Christmas Week 12/28/2015

This past week was the week of Christmas! It was one of my favorite Christmas's ever. It was also one of my favorite weeks in the mission field so far! The week of Christmas, on Tuesday, we had a mission Christmas party. The Christmas party is one of the most fun parties that the mission puts together during the year! Each zone works on a skit and performs it at the party. Then we have a white elephant gift exchange. I got a bunch of flash cards to learn Portuguese... probably never going to use them. Then we have a gift drawing where names are pulled out of like a hat and we go grab a gift that people donated to the missionaries. The gifts vary from a new pair of boots to even some laundry detergent. I was able to get a new pair of gloves! Yay!! Funny side story about that: about a week earlier I lost my gloves because I left them in an investigator's home and was never able to find them, but luckily my name was drawn and I was able to get some new gloves. God was looking out for me! Then at the end of the party we were able to hear some musical numbers that were performed by some of the missionaries. All in all the Christmas party was a success and a nice break from missionary work. 

Then on Wednesday the zone went caroling to a lady named G. in our ward. She has some physical handicaps and is in a wheel chair and we had learned that she would be alone for Christmas this year. So like thirty of us surprised her and went over to her house to sing to her. She was very grateful and it brought so much joy to her to see the missionaries. Then on Friday it was Christmas and I didn't receive nearly as expensive or as many gifts as years before, but I noticed that this Christmas felt a lot more fulfilling than the years before and I know that it is because of the true meaning of Christmas and the joy that it brings.

And to finish off the week we were able to have a baptism for a young man named E.! He has been waiting 6 months to get baptized and his mom agreed to allow him to be baptized on the 27th. His baptism was very well planned and it brought him so much joy. I am so glad that he was able to feel that blessing in his life and I hope his parents can look back and see the changes that it brings his life, and maybe one day his example will bring his parents into the church. I know that this gospel is true and that it brings true change to people's lives, and it is evident in those who choose to follow Christ because the light shines through them.

P.S. I will post some pictures below of the Christmas party and the baptism.

With love,

Elder Bullough

Washington Tacoma Mission ~ Christmas Party 2015

This was our zone's table at the Christmas party

Elder Bullough's Zone 

Performing a Skit

Christmas Eve at N.'s House

N. fed us on Christmas Eve 

Check out all this food we were served on Christmas Eve!

Christmas Day at our apartment:

This is us opening presents on Christmas morning! 

Got this from my companions!

Got these from my companions!

Elder Lundgreen after opening his gift of the sweet socks I got him

Elder Ellis opening my gift for him, Haha! 

E's Baptism:

This was E. and all of the missionaries that helped him get to baptism

N. was baptized!!! 12/21/2015

So this last week was a great week, and yesterday was definitely one of my favorite days on my mission.  N. was able to be BAPTIZED!!! She finally made it! She went 6 days without smoking and is now continuing to quit! Her baptism was very well planned and was amazing. After all that she went through I know that this was all worth it. Elder Ellis did the baptism and I was able to confirm her. Then Elder Sutton one of the missionaries in another area came and played a song that he composed that was a medley of Silent Night and a few other songs that really added the icing to the cake! From the first time I met N. to last night when she bore her testimony of the church, I truly saw the change that the gospel brings to people’s lives. And that change is it brings light into their lives. The gospel brings guidance and hope and I have seen it in N.'s life and also my own. It is so cool to think that God sees us all when we are at our worst but the reason he has such great love for us is because he also sees us at our best! Last night N. was able to see a glimpse of the love that God has for her. And I can’t wait to go and see her this week. She is having us over for Christmas Eve lunch which should be awesome!

Other updates.. This week is Christmas!! Blows my mind how fast time goes by! But one cool thing that the missionaries do on Mondays during the month of December is we go caroling! And even if I can't sing at all, I still love to go caroling! Oh and it is very different for me to not have snow during the winter season... I think I might actually miss the snow a little. But one thing that I do miss is the mountains in Utah! So rather than having a White Christmas, we have a Wet Christmas in Washington.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas!

I will post some great pictures of the baptism at the bottom.

With love,

Elder Bullough

N.'s Baptism Day

Elder Bullough & Elder Lee filling the baptismal font

N. and her kids with all of the missionaries and the bishop 

Elder Bullough with N. & her kids 

Elder Sutton 

Two Month Mark 12/14/2015

Hey, so today I hit my two month mark and literally just noticed it ten seconds ago hahah! This week has been great. There were some hard times but also some great blessings. M. was able to be confirmed on Sunday. We went to a ward Christmas Party which was a lot of fun. I always love getting to know the members. At the beginning of the week we gained another companion and lost Elder Bosshardt. This new elder is from South Korea. It is pretty awesome and it amazes me how much English he knows already. He tried to teach us Korean but I am convinced that I will never be fluent in that language. It amazes me when I hear it that people can understand what they are saying... because it just sounds like jibberish to me hahah. But so far I know how to say "hello" and "will you be baptized?" so I figure I know enough.

When we found out we were getting the new elder from Korea we were very happy because there is a part of our area that is a Korean district so we are planning on baptizing from that area for the first time ever! Elder Lee has a pretty funny sense of humor and in his testimony yesterday he made the whole congregation laugh. He got up and said, "I wanted to go to Mexico on my mission because I love Mexican food. When I got my call I didn't know where Washington Tacoma was but I knew that there had to be a lot a tacos there because Tacoma... Taco-ma... Taco!!!" It definitely made all of us laugh. Hopefully the joke makes sense and you all can see his sense of humor a little. Anyway, I will post a picture at the bottom of Elder Lee and I in the car.

So this week we didn't have a baptism because the people that were set for Sunday fell off date... One of the people didn't want to wake up for church and N. had a cigarette during the week. In order to be baptized she has to be clean for five days. But with all of the stress she has a tough time quitting so we are just constantly praying for her. We also bought her a lot of cinnamon gum because we heard that it helps people as they try to quit. But on the bright side, this week we are planning on her getting baptized and can't wait! 

Well hope you all have a great week!

With love,

Elder Bullough

Transfer Day for Missionaries ~ 12/8/2015

Elder Bullough & Elder Lee

Baptism this week! 12/7/2015

Hey so this week was awesome and we had a baptism!! So N. was supposed to be baptized today but she is trying to overcome her smoking habit because there is a standard to be baptized. So unfortunately she wasn't able to be baptized because she smoked last week, but good news is she is set for this upcoming week! And let me talk about N. for a minute... She is one of my absolute favorite investigators so far. She first was taught by the missionaries in Alaska and she told them that she would be baptized. Well now she is committed and looks forward to this week. She is so strong. She has two kids that are 12 and 11 with her and her other daughter is in her 20's and is moved out. N. has definitely been hit from all directions and she knows that Satan is testing her faith and does not want her to be baptized. She is from Guam and is one of the most humble people I know. She has had a lot of trials in this last month such as she lost her job and her car was taken away. Her mom and sister disowned her because of her decision to get baptized into the Church. And she just lost her husband because he chose to live a different life. But the most amazing thing is that she still keeps her faith strong. She is determined to get baptized and knows that God will help her. The part that amazes me the most is that she has nothing to give, yet she insists that we come over for Christmas so she can feed us!! Definitely keep her in your prayers!

And our baptism this week taught me a lot. I learned that God loves all of his children and wants them to have the blessings of the gospel. M. is a girl we have been teaching for a couple of weeks now. She is 23 and lives with her sister. The thing about M. is she is a little slower and has a slight handicap. She had a stroke when she was younger that has affected her throughout her whole life. The first time we met her we didn't know if she understood the message but the more we met with her, the more we learned about her. She is very smart and knows that God has a plan for each of us. So last night we baptized her and it was a great experience. Baptism was very hard for her physically and mentally, she had to overcome the fear of being underwater and truly had to trust the missionaries baptizing her. And after some time she made that leap of faith and went under. The best part was the message we received at night. She said that she was grateful that we came into her life and that this brought so much joy that she was looking for. She bore her testimony and told us that she knows God is listening because of the feelings she gets. That was such a strength to my testimony to hear that. I will post the picture of her at the bottom.

Love and hope you all have a great week and enjoy this holiday season.

Elder Bullough

This is all of us at M.'s baptism:

This is Elder Ellis and I and we just got this tree from our bishop. It was awesome! Because we have no ornaments we just put a bunch of books and pictures of Christ in it haha... We also have our medicine bottles and other random things!!

Elder Ellis