GOD'S LOVE

 transfers are here and russell is out so sad day. but I'm staying here. we will see this week who I get as a comp. we have a baptism this Saturday because our last one got canceled because of the weather. so that's fun! it snowed a bunch up here and we had a snow ball fight with the baby lacrosse sticks and it was super fun! pendelton and alot of my good friends are going home today and that's sad but I got to say goodbye! I'm happy for them. So this week I got to bare my testimony on gods love. I think deep down we can all feel gods love but sometimes it gets a little cloudy. we just need to know that everything that happens is out of love. failing, hardship, trifle, pain, happiness, joy, succeeding, and everything else is all from god and out of his love for us. but I remembered when I was captain of the lacrosse team I made a goal to love every kid on the team. I think I did ok. but i remember looking at kids and thinking..I love you, but i don't like you. it was an eye opener to me that god not only loves us but he likes us and is our close friend. he is perfect. but more important than anything is that God understands us. he knows why we are who we are. sometimes I struggle with things. but I know God knows in my heart I'm trying my best. life is all about earning stripes and learning heavenly tendencies and laws. we all know rules and things like that are hard sometimes but they help us be better and more importantly feel God's love. but other than that i'm just going through the book of Mormon. I'm in Alma now and close to done. I'm happy things are going good and keep living the dream! 

love ian 

BUILDING TOWERS

so this week was good. transfers are almost over and im pretty sure my comp is out. I hope not. hes super fun! this week we went to a park and did some trash clean up and he tried to teach me parkour haha. the other night we had family home evening with a family and taught them about Moroni and building towers to protect him from evil. we had them explain how it helps us protect ourselves from bad. then we role played with them the war chapters in Alma chapter 50 ha. it was great! it snowed alot this week here. it's 12 degrees now. we have a baptism this weekend of a girl named

Paige. she's 15 and her parents don't like her going to church but she knows it's true. we have a few more people we are trying to get baptized but its taking some time. I love them alot. there is this member named sister banks who has a farm up here in M vile and she has us come cut wood every Saturday. she always is buying us food and she got us all big heart chocolates for V day. she was false imprisoned a long time ago so she gets lots of money from that and she spends it all on missionary's ha. she is always buying us shoes or sweaters or just little things. shes a super nice lady. I'm growing a ton still here. just trying everyday to be better and more like Christ. president for a district meeting told everyone in the district things he knows and admires about us personally. he just wrote it to the district leader in a letter but he said that elder hullinger is one of the most positive missionaries. he is always smiling and everyone is always happy when hes around them. that was cool to see president write that. I felt some love haha but it's going by so fast. im already over 1/4 and i still feel like a little baby. well I hope everyones week was great! sending some love from Indy! hullinger 

MARCH MADNESS

So this week was a good one! Nothing too crazy. We found some good people and are hoping to get them going in the lessons. We have a March Madness zone conference since pres is a basketball coach so I'm pumped for that. I've learned a lot this week. 

My comp is Elder Russell and he's amazing and helps me stay on track. He's dignified and likes to work so it helps. I miss campus alot but I'm hoping I'll make it back there soon. We get to go on exchanges with the zls to IU and that's alot of fun. We have three people that hopefully are getting baptized before the end of transfers which will be so amazing! Nothing too amazing this week other than that. Hope all is well there! 

Love Ian 

NEVER BELOW 1 (November 17, 2014)

no way hahaha Steven is in for a super sweet mission! thats really cool! I bet josh went nuts! thats crazy news! tell him congrats. this week was a fun one. we are teaching so many people it keeps us busy but one is named julia. shes 21 and a swimmer and just got married but shes golden. she loves everything about the church and cries like 50 times a lesson haha she wants to be baptized soon so thats good. we went to the hospital this week to do sacrament to a lady and we were waiting at the table to get some crackers and me and my comp were talking about something and we started making puke noises (not thinking we were in a hospital) and a lady had to come tell us to stop and i cried i laughed so hard haha just a funny situation. weird things happen on your mission ha but I got sick this week and it got kinda bad. I like being able to talk to the lord when i need to. I always used to think it was just a little thing but god loves us so much he wants us to pray always. he gave us a way that we can talk to him whenever we feel like we need to and hes there. he loves us and its so crazy haha he makes us happen, even though sometimes its hard and doesn't feel like it. he is there. I found out god will humiliate you down until you feel like a 1....but he never takes you under a 1. he always is there somehow. but its been a good week. it snowed and honestly is 10000 below 0 ha its great. wer'e giving blood this week. (yikes) ha so i'll let you know how it all goes. 
love ian! 

A CHRISTMAS TREE (November 10, 2014)

thats so cool! did you get her email? id write her! i miss you guys alot! but the work is fun!  there is 4000 on campus so its kinda a small campus but we are friends with the chancellor and like 4 teachers and we did service with a fratt. its going amazing. we have a few people who are shooting for baptism. but the other day we helped a guy in the ward clean out his apartment complex, hes the owner of them all and a guy moved away and left a bunch of stuff in a garage so we got to go clean it all out. we just started with the big stuff and we found like seven pounds of weed haha we had to call the cops and they came and got it but it was funny, he also had like a million dirty magazines that we had to throw away. his name was glenn...we think glenn is in jail now haha but thats not even the best part! we found a Christmas tree! so we took it home haha and it came with lights and everything. so we have a tree now in our apartment! were making a christmas card to send home haha thats about it this week. hope all is well. 
love ian!!!!

THE COMPLIMENT BENCH (November 3, 2014)

thats so fun! tell steven i love him! sounds like life is going strong. I had an amazing week. I do still need that coat we bought from missionary mall. they never sent it and it was pricey! but i got moved to a campus missionary (because i like making friends) ha and i love it! its IUK and its so fun. we teach all day and will make up songs and sing to people with my comps uke. the whole campus knows us becuase sometimes we'll sit on a bench in the middle of campus and just compliment everyone that walks by. they smile from down the side walk because they know its coming haha the work is good. I really do just love it and my comp is just like me. pres told him before he got with me he's going to be put with the future him. so we are alot alike ha everyone thinks we are brothers! its great. he hates losing in things and i like getting better so he just teaches me alot of stuff and makes me better. its perfect.  it is very cold ha well thats about life. I love you guys lots!!! 

WORKING HARD (October 27, 2014)

this week has been crazy! I got a new comp named elder pendleton. we were friends back home! haha small world. we are in kokomo doing work but now we are going on IUK. its the school there and i love talking to people there. that lady is doing better. she is still in the hospital but doing good. other then that it's been a normal week for the most part! working hard! he dated jordan crump so we're friends from that ha he's awesome. but this past few weeks was so hard. with that lady falling and missing home and just everything was hard. i read in ether about the brother seeing christ's hand. that's all i wanted was to see christ hand touch my life. it made me mad haha i couldnt see it. but then i realized that even if the brother wouldn't have seen the hand..christ was still there. sometimes he wont let me see his hand. I can feel alone. but if you look hard enough you will always find a finger print of a loving god. so i am learning to look for those finger prints. im doing better now. I love you 

SOMETHING BIG HAPPENED THIS WEEK (October 13, 2014)

something crazy happen this week. like big. this lady we were teaching who is so sweet and loves us so much! got sick. she was walking in to the apartment, (she lives where we do) and me and elder bush were coming down the stairs. she was at the end of the hall way and had a stroke they think but she fell and hit her head on the side of a brick wall. she was on blood thinners and it bled out as fast as her heart beat was going. I freaked out and bush tried to help her. we called 911 and they came and got her. you could see right to the flesh by her brain and there was enough blood to have to use a mop. it was so scary. she made it to the hospital but got 11 staples and then she has nerve problems. we stayed with her and her kidneys (which were already bad) completely stopped. she was on so much meds and because of her kidneys she couldn't use the bathroom. so it went to her lungs and it started filling them with fluids. and on top of all this. her heart fell to under 30 beats a min. they have machines keeping her alive but she is gone. shes not there mentally anymore. because we saw this all happen and were so close. it was scary ha i feel like all I've been is a doctor haha I miss you. 

love ian!

YOU'RE MY FAVORITE ELDER (October 6, 2014)

So this week was super fun! The other elder in our district got hand foot mouth sickness (its real haha) so we all took turns staying in with him so others could do work. it was fun. i love my district. the other night we were at this family's house. they have 7 kids! its insane haha everyone is screaming and running around. their ages go from 4 to 15 and theres 7...so all kinda little. but the four year old girl in the mess of everything comes up to me on the couch and goes, you're my favorite elder and smiles at me and i was like haha thanks! and she just laughed and told me about her life ha but then the only time the whole house was quiet was during the prayer. and I opened my eyes for 2 seconds..she was on the other side of the table, and this four year old girl opened her eyes and blew a kiss at me and I laughed so hard. I dont know why, it wasn't that funny or anything just made me laugh super bad in the middle of the prayer! it was embarassing. so the lession i learned was don't open your eyes in the prayer haha but it was a good week. conference is like Christmas for a missionary. you just get to watch them all day and see members and just a fun time. my favorite quotes are the one seventy said when a churches standards or personal standards fall down to meet worldly standards..that is apostasy. that was a cool thought. I also loved holland saying...im not my brothers keeper, but i am my brothers brother. that was my favorite. Just because it really helped me feel the love for my brothers and friends and what i would do for them. I also really enjoyed the talk on prayer, scriptures, family home eve, and the temple. he broke them down so simple and said god respects our agency when we pray. I loved that. and bednar was super good as well. just a funny good talk and meant alot. It was amazing to hear them! another cool thing i learned this week or just kinda read. In the tower of babel god said he had to stop them from being unified. because when were unified they could do anything......ANYTHING. it was cool to see how much more powerful we are in being unified. whether it's family, companion, wife and husband, a church, a nation,or just with god. unity is power. so much in the tower of babel god had to un unify them. It makes me want to be unified in all I'm doing. so that was cool! anyways I miss you guys and love you lots! thanks for the emails. 
Love elder hullinger      

HOW WE TREAT HEAVENLY FATHER (September 8, 2014)

Thank you! That's fun! My birthday was fun haha i got 3 cakes and a baptism hahaha all from the ward, i have pictures comeing! but yes a super good week. this week i asked my self a question and thought about it for a long time. what if heavenly father treated me the same way i treated him. it would be bad ha he would know i am good and alive and there and thats it. and i felt the love that heavenly father doesn't treat us like we treat him. he knows us all so well and blesses us everyday so much. when sometimes we just say a prayer out of habit every morning. so i tried to make that a goal to try and treat heavenly father the same way he treats me (which i know is impossible) but try to ha. its a cool thing to think about. im almost done with the book of mormon! im stoked! all is well here in kokomo. im happy everyone is doing so good! 


love elder hullinger

AS SOON AS WE GAVE THE BLESSING... (September 1, 2014)

This week was insane!!! We made a goal as a district to teach 30 lessons as a comp and thats so many!!! It was super hard haha. We talked to everyone we could find but we made it! In just 3 companionships we taught 103 lessons so the work is going very well! I'm starting to have alot of fun too! Our misson pres let us do the als ice water thing and its on connie marler face book page if anyone home wants to watch it haha its pretty funny:) I love my district. They're all good guys. But cool thing of the week! We gave a blessing to a lady WHILE SHE WAS HAVING A seizure!!! (or how ever you spell it) I was so scared it was insane haha but it was so cool as soon as we gave her the blessing and said amen BAM!!!! she stopped. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. My comp was an EMT so he has seen alot of those and he said no one ever stops that fast. The priesthood is real! It was cool to see. Other than that I'm just kind of living the dream haha day to day. Sometimes it's hard but I get over it and go do something to take my mind off it. I saw a picture of me and my sister as babies at the temple that I had never seen before and I cried my eyes out hahah I was a cute little muchkin hahah. It's good stuff here in kokomo. Hope all is well. 

love elder hullinger

I GAVE A BLESSING THIS WEEK (August 25, 2014)

We had a talent show and did frozen do you want to build a snow man but we changed it to do you want to hear the gospel and we made it a skit haha it was soo funny! I also did a ice cream eating competition and out of four people I got fourth haha but super fun! I have vidoes coming soon so you can see them;) We had a flood here the other day! It was crazy. Cars couldn't drive and it rained soo bad! Me and my comp had an epic rain play session and got soaked haha but thats the abouts in kokomo. President Clevland is super cool. He gave me like 6 hugs at trainning (because who doesn't love ian hullinger right?) He is super smart in the gospel. He asked me to do a teaching next zone trainng so will see how that goes! Sometimes it's hard with my comp. He is super smart and knows it. But it's a growing time and I love him. He clogged in the talent show and was unreal good!!!!!!!!!! It was super sweet. Some kid this week asked us what we believe and I gave him the run down and we started talking about temples and he said if there was a skate park in the temple he'd come so i told him I'll see what I can do..... ha but all is well in kokomo. It's weird it's allready september almost. I'm pretty much a veteran haha just kidding. Some days still get crazy and hard but i know this is the lords work. I had to give a blessing this week to a lady whose son got put in jail for attempted murder and the same day she lost her job and got kicked out of her aparment. She has two other kids and no idea what to do. It made me cry ha it was so sad. I wanted her to listen and turn to the church and christ and people but she was so hurt. That was a hard thing to see. She just shut off. But it made me so happy for gods love and all the blessings. It's worth it being out here. Thats my week! 

love elder hullinger 

TALENT SHOW MONDAY (August 18, 2014)

It's been another good week. You tend to have lots and lots of meetings through the week so we stay busy. Me and the other three elders in our district are in the church talent show Monday and we aren't sure yet what we're doing for it haha. But let's be honest. I'm pretty talented so ;) haha. That will be a fun week! My apartment was broken into (not my room but the building) and all the couches and tables and mirrors were stolen! Kinda sketchy..but I'm not too worried. I'm in Kokomo Indiana which is right in the middle of the state. I have my first baptism on Sep 6 which is my birthday present from Heavenly Father!!! The weeks are getting easier and I am getting better at talking to people. It used to be scary but now i just pretend everyone is my friend. I have had some people get kind of mad at me and a baptist preacher pulled me and my comp over and tried to convert us..he told us how cool his church was and I said it sounds awesome and he asked why I didn't join his church haha. Then we went missionary mode on him. We'll see if he really invites us over or not but it's nice. I tell people I'm kind of new to the gospel and religion and I just want to learn more and that tends to let people talk a little more openly. Then I just have to testify and hope the spirit works on them. It's cool to see out here how time flies. You're so busy it just goes. It's humbling too. Every compliment you get means so much more to you and you look to love people so fast. Studying is sweet to! I'm half way thought the book or Mormon and learning alot. I met this man who was baptized a year ago. But before he was in jail and someone sent him a quad scripture. He had noithing else to do so he wrote the quad out. All of it, every word. He knows so much and it's cool. We will go see him once a week and he'll just give us deep deep doctrine. I can't say i know much but it's cool to hear my comp and him ramble on haha. Well it's a good week. Hope all is well. 

16,000 PEOPLE SAYING PRAYERS (August 11, 2014)

I am learning so much cool stuff!!! I am just starting Alma in the Book of Mormon and I've read cover to there! It's sweet. My comp is a super super good missonary...we're a little different haha. He doesn't do sports or like them. He was a fire fighter, never kissed a girl, and has a super super cheesey smile haha. He's a good comp though. He loves me. I can tell. We are teaching and at a high for bap dates! We taught 20 lessons and have 3 on dates! It's good so far. The first week was hard but I realized why it's so hard and good at the same time. Prayer is a cool thing. And I know as a missonary satan HATES me and what I am doing. So he tries as hard as he can to bring me down and make it hard. But as a missonary I am entitled to the 16,000 people saying prayers to bless the missonaries and that's lots of blessings! I feel them and I always ask Heavenly Father to help me feel the prayers of everyone I can. I learned something cool about faith.

2 Nephi 4:20

My god hath been my support; he has lead me through mine afflictions in the wilderness and he has preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.

Some people think faith is god making their problems better, or fixing things for them because they believe and are keeping their commandments. But faith is knowing that god will lead you through it. That's hard to teach some people. It doesn't say he made my afflictions better. He leads me through them. Remeber that!

This week was a good one. We helped a man move in and he had a low blood sugar attack!! It was super scary haha. But no worries. He made it out alive! I'm learning lots and becoming kinda a missonary haha. Not quite there yet but close. The ward is super nice! We have a lady called mama who feeds us every night we don't have a meal. She cleans our dirty cloths! It's a blessing. The weather is actually really cold. It's been like 60 and 70 all summer so were thinking a cold winter! And by the way just so you know, everyone here has no teeth and smokes and is a little on the big side ha. It scared me a little. Now I work out like every break we get and brush my teeth alot haha. But the people are great. We have some baptisms coming up and I'm stoked about that! It's not too hard as long as you work all day. Then it flies, and since nothing is over an hour nothing feels too slow, but days when we aren't full or mess up our planning it's super long haha. But yeah people are nice and the ward takes care of us alot.  

HE SLEPT OUTSIDE OUR DOOR (August 5, 2014)

So first off, in the MTC I met a Tongan who had no money at all! And no suit and noihng. He was super nice though and loving. So I gave him a tie. He bawled and bawled and bawled haha. It was super cute. But the cool thing was I left the MTC at 3:30 in the moring and he slept outside our dorm (which is breaking alot of rules haha) and waited up all night just to help us bring our bags to the truck! He wanted to say thank you for everything. It was awsome. He was a super sweet guy. So then Indiana is super super pretty. The people at first kinda scared me. They're all really trashy and poor but then as I got to know them there just like me...just dress talk and walk a little different, which was cool to see. My first day we taught alot of lessons and it went super well. But all the other days haven't been as good. I'm teaching a girl who is 17 and has a 3 month baby with no dad. It's sad but she's super pure about just listening to what we have to say. My comp is Elder Bush...He is 10 months in from Beaver Utah, has 5 sisters, never played a sport in his life, never kissed a girl, loves disney, and smiles maybe more than me haha. He's a good elder though. Our personalities are a little different but we get along well. I got a big hug from Cole as soon as I got here! He said I'll love it and he's missed me and if I ever need anything call him (which is also against the rules but he said he doesn't get in trouble hahah). He looks good! He smiles just as much as he use to and he still is super super funny. He talks to everyone haha. But I won the most know elder out of all the new elders hahah. A few knew me from lacrosse and others from Cole and some sisters from Lehi and other schools and everyone LOVES the blue tie haha.

SAFE IN INDIANA (July 29, 2014)

Elder Ian Michael Hullinger arrived safely in Indiana.  It was a pleasure to meet and welcome him to the mission.  He has a solid testimony of the gospel and is excited to be doing the Lord’s work.  Sister Cleveland and I look forward to serving with him during this special time in his life. 

I know Elder Hullinger will appreciate letters from home, but I discourage phone calls or visits except for emergency situations, and with prior coordination with me.  I recommend that you send all mail and packages to the office.  We will forward items to his apartment address.  For your information, due to postal regulations, packages can only be forwarded when they are sent Priority or First Class mail.  

Sister Cleveland and I will love, care for, and watch over Elder Hullinger.  Thank you for the love and support you have given, and will give him on his mission. 

Sincerely,

Steven C. Cleveland
Mission President

I LOVE IT (July 27, 2014)

So the run down of the life of Ian Hullinger. My district has 6 guys in it. Elder Lorsh and me. Then there is Elder Jonhson and Elder Whitlsol, and then Elder Michless and Elder Danes. They're all so different. It's insane haha. But we fit so well! I love them. The bed is kinda hard and it's 10,000 degrees in our room and really really smelly haha but I love it. It's amazing. Everyone I come in contact with knows about the doughnut joke haha. We are just learning so much. We teach lots of people and actually as a district are teaching a non member who is super super into the bible. So it's hard sometimes but it's my favorite thing to do here. The schedule isn't too bad. I'm good at waking up and getting to bed on time. Sometimes sleep is hard but I'll get used to it. Everyone is great and I'm learning so much. I can't wait to get out of the MTC, especially with the 24 coming up ha. It's hard being so close to home. But nothing too bad haha. I can't wait to send you pictures so you have an idea of who I'm around 24/7. It's good. I'm learning lots. But the most important is show love in everything!!!!!! Feel the spirt, and use what you're good at and God's gifts. It's amazing the help you get. I know I can do this and it will make me the best man/husband/disciple I can be. I love making people happy and feeling a part of this family. It's so good. Not much to add yet but I will call you in seven days. Send me the phone number and be ready ha.