Email: June 19, 2007

Dear Familia, 

I can´t believe it´s Monday again. Time flies when you´re having fun (and doing the Lord´s work)! I know we did a ton of stuff this week but my mind is a little blank right now. It has started to get REALLY hot here. Me and Sis B have sweat tacos the size of Texas but we have given up our vergonha (vanity) about that. There are some huge fires going on here right now. Everyone is talking about it...lots of people have died. It is pretty south so we haven´t been affected by it. There has been smoke in the air though. Other than that it has been a great week!  Some highlights

- One of our investigators invited us over to eat raclette. Some Swiss dish , it was delicious. Then we got to read with them in the BofM! 

- Teaching Ana! She is the young mother who is progressing a lot. She started calling it "our church". We were able to get 2 carseats for her to be able to go to church. We went over there early on Sunday to help her get ready and she was super nervous and excited. Our branch president came and picked her up but there wasn´t room in the car for us, so we walked. On the way we tried to bring a few more investigators but no one else wanted to come haha so then we practically ran 40 minutes to the church. We were so sweaty when we got there! But Ana fit right in at church and the members loved her kids. She and her kids both loved it and totes want to come back next week. I love her because I always think of Gma and how she was a young mom when she learned about the gospel. 

-Teaching the Evangelical Brazillian family! We were able to teach the whole family and they said we are always welcome. We read the introduction to the BofM with them and I think they were a little surprised at the part where it says the Book of Mormon is the MOST correct book because they REALLY like the Bible. But we bore testimony of it and they said they will read. 

I can´t really remember anything else that happened but the work is moving along just fine. I really love this branch that I´m working in. The members are some of the best in the whole world! This week I read a Elder Uchtdorf´s talk from the Priesthood session of the most recent General Conference. I love how he explains we don´t serve to get glory from man, but because we love God. 

Glad things are going well for you guys. I pray for you guys all the time. Love you all! Happy Fathers Day yesterday Dad. Sorry I kind of forgot because Fathers Day in Portugal was forever ago. ! 

Love

Sister Emma Hulsey

Some peeps told us to go and pick plums off their tree. Now we have a bag full 

The suns out.... don´t worry it went away within 2 days 

our investigators son. In Portugal they celebrate a bunch of the saints and the kids all dress up in these things and do a dance

I forgot my nametag one day ... good thing sis b is always prepared

a goose... still not over my fear. 

Lurdes!

Aldina!

I bought a hat to help with the sunburn problem

P day at the beach!

Email: June 11, 2017

Querida Familia, 

This week flew by! I Feel like the time just keeps going faster and faster. We just seem to keep getting busier and busier... what a blessing. We had to go to Porto 2 times this week and man I have been getting pretty sick. BUT haha it´s funny because the way I don´t feel sick is by contacting! So I spent the hours on the bus talking with the people and now we have a few people to go by and visit! I am just loving the Portuguese people more and more. They are a very kind people, sometimes just with a hard shell. But they crack me up. I love how they have no embarrassment to yell and stuff. I was in the front of the bus and all the sudden someone from the back yelled and asked for my Facebook so we gave him the fb of the church. Maybe the whole bus heard! 

We have been helping Ana this week. She is the young mother who is passing through some difficulties. Every time we are over there, the spirit is super strong. She is going to come to church next week, we just need to find some carseats for her kids... 

Our gypsy´s are doing pretty well. SO this week Fatima and Carlos got in a fight our something so she is wanting to kick him out of the house and said she couldn´t come to church. BUT we have been visiting her sister Cristina and her family. Cristina´s husband, Augustinho, is awesome. He told us that he wants a change in his life and wants to obey God´s commandments in order to help his kids. He has been reading in the Book of Mormon and talked about Laban being killed with his own sword! They told us they would come to church this week and guess who walked in during the last 5 minutes of sacrament meeting! The members were very friendly to them and they said they want to come back next week. We had our correlation meeting and our branch president invited us to go to branch council as well. We had about an hour in between and really wanted to go visit the gypsies so Jorge (a member who will give us a ride anywhere) Ana (so that we could ride in the car with Jorge) and Miguel (he just came along for the fun) come with us and we visited them and they were so welcoming! The house was full of people and the spirit. Then Jorge took us back to the church so we jammed out to the Anjos Sem Asas song in his car. Was a very happy memory. 

We finally were able to teach Daniel and Kassia again! We taught them about the plan of salvation and they seemed to like it. They said they don´t want to be baptized because they can´t keep the commitment. They really uhhh live that party life. Turns out Daniel is an up and comin' rapper. Fixe! They´re cool and said one day they will come to church. 

I LOVE my mission. I am so grateful for all of the things Heavenly Father is teaching me. I am grateful for his son Jesus Christ. I am reading in 3rd Nephi right now. I read when he gives the Sermon on the Mount and it is amazing all of the blessing we receive when we follow Christ. I am so grateful for the spirit, too- I have received some very specific impressions this week and I know that Heavenly Father is so aware of us. 

I am so glad that you guys are doing well. Happy summer! Keep busy and keep being good. Best of luck with all of your endeavors. Love you all so much and appreciate everything you do! 

Sister Emma Hulsey

one of our investigators gave us rice with squid. wasn´t too bad

Email: June 5, 2017

Hello! 

To start off that story about Eli and Caleb most definitely made me cry too. I am SO proud of them. I can´t believe how fast time passes! I remember that summer 2 years ago, a VERY hard refining one for all of us, but I feel like I learned a lot too. I remember we were at Grandmas house and the Rebers and Williamsons were there too and you called me and told me Eli wasn´t well and was going to have to have ANOTHER surgery. Immediatly we all knelt down and prayed. It is a sweet memory I won´t forget. I too am SO grateful for temple blessings. 

ANYWAYS

This week was great. We are keeping pretty busy here finding new peeps and taking care of the others.Our gypsy fam is doing pretty well! Fatima liked church so much she told her sister about it and us so we went and visited the sister and she loved our message. But she told us church is really early for her and that the other one is later so she will just go to that one. We are going to help her try and understand the importance of going to the true church with power and authority. Fatima and her family weren´t able to go to church this week because on Saturday they were at Porto all day selling songs and didn´t get home until midnight. But she promised us again in the name of Jesus she would come this next week. 

We have also been working a lot with Lurdes and her family. Lurdes is someone with a lot of faith and she wants to get baptized. She just has to come to church.... She is like 45 and a super sweet woman. We never know if she fully understands everything we teach but tudo bem. (it's ok)  Also her mom and dad are pretty funny...her mom isn´t very well in her head and just always interrupts and asks us to say prayers and bless her feet and her intestines. This week her mom asked us to massage her feet, so we did! I kept thinking about when Jesus washed the apostles feet. Yesterday we watched the Joseph Smith movie with them and they loved it! Mostly they loved all the animals in it but in the end we think they understood more. haha This week we went out to Vale de Cambra because we had some references from members to visit. We didn´t exactly know how to get there so we just hopped on the bus and we were able to find it in the end! While we were over there we stopped by a member's house. They have a blind dog and she told us (with a huge smile on her face) that the dog was going to be sacrificed the following day and they were super sad! Anyways one of the members over there was in the hospital so we were able to go visit her and she was grateful! 

So this week president sent us a song from a recent convert, Israel Grando (from Braga, his dad is Celso and I spent Christmas at there house!) It is called Angels Without Wings and he dedicated it to all the missionaries. It put the mission in perspective for me! We are here doing a labor of love. He says in the song, "thank you thank you thank you." We listen to it every morning, and I hear it is going to be on the efy cd in 2018. It gave me a ton of motivation and also I was sad that I only have a limited time here on the mish. 

The lyrics of the song were running through my mind as we had a very special experience. Last week we found a young mother named Ana. She was super nice and wanted us to come back. We went back a few times and she was never home. Then that week I read a letter from Grandma and I couldn´t stop thinking about Ana, a young mother just like Grandma was, who needs the gospel! So we tried one more time and she was home! We go in and start talking and then find out that she wasn´t home because she had a miscarriage. Also this week she kicked her husband out because he has been beating her, and she found his drugs.She doesn´t have money to pay the bills and she was really struggling.  She cried and we cried with her. We didn´t exactly know what to do other than listen and testify of Jesus Christ. We read ether 12:4 with her and after our visit she told us she felt a great relief. It is crazy to me that the lord trusts us to help his children who are struggling. 

I love you guys all so much. Glad summer is in full swing and you guys are keeping busy. Thanks for taking care of my school stuff. 

Sister Hulsey

A McDonald's opened up in our area. I won´t lie, I actually thought it was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father

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