Do You Remember? 09/26/2016

This week went pretty well. First off A, who was baptized last week, was able to be confirmed in church yesterday! President Blatter, the president over our mission, came to our ward to give a talk and it was neat because not too long ago he had the opportunity of meeting her dad R before he was baptized. He mentioned how it was neat looking back to see the effect of how the church grows and affects families. President Blatter related a story about how the church grew in a little town in Brazil that went from only having a total of four members to years later having hundreds of members who joined the church that were affected by that one family who was first baptized. 

Second thing that was really cool this week is that Elder Masey and I had the opportunity of teaching a whole Samoan family of 15 about prayer and how God communicates with us through the feelings of the Holy Ghost. It was so cool because we were able to invite everyone in the house to join in the lesson, and more importantly we kept their attention and we were able to teach them how to pray and about the Holy Ghost. Then we ended the lesson and all knelt down and P one of brothers said the prayer. The Spirit was very strong during the lesson when we all were able to testify of how we have felt the Holy Ghost in our own lives. 

Over the week I thought about the role of having a purpose. 

It is interesting to see the difference it can make in our lives to have a purpose. It seems to make life more enjoyable and fulfilling when we are working towards a purpose. The three main things that I could think of that lead to a purpose was God the Father, His son Jesus Christ and each one of us. God's purpose is to help us receive all that He has by sending us to this earth where we can learn and grow. Christ's purpose was to make God's plan possible by performing the atonement, which is when he died for us. Our purpose is to live according to God's plan and to live the gospel. Each one of these purposes tie together. In essence, Jesus Christ came here to bring us back to His Father, and our goal is to bring each other closer to Christ. 

Well the month of September is closing off so I thought I would add a picture of how beautiful it has been this month. Love you all and have a great week!

—Elder Bullough

Pictures of Elder Bullough from the Wa-Tac Mission blog:

(calledtoservewa-tac.blogspot.com 9/25/2016 post)

Two Baptisms!! 9/19/2016

This week was awesome, especially towards the end!! I mentioned last week that we were projected to have two baptisms this past weekend and we did! 

First on Saturday, JH was able to get baptized! He is a way good guy and has really changed his life around a lot in the past few years. JH had been in and out of prison for about half of his life and could barely remember back to when he didn't have the supervision and restrictions of the law. This week his life changed in two ways. First, he was made a free man, and second, he entered into the covenant of baptism. He became a part of a family; somewhere he can turn for help and support, and receive the blessings that God has in store for him. It was great to have the opportunity to help him get baptized because I got to see a glimpse of repentance/change work in his life. I remember the first time I met JH, he walked into church and I realized I didn't recognize him so I decided to see where he was visiting from. After talking to him I found out that he was not a member of the church and that he had grown up and his Dad always had the missionaries over so he always felt right at home with the Mormons. JH continued to come to church and we taught him all of the lessons and even before the first lesson he wanted to get baptized. Because he was finishing out his sentence we had to wait until he was completely off of parole to baptize him. This last Saturday JH enjoyed his first week out, and his first week in as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Then on Sunday, the daughter of a new member, A, decided that she wanted to be baptized as well. She had started to read the Book of Mormon as a 9 year old girl! How cool!? I never thought about reading when I was that age. A did awesome at her baptism and really enjoyed it. She was able to be baptized by her father who had just received the Priesthood not too long ago. I am sure that it was a great experience for her and I know she could feel the support of a loving ward family that filled all the way to the back of the room just to watch her baptism! Not to mention she was a bit nervous, at first, about having a big group but in the end I am sure that she enjoyed seeing all of the young kids that came to watch her baptism.

Love you all, and hope you all have a great week!

Elder Bullough

Pictures from the WA-TAC mission blog of Elder Masey & Elder Bullough at the New Missionary Training meeting with President Blatter:  (calledtoservewa-tac.blogspot.com)

11 Months! 9/12/2016

This past week was great! Elder Masey and I knocked a lot of doors trying to find people to teach. From our own finding there wasn't a lot of success but we sure worked hard and yesterday at church it all paid off! After the first meeting we met with Ron, a recent convert to our church and his daughter A and she told us that she wants to get baptized, so we set up a date for this next weekend! It was pretty exciting to hear that she is only 9 years old and has started reading some of the Book of Mormon and now she wants to be baptized! We also should be having another baptism next week for JH who we have been teaching for a little while now. 

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to give a talk and I thought I would share with you all something that I learned. As a ward, we are attempting to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover by the end of December, so lo and behold my talk was on the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. As a missionary I have found that the Book of Mormon is the most effective tool in bringing change to a person's life. By reading it we feel the Spirit more in our life and it prompts us to change or repent. However, the thing that I learned in my reading is that unless we take time to "continually" study the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon, we at times will wander off of the strait and narrow path. (reference: 1 Nephi Chapter 8 verses 19-24). 

Love you all, and I hope that you all have a great week!

Elder Bullough

Weekly Update 9/7/2016

I have to apologize. Many of you have been wondering why my emails have come on Wednesday these past two weeks. Last week we had a member of the Seventy come to our mission last Monday and Tuesday, and this week it was Labor Day so all of the libraries were closed down. Anyway, I want to keep this letter pretty short. Things are going great and we had a baptism last Saturday for J. 

J has a pretty cool story. A few weeks ago, Elder Goldstrohm and I were knocking on doors when we received a referral to go see him. Having received a few referrals over the past week that didn't pan out so well, I decided to give him a call before we went over. I asked him why he wanted to meet with us and what he expected from meeting with the missionaries. J then replied that he felt it was finally the right time for him and that he had met with missionaries in the past because his fiancé is Mormon and she was hoping that he would join the church. We scheduled to go see him the very next day, and turns out before we saw him that day other missionaries ran into him and gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read the introduction. When we went over, it was apparent that it was the right timing and that he was now open to the message and really wanting to know if it was true. Elder Goldstrohm and I went on to meet with him for the next appointment with Brother Torrella from our ward. This is what I believe was the turning point that pushed J over the fence. At this meeting, Brother Torrella was able to share his story which was close to the path which J was on himself, and by the end they were like brothers and left with a big hug. The spiritual level in that room was immense and helped J through all of the opposition that he would face with his extended family and gave him the motivation to read and pray for himself. J went on to be married two weeks later, and then get baptized and now he and his family are working on getting to the temple.

Well love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Elder Bullough

J's Baptism:

A Week of Miracles! 8/31/2016

Last Monday, we got our new companions and I am training Elder Masey, who is fresh from the plane! He is from Ocala, Florida and just graduated last year. It is rare for someone to be trained as an office elder their first transfer in the mission, but the Lord definitely saw it fit. It has been great because he is a hard worker and is motivated to do the work. And it has been nice because he is pretty good at setting up the sound systems for mission conferences, while I do better with the computer stuff. This past week we accomplished a lot! 

First, Monday evening we came to our apartment and because I was living in another apartment for a week and left the trash out, the apartment was raided with little gnats. That was fun. I had no idea how to get rid of them, in fact, I tried putting duct tape on the ceiling to catch them-- that didn't work. Elder Masey and I found out from a member that there is a trick that you can do with apple cider vinegar that works. So now we no longer have a gnat problem!:)

Second, Elder Masey and I had a baptism for A! Elder Goldstrohm and I had been teaching their family for a little while now and she had told us that she would like to be baptized on the 28th. This past week it seemed like it had fallen through and wasn't going to happen. Well, while we were tracting (knocking doors) on Saturday, we received a text that said, "Hey Elders! It’s A. I heard that the meeting was cancelled tonight but I would still like to get baptized this Sunday." When I read this text I pretty much jumped out of my shoes! It was a miracle! Immediately, we went over and finalized everything for the baptism, and Sunday, A was able to get baptized! And to put the cherry on top, Elder Masey was able to baptize her for his first time.

Third, we had a "Mission Tour" in our mission, which is when a leader of our church comes to give a training. This happens like once a year in our mission. We were blessed to have 2 members of the quorum of the 70 come and join us. Being the office elders, Elder Masey and I had to set up everything which was a bit stressful but the tour ended up going very smoothly. 

Something that I was reminded of today is that God, is our loving Father in Heaven. And that he is ever aware of us and hears and answers our every prayers. It is so important for us to pray with a sincere heart and just to talk to Him because that it when real answers come, and that is when real change occurs. 

Well I will post the pictures below and I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Bullough

A's Baptism:

A and her family with Elder Bullough and Elder Masey

Elder Bullough and Elder Masey

                             Elder Masey meets his new trainer, Elder Bullough                              (These pictures all came from the WA-TAC mission blog)

A picture from the WA-TAC mission blog on 8/24/2016

Faith is the Power! 8/22/2016

Quick update- Elder Goldstrohm went home with a group about a week early so I had the chance to cover two wards in a 3-some. It was kind of busy to cover two areas, but fun at the same time. We also got transfer calls this past Saturday and I will be staying in the Commencement Bay area and have the opportunity of training a new missionary!

This week I was reminded of a very important lesson. Faith is the Power! I had a chance to knock with a young man, named Pitone, who was spending the week with a friend in this ward. While we were knocking on some doors in an apartment complex, I was surprised because of his zeal to talk at every door. For his first time knocking I was surprised with his courage. Then I asked him a question that I think would explain the "zeal" that he had for sharing the gospel. I asked him if he had read the Book of Mormon, to which he responded that he had. He told me that he received his witness that the book is true when he was 13 years old, because he prayed about it—which is the key! Then he told me something that reminded me of my conversion. He said that he had made it a goal to read the Book of Mormon again, and this time around he was noticing how many cool stories of faith there were. This is exactly what I had noticed as I was reading the Book of Mormon for my first time through, I was drawn by all of the marvelous stories of faith that the prophets of old showed. Which reminded me that faith really is the power that brings miracles. That night we went forth with a great amount of faith and taught a lot of lessons by just bearing testimony of what we knew to be true. It made all of the difference and we came back from the night filled with how great it felt to be led by the Spirit! 

Well love you all and have a great week! 

Elder Bullough

Here is a picture of me and Pitone, the young man who went knocking with me!

Picture from the WA-TAC blog (posted 8/19)

Crazy Week Ahead 8/15/2016

The following paragraphs are from the email that Elder Bullough sent his parents on 8/15/16:

I don't have too much time to email today. I have been busy all day because Elder Goldstrohm is going home tomorrow so we have been finalizing a ton of stuff and not to mention he had to pack today. This week we are losing a lot of great missionaries because they have all served two years and are going home to make the school date. Kinda crazy. The mission is going to be so different. Anyway this week is going to be kind of different because the next group of missionaries doesn't come until next week. I will be in a trio with the Skyline Elders for the week and we will be working two areas. So technically I am tackling the area by myself for the week, but I am definitely up for the challenge. The craziest part is I will be doing a split with the ward member during church so I will be the only missionary in the ward that day. Haha. 

Anyway the work is going great and we have a lot of amazing investigators that we are teaching. It is so cool to see that it isn't us but the Lord that is converting. It has been a great lesson for me and has shown me that baptisms really do happen on the Lord's timing.

-Elder Bullough