I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room to recieve it.

Hi everyone! 

This may possibly have been one of the best weeks of my mission thus far. It started and ended with a bang. There have been several times where I've had to pinch myself to make sure I didn't just hallucinate everything. 

First off, we had our last exchanges of the transfer at the beginning of this week, and look who I was with:

That's right, I got to spend an entire 24 hours serving the Lord with Sister Barber!! We spent the whole time just marveling at how incredibly lucky we are. We got to catch up on all the things that have happened in the last 9 months of serving on opposite sides of the same island. We shared our struggles, our successes, and the joy that we'd found. We also got to go out and do missionary work together! And oh my goodness, Sister Barber is a wonderful missionary. She loves these people so much, and she taught me a lot about being excited to go out and contact on a blazing hot morning. Serving with her was an absolute joy.

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The other big event of the week was on Saturday: Roy and Ding Ding got baptized!! Let me introduce them a bit to you. Ding Ding has been golden from day one. Even though she is an insanely busy high school student (students here are busier than I thought humanly possible), she still managed to bike over to the church in the dark a couple nights a week to meet with us and learn about the gospel. She was a little nervous about baptism, mainly I think because about half the ward came to support and she was nervous to have that many people watching her. When she came out of the water though, she said her feelings were hard to describe, but that it was kind of what she imagined the feeling of a newborn baby coming into the world ​to be like. Sort of bigger than she could comprehend, but also joyful and full of hope and possibility.

Roy more or less baptized himself. He walked into the children's English class one day last transfer, stayed even though his English is perfect, and then at the end said he wanted to learn more about Jesus. Even though he is studying to be a surgeon and is really busy, he has been on fire ever since. He loves the Book of Mormon and the strength he gets from Heavenly Father. He really understands just how unique and precious the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. After his baptism he told us that he feels completely clean both body and soul. He said that Saturday was probably the most important day of his life, and one that he'll never forget. Neither will I. When we asked him what song he wanted us all to sing at the baptismal service, he picked the song 'Called to Serve'. He has spent every minute he can since his baptism telling everyone what an amazing thing baptism is, and sharing his experience. 

Wait, you may ask, who is that third sister missionary in the picture? Aren't there just two of you? In the picture above, in addition to me and Sister Hancock is Sister Moderzitski. Sister Mod just went home, and Tainan was the last area she served in. She and her family happened to be visiting Taiwan this week, so they were also able to attend the baptism. She had the chance to teach Roy and Ding Ding before she left, so they were both super happy to see her. The whole ward loves her, so her presence just added to the happiness of the baptism. 

Here we are with even more ward members and Sister Mod's parents. Don't Roy and Ding Ding just fit in perfectly? The whole ward just adores them, and they've been so excited to friendship them, support them, and help them come closer to Christ. A large percentage of them came to the baptism, making it feel like a party. ​ The most interesting thing for me though, was that as happy as I was at the baptism, it wasn't a new kind of joy. I think I'd built up baptism into such a huge thing, that it was the be all end all of missionary work. But the joy that I felt at their baptism was a feeling that I've had so many times over the last few months when I've seen an investigator finally comprehend a principle of the gospel, felt the Spirit testify through me, or suddenly understood why I was called to a certain area or to meet a certain person. The joy of missionary work isn't from baptisms, but from acting as a representative of Jesus Christ and helping people come closer to Him. Any act that fulfills this purpose brings joy.

That's all I've got for today! I hope you all have an amazing week!

Lots of Love,

Sister Hull

All the Exchanges

Hi everyone!

This week happened so quickly that I have quite honestly forgotten everything that happened. Thankfully, I have some pictures.

Our first exchange this week was with Sister Dustin and Sister Galer from Xinying. Sister Hancock went to Xinying, and Sister Galer came down to Tainan with me. Which was slightly nervewracking since I've only been here for about 3 weeks and I'm still figuring out where everything is. We had a super fun time though! Sister Galer is a brand new missionary, and I was her first exchange. She's also studying English, so we had lots to talk about. The exchange flew by as we chatted, laughed, and shared the message of the restored gospel with anything that moved. 

One of my new favorite methods of contacting is dog contacting, where we see people taking their dog for a walk, and go and ask to pet the dog. Then, while one companion is petting the dog, the other has time to share with the owner who is now held captive by a very happy dog that does not want to leave. Works like a charm.

We had a few hours in the morning, so we decided to bike down to a college to see if there was anyone there to talk to. We forgot that summer starts early in Taiwan, so while there were lots of students at the college, none of them were willing to stay in the heat and hear our message. They were all rushing to their next air conditioned building. I don't blame them. I picked up a pretty decent sunburn in the process, first sunburn of the season! My watch tan is developing nicely.

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On Wednesday we taught English Class. Here in Tainan, we get to teach the kids' class. This week we only had two little girls, Penny and Tania. It was the craziest class I've been in. The girls had a competition of who could get their chairs closer to the whiteboard. They assured us that they could still read the whiteboard while their noses were pressed to it. They spent most of the time criticizing Sister Hancock's handwriting. Penny would also go into long performances where she babbled nonsense sounds that were supposed to sound like English. Apparently 'Kew' sounds very American, because she said that a lot. Finally, we got them settled down for Spiritual Share at the end. Turns out Penny goes to a Christian school, and knows quite a lot about Jesus. We asked her what kind of person she thought Jesus is. She tilted her head and gave a beautiful answer about how kind and loving He is. Upon finishing, she stuck her tongue out and spit directly in Sister Hancock's face. After trying to be spiritual for a little longer, we gave up and ended English class a little early.

Our second exchange of the week was with Sisters Bast and Graham from Xihu! Xihu is pretty far away, so they both came here. I was with Sister Bast, who is super sweet. She loves the people here so much, and was a great example to me of how to share that love.

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Definitely the highlight of this week has been preparing two of our investigators, Roy and Ding Ding for baptism. Both of them are amazing, and love the gospel so much. It has been such a privilege to be able to share in this experience with them. ​It's also been really cool to see how much the ward has welcomed them in. They attend activities, sing in the choir, everything. It's so fun to see the gospel light up their lives and bring them joy. Here's an example of an exchange we had the other day with Roy that shows just how golden he is:

(The phrase that Sister Hancock ​shared basically means 'the sooner you act, the sooner you get a reward')

I love the people I get to work with so much! I love that I have this chance to help and serve and love them and see them change their lives. Tainan is honestly the promised land, and I love being able to go out and share the gospel every day with these people. 

Have an amazing week!

Love you bunches!

Sister Hull

I'm an Amah!

Hi everyone!

Happy Mothers' Day! We celebrated with our ward yesterday and with our own families over Skype today. It was so amazing to see my family. Holy cow they've grown! I'm so grateful for technology so that we can still keep in touch despite the fact that we're half a world apart. Having a cell phone makes it especially easy-- Sister Hancock and I didn't even need to leave the house.

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This week has actually been full of reunions, thanks to exchanges. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I got to exchange with Sister Chan, whom I was roommates with in the MTC. We had a great time catching up and doing missionary work together. One thing I am constantly impressed with is how different each person's mission is. Even though we've been on the same tiny island for the same amount of time, our experiences have been completely different. I love seeing how every missionary's mission is tailored specifically to them. Our mission call doesn't end at the end of the letter we open. It's ongoing, including specific areas, companions, and people. Only Heavenly Father knows the full extent of our call. It's so fun to get to a new area and slowly learn why you were sent there.

This week I also got to go on exchanges with Sister Wu, my trainee! It's been about 4 months since we said goodbye, and it was so fun to be reunited for 24 hours. Also, she's training, so I'm an Amah!! Her trainee, Sister Bateman, is adorable. Before we split ways, we took a 3 generations pic:

It was so cool to be back together with Sister Wu and see how much we've both grown. Training was kind of rough because I was a brand new missionary, and I had no idea what I was doing. Also I couldn't speak Chinese and I was really shy. We sort of ended up training each other as I taught her how to be a missionary and study the scriptures and stuff, and she taught me Chinese and how to enjoy talking to people. We've changed a ton since then. Sister Wu is an incredible missionary. She loves the scriptures and the gospel, and she especially loves sharing with others. We had a lot of fun riding around doing missionary work together, reminiscing, and marveling at how far we've come.

We also got to do some service on Saturday morning acting as crossing guards for some mothers' day performance. We're not really sure what was going on, but there were hordes of small children in sequin costumes dressed like genies, fish, and other exotic creatures who needed to cross the street, so we helped them out. 

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​Lately, I've been learning a ton about studying the scriptures. Before I came on my mission, I liked the scriptures and knew they were good, but there was always something more pressing or more interesting to distract me from spending too much time in them. As I've been out, I've slowly been learning to love them more. I think a lot of it has to do with learning to ask questions. At first, it was just questions about my own life, and looking for parallels in the scriptures that could help give me guidance. Lately though, I've been learning to ask more questions about the scriptures themselves. The scriptures are remarkably small volumes for Heavenly Father to fit in the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the road map to eternal life and happiness. I've learned as I dig into the words and stories He inspired the prophets to include, more questions arise than I have time to answer. Looking for answers to all these questions has increased my hunger to know more. And of course, with each question comes the accompanying question, 'therefore, what?' How does this apply to me? I've learned that the scriptures truly contain the pattern for achieving eternal life. Studying them helps us understand God and our own eternal natures. I love the scriptures so much. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the added light and knowledge that it brings to the world.

These mango smoothies may even be better than mango bing. It tastes like pure liquified mango with little chunks of mango inside. This is what heaven tastes like. 

I hope you all have an amazing week! 

Sister Hull

Time on Fast Forward

Hi Everyone!

When I moved to Tainan two weeks ago and started as an STL, my new companion, Sister Hancock told me that this would be the fastest transfer of my life. This week I learned what she meant. We had Mission Leadership Conference, Zone conference, my first exchange as an STL, and an Asia Area Stake Conference. The only day that was a normal missionary day was Thursday. I am exhausted in every way possible. It was awesome! I love being busy. 

Zone conference was our first opportunity to see everyone else in our zone this transfer. Here's a picture:

We have a pretty fun zone!​ And you may have noticed the most exciting part of the picture, Sister Barber is in my zone again!! Our entire missions we've been slowly inching our way closer to each other, and now we're serving in the same city! And she's teaching one of my former investigators! She's such an amazing missionary, it's so fun to be so close to her. Next step, companions?

Another event of note, I went on my first exchange as an STL! I exchanged with Sister Zhang:

Sister Zhang is from Taibei. She's an awesome missionary. I learned a ton from her about loving everyone we come in contact with. We had a lot of fun running around the city of Douliu sharing the gospel with everyone we could find.

One highlight was doing service at this adorable children's library. We helped reshelve books. I realized that it's the first time I've been in a library in longer than I want to count. It was really fun to be able to serve and watch parents come in with their children to read together. It made me even more grateful for good parents who take the time to read with their kids. I'm so grateful that my own parents made sure to read the Book of Mormon with us every night, even when we were bored and tired and hanging upside down off our chairs. I love the scriptures so much now, and I know that habit started with my parents' example.

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One final notable event of the week, mangoes are almost back in season!!! We're starting to see the first few show up in the markets, and on Saturday we went with the elders in our ward, Elder Smith and Elder Miller, to get our very first mango bing of the year. ​Bing is shaved ice with all sorts of delicious stuff dumped on top, and it is what makes Taiwanese summers livable. Without mango bing, summer would just be hot, sticky, and miserable. With mango bing, it's the best part of the year! Taiwan doesn't feel completely like Taiwan when mangoes aren't in season.

That's honestly all I can remember from this week. I know I repeat myself a lot saying this, but I am honestly so grateful for the opportunity  to share the gospel here in Taiwan. I've seen myself grow and stretch so much. I love these people, and I love my Savior. I know that Christ knows each of us personally. He sees our struggles, our doubts, and our fears. If we are willing to come to Him, He take us in all our weakness and makes us whole. I am so grateful for His endless patience, His eternal grace. 

I hope you all have an amazing week!

Love,

Sister Hull