A White Christmas!! 12/26/2016

This past week was a blast and too fast!! It is so crazy to think that this is my last Christmas on the mission! I have definitely loved Christmas out here and it has become my favorite day out here! This Christmas we saw a ton of miracles!! We also got our transfer calls this past Saturday: Elder Lund and I are going to be staying here in Gig Harbor together and our boys got their visas and are headed down to Trinidad and Tobago tomorrow at like 2 in the morning!? It is going to definitely be weird just having two of us in the companionship now, but I am super excited that both Elder Lund and I are staying in the area. 

Christmas Miracles-

First, this past week we got a call from a member saying that her friend, A, wanted to meet with us. So we called A and set up a time to meet with her that day. It was one of the most Spirit-filled lessons that I have been in. Anyway long story short, A has been friends with the Hamilton family for years and has always seen the support that the church has given her and loved how close that we are as members. After talking for a minute, A asked us how she could be a part of this and that at age 70 she is looking for something more in life and wants to be a part of something bigger than her. We explained that the way to become a part of the church is through baptism, and she readily accepted! A is excited for her baptism this week on the 30th. While we were talking, A told us how she had gone to God in prayer one night asking what she needed to do and why she is still here. She told us that she got her answer that she needed to call up her old friend and ask to talk to the missionaries. --Wow! As you can assume I was so impressed! Keep her in your prayers and hope all goes well this week for the baptism!

Second, last night after eating dinner we went to the Van Duker's Christmas party. They are a member of our ward and had invited us to come over for some dessert. At the party they had invited their friends from Ukraine to join. They are not members of our church but are very interested in it and even came to church earlier that day. Of course, with missionaries present, we got to talking about the church and shared the message of the Restoration. Keep in mind that they spoke very little English and we would translate through the Van Duker's son who went to Ukraine on his mission. It was definitely one of my most memorable lessons because even though we had a language barrier between us we could feel the Spirit very strongly! We are planning on meeting with them throughout this next week and hope to help them learn more about the gospel. My favorite part of the lesson was when we invited V, the father, to say the closing prayer for us and he accepted! We knelt down and he offered the prayer for us and many whom he had just met that night. That takes some courage! 

Here are some pics for ya!

Elder Bullough & Elder Lund with Christmas packages that President &
Sister Blatter delivered from the missionaries' families back home.

Missionaries participating in the Nativity at the bishop's home on Christmas Eve:

Elder Bullough played the part of King Herod

 

Elder Bullough on Christmas morning!

Elder Bullough and Elder Lund on Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!! 12/19/2016

As many of you know, this is my second Christmas on the mission, and I am loving it! However it has been much colder than last year. I definitely forgot how great Christmas was last year! I love that people are open to hear the message around this time of year! And people just seem to be a lot more cheerful. Guess it's just the Christmas Spirit. 

This week was great and we are still working with some great people. We did service for C who we are teaching. She has a super long driveway so we just dug out some trenches so that the water could run off. It was pretty muddy but super fun! We also taught some great lessons this week and had a couple people come to church so that was awesome! 

Well I will keep it short this week but have a Merry Christmas and remember our Savior! 

#LightTheWorld

With love,
Elder Bullough

Elder Bullough & Elder Lund with their Christmas packages from their families back home

Sweater Weather!! 12/12/2016

I am loving this winter, it is definitely colder than last year but I definitely am having a blast!! This past week we had our Zone Conference which was a lot of fun and we were able to learn a ton! Here is a picture of our zone all dressed up for the Christmas picture:

Another thing that was great this week is we have been teaching a lot of people because of a new method we have been trying... we have called it the "30 second restoration." At each door we go to we try to share a 30 second restoration and hit the important parts. We have been able to see a great increase in people's interest as we have done this. I love it because it allows us to share our message, and more importantly, it allows for the Spirit to testify of our message in those brief seconds. 

Lastly, we went and did service this week and spent a few hours chopping wood in the snow and moving it to a lady in our ward who only uses a fireplace for heat right now while her heater is out-of-use. It was a ton of fun for us and I am sure it has been a blessing for them during this cold winter season. 

Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Love you all and have a great week!

-Elder Bullough

Pictures from calledtoservewa-tac.blogspot.com

It's Snowing Blessings! 12/5/2016

Today we woke up to it snowing!! It didn't snow too much, but covered the ground for a little while. It has since melted... not quite like Utah snow haha. Anyway this week was great and snowed not only literally but also spiritually as we witnessed many miracles:

Yesterday was definitely the highlight of the week!! My companions and I made it a goal to get 5 people at church that we have been working with, which is a pretty high goal for this area. Throughout the week we focused on committing everyone we could to coming to church, and then we kept in contact throughout the week so that we could make sure that they were coming. Then on Sunday we fasted to hit our goal and have 5 people at church. Well church came and blessings just fell right out of the sky... 5 people came to church!! And in some cases the people that came were totally a surprise! We hit our goal! For those who are returned missionaries you will understand our excitement. Anyway, the highlight of the week was in the second ward during Sacrament meeting. We have been working with C over the past couple of weeks. On this past Tuesday, Elder Lund and Elder Killian went over to give C and her family a turkey and some canned food for the holidays. While they were there they met with Z, C's mother that lives with them. She was so excited to meet them and heard such great things that she accepted the food and a Book of Mormon. Fast forward to Sunday, Elder Sanchez and I are sitting in the very back of the meeting when we see C and her mom walk in, we were so excited to see them we almost jumped out of our seats! Then they joined us in Sunday school and loved it. At the end Z asked us this question: "How do you become a Mormon?" Elder Lund and I were with her at the time and had to refrain from jumping too hysterically but managed to calmly tell her all about baptism and asked her if she would like to be baptized. She told us that she had been thinking about it and wants to learn more. We are going over Tuesday and can't wait to teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teach them more about baptism.

Well that's all for this week, hope that you all have a great week!

Love you all.

P.S. Our district is going caroling tonight so that should be super fun!! haha

Mission Leadership Conference

(Pictures from calledtoservewa-tac.blogspot.com)

Elder Bullough & Elder Lund