a walk outside it was just so different temperature wise and also we have been so long inside.

Love you all,

Martha and Dan





Sent from my iPad

Fwd: Broadcast to planking

Dear Family and Friends,

We finally received a little news of Spain removing some of the lockdown instructions. Today the kids can go out and next Sunday the adults get out of house confinement to exercise or just go for a walk with their mate. There is hope. Sorry for the letter with so few of the regular scenes but these have a slightly new twist thanks to our zone of young crazy missionaries.

Love Martha and Dan





Sent from my iPad

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Wow, as the year has wound down, it's felt like everything has been counting down to the end of my mission. Life still feels more or less the same though, so it's really hard to believe that I'm actually leaving, and this is my last email. Since I'm not going to get another chance to share with you all as a missionary, I want to share with you the testimony I've gained on my mission.

As a missionary, I've learned to trust in God's miracles. When I first came out, I had a rather dumb mindset towards missionary work. I decided I already had faith, so I didn't need to see miracles, and I was just fine with working hard and toughing it out if that's what God wanted me to do. I guess I was trying to brace myself for disappointment or something. I've since learned that that was a really dumb way to go about things. Missions are going to be hard no matter what, but what I didn't know then was that when Heavenly Father's involved, even hard and disappointing times can still be joyful. What's more, if we have faith, we have His promise that we will see miracles (See 2 Nephi 27:23). I can say without a doubt that serving a mission has been the hardest thing I have ever done. It's a constant battle to measure up and be the kind of missionary the Lord wants you to be. It's often discouraging. But in the midst of all that, I've seen miracles. I've lain awake at night unable to fall asleep because I am marveling at the perfection of Heavenly Father's plan for us. I've watched people's eyes light up as the gospel fills a part of them they didn't know was empty. I've stood in awe as Heavenly Father has revealed a solution to a problem we didn't think could be overcome. I've knelt in prayer and felt a love so strong I didn't want to stop praying, even long after all my words had been used up. 

Before I came on a mission, I had to choose a scripture to be put on my missionary plaque. I chose Doctrine and Covenants 123:17:   

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

When I came out, I had hope that this scripture was true. I clung to it as assurance that I would see the salvation of God on my mission. Now, it has been proven to me. I know without a doubt that God is aware of us, and we can trust Him in everything.

I'm so grateful I've been able to share this mission experience with all of you. Thank you for your love and support! See you in the new year!

Love,

Sister Sofi Hull

Pics: 

1. Our ward had a Christmas party, and it was amazing! There was so. much. food. 

2. We had Zone conference this week, and 4 of my companions were there! It was so much fun to be surrounded by people I love so much.

3. We made oreo truffles for the ward Christmas party. A lot of the Taiwanese people thought they were way too sweet, but I thought they were delicious!

4. There is a corgi who lives in our apartment building, and he is our best friend. His name is Hanji, which means sweet potato in Taiwanese. 

The Second to Last Email You'll Ever Get From Me as a Missionary

Hi Everyone!

Friday I hit a very important milestone: I have officially been on a mission for 18 months. That day we had several hours without any appointments, so we felt like we should bike out to this little town on the edge of our area nestled up against the mountains. The hour bike ride was beautiful, through rice fields and little forest-y areas. Of course, we had to stop and take a picture.

When we got to the little town, we ate dinner and then we only had about 20 minutes to contact before we had to head back to make it back to an appointment in Xinying. We were really excited, because we felt like we had really been prompted to come to this town. Our first contact was amazingly awkward. Our second contact was too busy playing Pokemon Go to talk to us for very long. We didn't find anyone else to talk to before it was time to head back. We were both kind of disappointed because we'd biked a really long way, and nothing had really come of it. We made better time coming back than we thought we would, so we had a few minutes before we had to go to our appointment. We decided to stop real quick at a little park and stretch because we were super sore from riding 18 miles. As we waited across the street from the park for the light to turn green, a man on a bicycle rode past us, stopped, and asked 'how can I get in touch with you?' We stopped and talked to him, and he said he is really interested in coming and understanding our church. We gave him our contact information and invited him to the Ward Christmas party, then headed off to our appointment. We realized that if we had not been coming back into Xinying, there is no way we would have been on that side of that particular intersection. We got sent on an 18 mile bike trip to find someone 2 minutes away from our house. But it was a really cool miracle! 

So I need to brag for a second, this week I figured out how to tie a tie all by myself. I'm not sure if I did it right, but it looks like a tie, and the skinny part slides up and down like it's supposed to, so I'm pretty proud of myself.

I don't know if you remember when I told you all about our guacamole making party a week or two ago. He had been meeting with the missionaries for a while, but he kind of stopped right before we got there, and he thought Sisters were awkward. But then after a lot of prayers on our part, he suddenly asked us to teach him to make guacamole. This week we called him, and he said he could meet with us. We set up a time, and his wife, who is a recent convert to our church was also there. We shared about the blessings of eternal families, and how big and amazing those are, and we explained that we really love his family, and would like to help them be sealed. We asked if he would be willing to start meeting again and keep learning, and he said yes! Then his whole family came to Stake Conference yesterday, which was awesome! It's been so cool to see how Heavenly Father has been working to give us opportunities to keep working with him. We're super excited to help him come closer to Christ and receive of His blessings. 

As I mentioned earlier, we had Stake Conference this Sunday. Our ward took a bus up together because it's pretty far away. We even had two people we are teaching come! We met in a rented auditorium because our stake doesn't have a stake center. There were some really good talks. Our mission President gave an awesome talk completely in Chinese about the circumstances that prepared their family to come to Taiwan. His wife also gave a really sweet talk and bore her testimony in Chinese. They haven't been here very long, but she already speaks pretty well, which is amazing. The gift of tongues is real! We also got to hear from the temple president and his wife, who used to live in our ward. They are some of the most Christlike people I have met, and it was wonderful to hear them talk powerfully about the blessings of the temple. The blessings of the temple are so real!

After we got back, we went to a park called Swan Lake to contact. While there, we talked to a ton of people, and also got to admire this beautiful black swan:

Next week will be the last week I send out a group email as a missionary. Thank you all so much for supporting me through the last year and a half. Serving a mission in Taiwan has been an amazing experience, and I'm so glad I got to share some of the highlights with you!

Have a great week!

Sister Hull