Monday June 7, 2010

Dear Family,

Holy Cow it sounds like you are doing really well/busy. That's good to hear about the house. I was worried about that. I'm so glad to hear that. I pray for you all every night and it is such a blessing to know that you're all taken care of while I'm away.

So it has been very hot here. The last three days have all been at least over 100 degrees. But we've been ok. We had another really solid week. The work here is still going really well and we are continuing to find more and more good people.

I talked to that family from Farmington that I wrote to you about last week. They are going to be sealed August 25th which is awesome. They are also going to be in Utah that whole week. I invited them to come have dinner with our family one night during that week. I thought that would be really cool and I just assumed that it would be ok with you guys.

So i'm speaking June 27th?! Do you know my subject? That makes me kind of nervous. I hope that they don't want me to speak for the whole meeting. I don't really talk any more than I used to. In fact being on the mission has taught me to be a much better listener. Oh man that is really close... I do have two weeks though and I'm going to make the best of them.

President Anderson has told me to squeeze out every last bit out of my mission that I can so I will. As far as inviting people... I can't really think of anyone that you guys haven't thought about. I'm not too worried about having a lot of people there. That's nice you talked to bishop Dille. Sure I'll go up some other week. That's not a very far trip. It'll be fun.

I have heard from quite a few of my friends. I hear from Vaughn, Hank, Michael, and a bunch of BYU friends. They do sound excited to "have me back" I guess. It will be fun to see everyone again. I'm going to send this out now to see if you have anything else you need to ask/tell me. Oh and I think that i will just leave my bike with someone here who comes up to Utah regularly and then just get it from them... I'll ttyl. I love you guys so much. The church is true.

Elder Hullinger

Email June 2, 2010

Hey Familia,

Thanks for the email mom. I told Liz Happy Birthday. I can't believe that she is twenty. That's crazy. It sounds like things are going well in the Hullinger house. Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'. I can't believe that it's already June! Pretty nuts eh? Well I really want to see a picture of Holden so you should for sure send me a picture of him.

Hunter really beat dad yesterday? That's pretty funny. I played tennis for only the second time on my mission with a guy yesterday and I got beat. I honestly hit more balls out of the entire court area than in. It was terrible. But I wasn't really mad. I think i've matured a bit. So I guess that was good. That's really too bad about the house thing falling through. I'm praying that something will work out

So as far as me and how my mission is wrapping up... It's still going super well. I'm loving this area and we are teaching some reallly good people. We are having incredible success. The ward I'm in had 11 convert baptisms last year which was the most in all the stake. We have 17 already this year in the ward and we have 2 more people being baptized in the next two weeks. It has been incredible and I'm not even sure what the difference has been. We do emphasize baptism a lot but it's strange... everyone we ask to be baptized just seems to accept. And they are such good people. So we are kind of running out of people right now so we are looking for more. But I know that as we continue to work hard good things will happen.

Oh something cool happened the other day... while we were at Walmart in Farmington on preparation day one of the families who I taught and baptized in Farmington came up to me and we got to talk for a little bit. They are such a cool family and I was super excited to hear that they are going to be sealed in August. But even cooler is that they are coming up to Utah for the sealing! I think they are going to the Jordan River temple. It will be awesome. I'll get to go to it. So I thought that was pretty cool.

Well that's how things are going for me. I'd better wrap this up now. I love you all so much. Have an awesome week. The Church is true.

Your loving son/brother/friend,

Elder Hullinger

Email May 24, 2010

Hey guys,

Thanks for the email. It's so good to hear from you. That's weird that it's snowing there. The weather here has been ok but really windy. I don't like the wind. I'm excited to get to work with Lizzy. I hope that the biz does well. Things are still going great here in Aztec. We had another baptism this Saturday and we have another one coming up next week. I'm still trying to secure that money for the fam. haha.

We are working really hard. Elder Syme is a very good companion. We're doing really well together. Oh I can't believe that you know the time that I get home... weird. It's really getting close isn't it. That's so cool that you talked to Mister Turner. He was one of my favorite teachers. I hope that he's doing well.

Well I don't have much more to say. I have to go do some shopping now and get a haircut and dominate in basketball. I do like Mondays for that reason. It was so goood to read your email. Everyone have a great day. The Church is true.

Your loving son/brother/friend,

Elder Hullinger

Official Release Date

Dear Brother and Sister Hullinger,

Sister Anderson and I want to thank you again for allowing Elder Hullinger to serve in the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission. We are happy to see him return home to loved ones, but will miss his service. Elder Hullinger's official release date will be 23 Jun 2010.

A copy of itinerary is enclosed.

We remind you of the counsel from the first presidency asking families to not have big welcoming parties at the airports. It is for immediate family only (parents, brothers & sisters.)

Elder Hullinger has been a faithful missionary, and through his activities many lives have been blessed. He has developed into a teacher of righteousness, responding to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. His testimony has grown, and he has labored diligently to bring salvation to his brothers and sisters here. He is an example of a successful missionary, and you can be justifiably proud of him.

I have counseled him to return to normal social activities and continue to labor, be steadfast, and extend his talents. May you and Elder Hullinger continue to be blessed for your faith and sacrifice, enjoying always the happiness that comes from willing service. We wish Elder Hullinger the Lord's choicest blessings in the next phase of his life, and offer our services if we can be of any help in the future.

Sincerely,
Richard J. Anderson
Mission President

Departing 11:00 am Albuquerque NM International
Arriving 12:45 pm Salt Lake City UT International

Thanks to Jennifer for keeping us in pictures!!!

Thank you again to Jennifer Pohl for keeping us updated with current pictures of Johnny. He got to stop by their house yesterday and she was so kind and snapped a picture for me. I'm really liking his tie!! His brothers and sisters can't wait to see him with longer hair. I told them....just be happy he still has a full head of hair he can grow out. We love you Johnny and can't wait to see you!!!

Email May 17, 2010

Dear Familia,

How has your week been? Mine was great! It was a good start to my last transfer. Everything is still going really well in this area. We had an amazing stake conference with a man from the second quorum of the 70 here. His name is Elder Foster and he gave some incredible talks. I was spiritually uplifted but even better was that we had a bunch of investigators who were really helped by the meeting. We had one lady in particular who was going to drop us but she felt the spirit so strong she couldn't deny it! She's now getting baptized in two weeks. So yeah... life is still really good. I'm starting to realize how much I'm going to miss the mission.

So I'm interested to hear how your weekend went. How was the funeral? How was Hunter's tournament. Let me know. Well if you happen to get this email write me back. I understand that you're all really busy. Have an awesome day though. I love you all so much. The Church is true.

Your loving son/brother/friend,

Elder Hullinger

(I'm such a bad mom...I really did write Johnny a very lengthy email...I accidentally saved it to my draft folder and didn't push send. But luckily I had my phone with me when he sent this and we were able to email back and forth a couple of times in real time.)

Email May 10, 2010

Dear Family,

It was wonderful to hear all of your voices as well. It made me really excited to see all of you again. And so soon. I will of course continue to finish strong but it is also good to know that I have so much to go back to when I'm finished here. That's so sad about Uncle Kenny. He was such a great man. I know, however, that we will all see him again as long as we remain faithful. It's so reassuring to have that knowledge. To know that we will live again because of the resurrection. To know that when that time comes there will be no more suffering or pain. But that we will live forever peacefully with a fullness of joy. We truly have it so good. We just have to keep that eternal perspective so that we can get through hard times like this. My prayers are with all of you. We have such a good family. I love you all so much. Have a great day and don't be too sad. And tell Hunter that I said good luck. You guys are all so awesome. The Church is true.

Your loving son/brother/friend,

Elder Hullinger