SQUIRRELS!! They are everywhere.

Hey Y'all!

So Tennessee is an interesting place.

Some little tidbits:

-You don't go a day without seeing at least 30 squirrels. They are the most common road kill too. So sad.... :(

-It's still so nice outside. Probably in the low eighties every day. It does rain a lot though, and the trees are HUGE! But I swear I've never been anywhere more beautiful. I love it.

-Everyone has an accent. Pretty soon you just don't notice it anymore.

-EVERYONE thinks we are nuns. Go figure. I get asked that all the time.

-Carl's Jr. is called Hardy's here. Same company? I think so.

-We get free Ice Cream at Sweet Cece's (which is basically exactly like Orange Leaf) so we eat there all the time (probably more than we should)

-Everyone loves Jesus. Check out the picture I'm going to attach!

More about my week:

So because my companion is a Sister Training Leader, she has to go on exchanges all the time to be with other sisters and train them. So, basically, I get to go on tons of exchanges too! Sister Hadfield and I always end up together, and let me tell you, we are SOUL SISTAS! She is a cosmetologist, went to BYU-I, is from Driggs Idaho, and she is hilarious. Remember how I wanted a mini Briana for my mission? Well Sister Hadfield fills that hole in my heart. She makes me laugh and we are basically bestest friends :)

So we had two exchanges this week, one where she got to spend the night. It was so great and we got a lot of good missionary work done. It was so awesome to be with someone that was in the same place that I was (she's brand new too) and for some reason, we are so good together! I have so much more confidence with her because we are in the same place and no one "knows more" than the other. So we both just went for it! And guess what?! In only about 6 hours we placed 11 copies of the Book of Mormon! It was so awesome. We were on FIRE!

Anyway, I can't even tell you how much I love Sister Hadfield. We talk about how we would have been best friends if we had known each other before the mission all the time. Another reason why we are so close, is because she doesn't get along with her trainer that well.

But here is the tough part.

On Friday she had to meet with the President and he told her that her best friend had passed away on his mission. He was one of the biggest reasons that she went on a mission. She talked about him all the time when we were together. He was serving in Mexico and he had somehow been electricuted. It's been a really tough time for her. She doesn't get along with her companion well, so we had time together to talk about it. It definitley took a toll on my weekend. It was hard to stay focused when I really felt so sad for Sister Hadfield.

We've had some other drama happening too, which is hard because it really throws you off when you are trying to stay focused. Long story short, we haven't been able to stay at our appartment for two nights in a row now, and so we end up having to pack up our stuff and stay with the YSA sisters really late a night to sleep on the floor (my back is killing me!). Anyway, my companion and I are already stressed about the area, and then we've had some added complications lately, and it's been tough to figure out what to do about all of it.

But being here has been so great. The negatives are nothing compared to the positives.

I got asked to orchestrate music for the Christmas devotional!!! (Wha?!?!) I was called by the Elder in charge, whom I have never met, and he told me that "the rumor of my musical talent has been getting around the mission." He's pretty excited about putting together an orchestra for the Christmas missionary devotional, and he wants me to arrange all the music! Wow. Stressful right? Haha every time I think about it, I start to feel a little overwhelmed. Hey! Family!!! Could you send me blank sheet music paper pretty please??? ASAP would be helpful :)

Also, I get to listen to Facebook conference calls every week because my companion is a Facebook missionary (look her up and add her! It's Sister-Hollie Vandenberg). A few weeks ago they were talking about some different things, and I had an idea that would fix a lot of the problems that they were having. After the call, I told my companion who promptly called the Facebook Advisor (I was taken by suprise and SUPER nervous to talk to him), but I told him my idea, and he is now implimenting it! Last Friday on the conference call he announced it and told everyone on the call (probably 90-100 missionaries) that, "it was Sister Hulme who introduced this idea to us!" He told me to call him once I was out of training (while you are training, you cant be a Facebook missionary). So that's pretty exciting :)

The work has been slow here. We experienced a miracle on Saturday though! We had made a goal to have an investigator at church on Sunday, and on Saturday everyone was unable to come. So we decided to stop by the restaurant where Morad works (the Jewish man we met last week), to see if he would come to church. He wasn't there, but we met Emed! He is from Egypt and he was SO SO nice. He approached US and asked us if he could come to church! My companion and I tried not to seem too excited! Well he came and had a great experience! He was instantly fellowshipped (which is always a relief) and we hardly saw him the whole time because he was surrounded by different members talking to him. It was great. He wants to come back next week! Unfortunatley we don't get to teach him, even though we found him, because he is YSA age. But I'm confident he will be baptized. He's awesome.

Because our teaching pool is so suprisingly small, Sister Hadfield and I started this thing where we do a brief member visit and share a message and challenge them to give away a Book of Mormon this week. We were able to do about eight of those this week, so hopefully we can start working with the members and getting them excited about missionary work! We have been working so hard, we are hoping to see the "fruits of our labors" soon!

Something I've been really coming to love this week is the book Jesus the Christ. Seriously, it's definitley something to look into reading. I love the perspective it takes on Christ's life. I've been realizing just how crucial He is to everything we do. He is the Mediator. I also have come to love the scripture: Moroni 10:30-32

(My companion always inserts her name, or the person's name that we are teaching into scriptures, so it's become a habit to add my own name. It really helps make it more personal.)

"And again I would exhort you, Adelheid, that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good girft, and tough not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.

"And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter or Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, my be fulfilled.

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

Love it.

I hope you all are having a great week and doing well! I celebrated my one month aniversary on Friday! Thanks, family, for the awesome suprise package!!!! I loved it!

Love you all! Have a great week.

Sister Hulme