The Last One! 10/16/2017

This week has been a miracle and a half! Many of you may know that I have been looking for the last baptism of my mission this transfer. I told Elder Lund my goal and we set out trying to find the one! We prayed and we worked harder than ever! I mean every single prayer I was asking Heavenly Father to help me see one last baptism on my mission. In all honesty, this transfer went by so quick and has probably been my favorite transfer because of this newfound energy to find the one. Well at the beginning of the transfer we got a referral for a girl named H who was attending PLU a college here in the state. She had learned from missionaries in Montana and was coming out to the institute class and reading the Book of Mormon. But the closer that it got to me leaving it seemed like her baptism was going to happen closer to December because of her family not being supportive and school being out at that time. In result of us finding every single second of every day, Elder Lund and I saw so many miracles and doubled our teaching pool. But we still hadn't found the one, so we thought. 

At last desperation about a week and a half ago, we had a lesson with H and did our best to overcome all of her concerns. We invited her to pray about the 15th of October and just to see if Heavenly Father thought she would be ready by then. A few days later we got a text at night that said something to the effect of, "I was going to tell you Saturday, but I've decided to go ahead with the 15th for my baptism." Woooo! We were shocked! During our next lesson H told us her experience that she had prayed and in those few minutes of praying about if she should get baptized on the 15th she felt peace; all of her concerns and fears were washed away as she was given her confirmation that this was the right day and the right thing for her to do. We owe it all to God! He really does answer prayers and He really does help His children make decisions that may seem impossible. Yesterday we had the baptism for H and it was a wonderful experience.

Elder Lund, M, C, H, & Elder Bullough

The other miracle was that we didn't have just one baptism but we also had another baptism for a man named C. He was being taught by the Sisters and they had helped him come to church and prepare to be baptized and felt that he should be referred to YSA so he could be around more people his age. So we helped him throughout the week to prepare for the baptism and he was also baptized with H! This just shows that Heavenly Father goes above and beyond to bless us when we are diligently doing everything in our power to serve Him! 

Elder Bullough, M, C, & Elder Lund

And last tender mercy! Just to show how real God is: On Tuesday Elder Lund and I had planned to do a whole day of knocking! We started in Parkland left our car at home and went from city to city just walking around knocking doors and talking to everyone. Well during that time I had prayed to somehow run into J, one of my recent converts. We went by his house and he had moved out... Well at 4:55pm we were crossing the road at a stop light when all of a sudden I hear from the nearby parking lot: "Bullough!" And sure enough it was J! By "coincidence"-- not -- J just happened to be in the middle of Tacoma exactly where I was at that exact moment. And right before I was leaving this next week. Later we found out that he lives in Yelm, so it was completely "lucky" that he would be in that part of Tacoma that day! 

J and Elder Bullough

It has been great serving my mission here and I have been remarkably blessed! It will be sad saying goodbye to Elder Lund since we have been together for so long. But I am excited for the next chapter of my life! Love you all and see you soon! 

Oh and I forgot that I was surprised on my birthday this week by Elder Lund and the Callahans from Gig Harbor ward with IHOP! Such a blast! I seriously love them-- such a nice surprise! 

Elder Lund, Me, and the Callahans!

Elder Bullough's last Sunday evening dinner at Sister White's home:

Sister White & Elder Bullough

Sister White fed all of these missionaries Sunday evening!

This mission is the "GOAT"! 

Excerpts from Letter to Parents 10/9/2017

Here are a couple pictures from when Elder Lund and I went up to Gig Harbor to visit C and M. She made like the best Persian dinner I have ever had, well the only Persian dinner I have ever had. 

C & M are the last two ladies on the right

I am excited to work work work this next week and pray that we can have a baptism on my last Sunday in the mission!

WOOO! 10/2/2017

This week was long but also very good. On Wednesday and Thursday we went on a temple trip with the mission. It was a blast and I had a very great experience. I love that the temple is a place that I can go to find peace and comfort from the world. I may not understand everything about it yet, but I love the feeling that I get when I go there. The invitation to go to the House of the Lord often is something that really stuck out to me this week how important it is for us, even if it is just walking around the temple grounds we can feel a difference when we are there. 

We also had a chance to watch conference this weekend. It was awesome to hear from the Apostles! It was awesome to hear that some of our investigators watched the sessions of General Conference as well and had some of their questions answered.

It is a sad thought to think that, that was the last General Conference that I have had on my mission. But I have enjoyed my mission very much and have seen a lot of miracles that have all come from the hand of the Lord. And looking back many of these conversions that I have witnessed including my own, all resulted from reading in the Book of Mormon and getting down on sincere knees and asking God if the Book is true! 

That is probably why the talk that I liked the most was Elder Russell M. Nelson's talk about the Book of Mormon. He asked some questions that helped me think about how the Book of Mormon really does bring POWER into our lives. The quote that stuck out to me most from his talk is: "the Book of Mormon is the book that will prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ." I add my testimony that it is true! I love you all and hope that you have a great week! 

-Elder Bullough