Email: May 29, 2017

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for your email. I loved it! sounds like you guys are keeping nice and busy. AND THANK YOU SOOSSOOSOSOSOSO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!!!!!!! it really was perfect and i feel so spoiled. We made Funfetti cupcakes and brought them over to a less active member for the anniversary of her baptism. Also THAT DRESS!!!!! it is the most perfect dress mom. I just hung it up in my closet and would just look at it. and the proactive stuff seems so be working!" anyways thanks so much. you are the best! and congrats Megan, Braxton, Quincy, Bekah and Big Al! 

This week was AWESOME!. It was the week of people actually letting us in. I had made a goal to ALWAYS open my mouth and it helped out. We were able to find 11 new people to teach. We found this one family that said that we have a "stop" at there house for the bathroom or water  which is a blessing because that is where we always seem to find the drunk men. 

On Saturday we had a pic nic. We went to this beautiful park and had lunch played games and enjoyed the beauty of god´s creations. We were blessed to have 4 investigators and 3 less active members there. It was a lot of fun and man i LOVE the members here in this branch. 

After our picnic we went and visited the gypsies! she was awesome. We drew out the plan of salvation with them and then she yelled for her husband to come in because she just loved it so much. Her husband reluctantly came in but we talked with him a little bit and answered his questions. She told him about all the peace and joy she feels when we are there. Then she promised us in the name of Jesus that they would come to church. Sooo we were sitting there in sacrament meeting and finally they showed up! I don´t know how loud i said it but i saw them through the door and almost yelled "Fatima´s chegou!!!!!" haha. The members were SUPER welcoming and were so excited to have 3 kids go to primary. (we only have 1 kid in the primary). Fatima said she really liked church and they were definitely coming next week. The husband wasn´t too thrilled about having to wake up early but the kids really liked primary. Fatima is really just a huge example of faith for me. The way she prays and raises her family and everything. I have just grown such a love for this sweet family. On Sunday after church our district decided to set up a table to contact people. So we did! it was pretty fun but really it helped us to not be afraid to open our mouths. we talked with everyone that passed by and even chased down a few people who tried to escape. In the end we got a few addresses for new people to pass by. mom you should tell my siblings to email me! This week i read one of my all time favorite talks. It is by President Uchtdorff (all of his talks are my favorite i swear...) it is called a summer with great aunt rose! Talks about making our pathway bright through our faith and hope and charity. Also i have been reading the prophecies from Samuel the Lamanite and i love the way he calls peeps out to repentance. Also i felt like he was calling me out to repentance but it was good because i KNOW that we have a savior who always has our back. 

Love you guys! 

Emma

Email: May 22, 2017

Hello!!!

It is always so good to hear from you! Thanks for the birthday wishes! It was a great day. This week was crazy and I almost can´t remember everything that happened. But on my birthday after exercises I really wanted something yummy to eat so we went to the cafe right by my house and got this pastry thing that was delish. Then as we were doing studies the elders called and said that this man Jorge, a member here, wanted to take us out to a really far part of our area and that we would go work out there for a little bit before heading to a member's house for lunch! So, we got in and like 30 minutes later ended up at the beach! I had no idea the beach was our area!! So we went and knocked a bunch of doors out there and got to hear the crash of the waves as we did it. I have always wanted a beach birthday and I got one. Then we went to the member's house for lunch and it was delicious! At the end they gave us some walnuts to eat and Irmao Jose took his and cracked it open with his hand. (he´s 94 btw!!) Then I tried but I didn´t secure the walnut with my other hand so the walnut went flying and almost hit Irma Otilia in the head!! Then my hand hurt for like 4 days.  We all were dying of laughter. Anyways after that we knocked some doors and taught our gypsy family again! She said they were going to Porto to try and live in a different house but today we saw her at the grocery store and they are staying! Woohoo! I really love them! We have taught some other lessons this week too which is always a pleasure. Also all of Saturday we spent trying to get people to come to church. We had Aldina committed but then she called and canceled danget! But then when we got to church Marta, and old investigator who we have been trying to get to church for weeks now, was sitting there! We were able to teach her a little bit after church and she said that she is giving us a ride to the branch activity this week. I know that the Lord blesses all of our efforts, and that no righteous effort goes unnoticed.  

Hope you guys have a wonderful week full of lots of memories. Thanks for your prayers! Love you guys! 

Sister Emma Hulsey

the old man gave us like 20 avocados! happy bday to me

my birthday! it was really windy at the beach

sao jao da madeira is known for making hats so they have these cool statues

Email: May 15, 2017

Hello family! 

OH MAN IT WAS THE VERY BEST TALKING WITH YOU GUYS!!!! I love you all so much!! And then when I got home I remembered that I had forgotten to wish you a happy mother´s day Mom! and Grandma!! Sorry!! You guys are some of the greatest blessings in my life. 

So a few cool things happened this week. We went and learned how to make soup with Margarida and then taught her family the first lesson! It was awesome and now we make lots of soup. We visited a few times this week with her and she is hilarious. She always gives us so much stuff. I think Sis B now has 2 new pairs of shoes and a new skirt. She is a little harder to teach because she talks A LOT but we still love her. Also we met Fatima and a lot of her gypsy family this week! Fatima is really sweet. When we went over there she got so excited because we had contacted her a few weeks ago and at the moment she said no and to come back (how everyone does here..usually they don´t really want us to come back) but we went back and she told us she was praying we would come back. She said she just really wants to know which church is true. and to find a church she can stay in forever. She told us the door is always open. (Gypsies are pretty funny. They really do have a lot of faith. but it´s kind of twisted. Fatima was telling us how she hasn´t paid her rent in 3 months so she was praying and she said her land lord hasn´t gotten too mad at her! ) 

This week we also found Lurdes, a lady who lives by Aldina (Aldina actually introduced us to her.) But Lurdes has a ton of faith and said we needed to go pray for her mom. So, we entered her house and knelt down and said a prayer for her mom. Lurdes was super touched so much so that she came to church! (she said her mom got a little bit better, then she asked us to say a prayer for her vision because she doesn´t want to use glasses, she thinks she looks ugly with them ahha) 

When we were walking to church (after a few people who promised they would come let us down) we felt the need to turn back and knock on Fatima´s door. So we did and....NOTHING! Well, we just turned back to go to church with peace in our hearts knowing we tried everything. Then all of the sudden a car stopped us. It was Lurdes! We asked if she was going to church and she said yeah so we hopped in her car and helped her get there! Wow the Lord is just so good. 

This week I did a special study on joy. I went to the Portuguese guide to study the scriptures and it says see also obedience. I thought about that for a while. Our purpose on earth is to have joy, and when we are obedient, we have the spirit. And one of the fruits of the spirit is joy! 

I am very glad you guys are doing well and keeping busy. I love you all very much. Thanks for all of the prayers and love. 

Love 

Sister Hulsey

aldina always kisses us so a duckface selfie was necessary

We left hearts on aldina´s door, then it rained. then we noticed she re wrote the words hahahah she said she is never taking them down

the soup we made

we got some good pao at this old famous cafe

the district

some shots portugal. aint she beautiful? 

Email: May 8, 2017

Dear Family! 

Well this week passed by pretty fast. It was full of a lot of stuff! We went and did a division with the sisters in Porto, which was my first area!! It was fun to be back for the day. I also got to chat with Dani (my first baptism) who is being a little bit rebellious. I told her to stop! But it was good to know she is doing alright. Then we had to go back to Porto a few days later bc Sister B had a dentist appointment. On Saturday we had quite a few people to visit and we able to find a few new people to teach. We also passed by a this one guy, Carlos, who doesn´t really believe in God but we gave him a BoM. He´s reading it!!! Whaaaat??? I was super pumped because of the promise that the BoM has that says through no other book will we be closer to God. Then we started talking with his wife who was telling us how she is catholic and has tried for 25 years to get him to have faith and told us good luck. They´re super nice though. Then we went over to visit Aldina who is this really funny woman who always kisses us a bunch. When we got over there she was all distressed because she had burnt a cake and had lots of dishes. SO we helped her make a new cake and do the dishes and in the end sang a hymn for her and read a scripture. Then we ate some soup with her. Before we could leave she gave us the burnt cake, lettuce, fancy salt, and lemons. She is super sweet and we are excited to keep teaching her. OH another day this week we wanted to visit one of our neighbors so we rang the doorbell and she started yelling out her window, "why did you guys come here and stuff" and then she was like "do you guys want to clean" and we were like heck yeah! so we went in and helped her clean her house. She was laughing at us because I guess we didn´t know how to clean. Really it is because the people clean differently here! They honestly make things so difficult. I was hanging up her laundry and apparently I did that wrong. Really I was almost in tears laughing because she thought it was so funny! In the end, her husband and son arrived home and we were able to share a message and leave a Book of Mormon with them. Then she invited us to stay and have soup with her but we happened to have a dinner with a member that night. She she told us she will call us so we can learn how to make soup. 

I'm just out here living the dream! Thanks for all of your prayers and love. I read today the crazy letter Capt.  Moroni sends to Pahoran but really I think it is meant for all of us. We can always do something more to help someone else. I am grateful for this opportunity to serve and to try and have more patience and love for everyone. 

Glad you guys had a great week. I am excited to talk with you! I will call 10 am your time. Megan you looked great for prom, so sassy with those shoes. Glad it was fun. Also Caleb is just so cute. Also good job Jordan!! I am proud of you. Also jealous of the Mexican food and dj from the wedding. I haven´t found many of those in Portugal. 

Love you guys! Love the Lord! Love the work!! 

Sister Hulsey

Email: May 1, 2017

Hello Family!

Thanks for your email! I love hearing about everything. SO I will be skyping on the 14th (it's funny in Portugal Mothers Day is on the 7th) anyways probably about noon your time. I will tell you when I have more details. 

This week was pretty good! We had a Zone Conference that was good. We talked about how we have to have the MAXIMUM plans and then execute those plans to guarantee that things will happen. Then on Saturday we had to run away from 2 drunk guys!! But last night was really awesome! We went to go visit one of our only investigators and she was out on her porch talking with neighbors so then we talked with all the neighbors and one of them was SUPER interested and I already love her so much. She hugged us after we told her about the first vision and she thought it was the most beautiful story in the world. We are excited to teach her again. Then we went to go visit this one person that said we could come back. Well, she wasn´t home but her brother was who came out and talked with us for like 15 minutes about who we are and such. Then we asked him when we could come back to teach the whole family and he said that tomorrow they are going to have a birthday party and that we should come and then we can talk with the whole family and some friends! We are pumped to go there tonight! I believe the blessings that the events of yesterday happened because 1.God is MERICFUL!!  and 2. We fasted! 

We have been trying to stay very obedient and use our time wisely. We talk with EVERYONE but it's a little bit hard to find people that will let you talk. But the Lord is helping us. 

Sorry-don´t have a ton of time! But thanks for your prayers. I can feel them. Have a great week!!!!! I hope all goes well!! 

Sister Emma Hulsey

we saw a pretty sunset and the member walking with us took a picture...then a lady came out and told us lots of people take pictures here and we ended up being able to teach her the first lesson!!! woooohoooo