Happy New Year! 1/4/2016

Well first off, it’s the NEW YEAR!! Crazy!! Time really flies and it is amazing to look back a year ago and realize where I am now. I hope that you all were able to have a wonderful New Year’s Eve and enjoyed all of the parties and staying up late! Funny thing about being a missionary, New Year’s Eve is completely opposite, we go to bed as early as we can rather than staying up late! It was great to get the extra sleep.

So in mission lingo, I just began my "blackout year" which means that I won't see my family or friends from home for a whole year! That seems so long... but all of the missionaries say it goes by fast. This new year I have thought a lot about new year’s resolutions because we are constantly setting goals on our mission. So I have a goal to work out every morning for at least 30 minutes and to eat less chocolate... the last part is going to be hard for me. And a more spiritual goal I have is to memorize a scripture a week! So far I am on track!

Funny story and I wish I would have taken a picture! But since I didn't just try to imagine this in your heads. So yesterday was fast Sunday. For those of you who don't know, fasting is when you don't eat food or drink for a period of time. Well I was starving at four and went to the Swanson's to eat and stop my fast. But I soon realized this might be a challenge for me because she had cooked bacon wrapped chicken with Saracha sauce glazed over it. And on the other plate was a ton of jalapeno poppers! For those of you who know me, know that I do not do well with spicy food!!! So I said a prayer in my heart that I would be able to eat and be filled, but also that I would be able to bear the HOT sauce!! Well I wisely stayed away from the pieces of chicken with the ghost pepper but I did eat plenty of other spicy food at that meal. Surprisingly, with enough milk I was able to eat enough food to be full. And even more miraculously I was doing a lot better than most of my companions who were eating it. I am sure that my prayer was answered and now know why I was not called to Mexico to serve hahah!

Lastly, this week was great. We had a zone conference and learned so much about member missionary work and how important it is. If there are roughly 15 million members and each of them helps a friend or family member they know come to know more about the gospel of Jesus Christ, then the amount of members in the church will double in one year. I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and that it does bless people’s lives. And because I know this I would invite you all to help others know this as well. I heard a great story last night of how a member in Mossyrock, Washington was able to do missionary work. They would invite family and friends to their family home evening and have fun doing an activity in the beginning, and then they would let the missionaries share a ten minute lesson. This was a great way that others were more open to hearing the gospel and it brought many new members to the church. And this was as easy as inviting friends and family over to have fun on a Monday night! I hope this story can inspire you all as much as it inspired me.

Hope you all have a great new year!

Love you all,

Elder Bullough