Letter #33 - The Field is White

¡Buenos Dias!

This week was pretty great! I hope each one of you had a great week. Here is my week!

My big pumpkin cookie I made

Monday: PDays are simple here in McKinney, but I love them. We get together as a district and sometimes a zone and just play a bunch of different games. After Pday ended, We went to go visit a new investigator named Kari. She was found while Elder Kraus was on an exchange with Elder McCann. Both of them do not know a ton of spanish, but found 3 new spanish investigators. Kari however, gave them a wrong number and a wrong address. Super sad. We knocked some of the potentials around where we were and then it was time to go home.




Tuesday: We had a really good district meeting. I seriously love this current district so so so much. They are all just so awesome. Later, just finding with little success.

Wednesday: We had a meeting with President Gomez in the branch to talk about the area and get some lists printed with part member families and all of that. The meeting went well. Afterwards, we had a scheduled lesson with Jose de Leon. Once again, he cancelled. We rescheduled for Thursday.

A colorful birthday cake that the Moss family
 made for their daughter's birthday

Thursday: We had a meeting about the Just Serve Program because Elder Kraus is a new missionary. It is kind of a pointless training because most of it is common sense, but that is alright! After that meeting, we had an apartment inspection from a senior couple in the mission. Elder Jones and Sister Jones. They are awesome. Last time I went to the temple, they came with us. I gave them some cookies that I made last week and they said they were delicious and that I should keep making them because they will be a hit. I experimented with a different way to make them. After that, we went to a community service in Downtown McKinney. They were having a bunch of local agencies come in and set up boothes for people to come around and see what agencies are in the community. It was really fun helping set up boothes and tents and unloading people's cars. Our whole district had the opportunity to come at least for a little bit. Later, we went and had a meeting with Hermana Patton from the branch. She was assigned by the Relief Society to put together a current list of our investigators. It went well. Then, Jose de Leon cancelled for the 5th time in a row. We texted him and told him that We cannot keep scheduling our time to find out that he cant meet. We told him that when he really does want to come to church and be baptized, he knows where to find us. We sadly had to drop him. However, we have seen nothing but miracles since!

More from Volunteer McKinney

Friday: We had weekly planning. Friday night, the miracles from dropping Jose de Leon came FLOODING in. We found NINE NEW INVESTIGATORS. With only an hour of street contacting, we were able to make 4 contacts which turned into 9 new investigators! Sandra, Gladys, Ingrid, Mario, Luis, Diego, Ivan, Victor, and Natalia! It was so incredible. Dropping people takes faith, but when you show God that you are ready and willing to use your time in the way that He desires, He pours out blessings upon you.

Saturday: We went on exchanges. I was with Elder Jensen in my own area. Elder Kraus went with Elder Del Angel. Elder Jensen and I had a good day. We did service for 6 hours helping a non member pack and move. Then we found 2 new investigators and set a baptismal date with one of them named Mitzi! Mitzi is not a spanish speaker, so we will be having a hand off lesson next week with the Sisters. Elder Del Angel and Elder Kraus, however, did not have a very good day. Elder Del Angel crashed on his bike 3 times. The last one involving a car. He was taken to the Hospital by Ambulance. They took some XRays. Nothing broken or fractured. It was a miracle. His elbow is really bruised, but that is the extent of his injuries. No bleeding either. His bike however is a little broken. Elder Jensen and I went to the Hospital and switched back with our companions. We waited there for Elder and Sister Wilson from the mission office to come to the hosptial. They picked Elder Kraus and I up and we went to the fire department to pick up the Elders' bikes. By the time we got back to the other Elders' apartment, they had already been released from the hospital and were back in their apartment. It was kind of fun being able to spend some time with the Wilsons. This is their 3rd senior couple mission.

Volunteer McKinney Event Selfie With Elders Del Angel,
 Jensen, Bullough, and Kraus and Sisters Zhao and Sterne

Sunday: We went to church and a former investigator named Ulises Lara showed up with the Moss Family! He stayed all 3 hours and even came to dinner at the Moss' home. He investigated the church 6 months ago but got busy with work and could not come to church anymore. His brother is the branch president in a different stake. His sister is also a member. He told us he would like to be baptized! We are super excited for him. After dinner, we went to Tim Mason's baptism. He is the man I interviewed for baptism last week. It went well. Then we went finding and found another new investigator named Juan Gonzalez. Making a total of 12 new investigators since we dropped Jose de Leon only a few days ago. Miracles are real.

I know that the work I am about is the work of my Father in Heaven. The Field is White already to harvest. God does not want us to waste time. We are meant to seek out the elect and bring them to the waters of baptism. He is hastening His work in these last days. We cannot slow down and wait for those who refuse to make time for the Gospel.

I love y'all so much,
Elder Bullough

Letter # 32 - Trials

Buenas Tardes!

Brandon and Elder Kraus doing what Elders do.

Through these difficult times and many natural disasters, I hope and pray that everyone is safe and sound. I pray that those who y'all may know in the affected areas are safe and well.

Hurricane Harvey has led to many heart broken families here in Dallas. Many families are moving to Dallas to take shelter until they can get back up on their feet. These sure are the Last Days.

Here is my week!

Monday - We drove out to Princeton after PDay ended to try and contact a few potentials out there. Not a ton of luck with doors, but it happens! :)

Tuesday - We did not have district meeting due to interviews with President of Friday. So we went out on bikes. I let Elder Kraus lead. We just stopped at certain hispanic looking houses. We had some good contacts, but not a whole lot of potential. Elder Kraus has a lot of "Greenie Fire"... Meaning he really really wants to knock doors all day everyday and find a million new investigators each day that way... However, every missionary who has been in the field for a bit of time knows there is a better way. I also do not want to break his spirits or energy though, so we knock a lot of doors to make him happy and to make him feel like he is working hard! Which he is. He is a great guy. Tuesday, I also made cookies.

Floating on exchanges

Wednesday - We had our weekly correlation meeting with Hermano Carrasquillo. It went well. Hermano Carrasquillo is an incredible man and really loves his calling. Wednesday night, we had a lesson planned with Jose de Leon, and for the second time in a row, he wasn't there. We called him and he told us that his work load is crazy. He is a mechanic and personally has 20+ cars to fix. He asked us to pray for him and for his wife that their schedules would open up so that they would have time to meet with us. It was good to hear that he still wants to meet with us.

Thursday - We had our weekly planning session. Always takes so long and uses a lot of energy... however, it is always something that needs to get done. After dinner, we did more contacting and bike riding. I have been studying a lot about humility and felt like I needed some help becoming more humble. So that night I prayed that God would help me be more humble. But then some words came out of my mouth that I did not expect, "Please give me trials, that I may be humbled."

Making cookies

Friday - Well, the day started off great! We went to Frisco for interviews with President Dalton. While I was waiting for the rest of my district to arrive, I was simply sitting at the piano messing around with different notes. As I stood up from the piano, a sharp pain went throughout my entire back. I was in a lot of pain. I couldn't even walk without the pain shooting troughout my back. I took it like a man until my interview with President Dalton. The interview went well. He gave me lots of great tips on how to be a better district leader and trainer. After the interview, We called the mission nurses and they told me to go home and rest and take some pain meds. They also told me to ice my back. So that is what I did. The zone Leaders had planned to go on splits friday, so Elder Bair stayed in with me. We had a good time even though I was in bed all evening. Elder McCann and Elder Kraus went out and found 3 new investigators in Spanish! Elder McCann does not even speak Spanish! It was awesome. I was very proud of my son(trainee) Elder Kraus.

Saturday - We were still on exchanges with the zone leaders. My back felt a lot better, but still hurt a lot. It had turned into more of an ache instead of a splitting pain. So what did We decide to do? Go and help a non member move! Maybe it wasn't the best decision, but it was still fun. Then we went to a park and had some studies. A group of 4 girls who were about our age came and sat down with us and started asking questions about our church. They were at the park going around and praying with people. I thought it was a really cool thing they were doing. They didn't have a ton of interest, but we did clear up a lot of false beliefs they thought we had. They then asked to pray for us. We agreed. They felt super sad for our mothers because of how little we get to talk to them, so they prayed for my mom :) It was really nice.

Pday

Sunday - My back was still killing me. Elder Jensen threw up over night, and would be staying home from church, so we thought it would be better if I stayed with him instead of over working my back. So I did. Elder Del Angel and Elder Kraus went to church. Sunday night, we went to the church for a baptismal interview! I got to interview a man named Tim Mason. He has a ton of faith. Super friendly guy. He has been through a lot and has a ton of friends and family in Florida right now. His baptism will be next sunday.

That was my week! My back feels a lot better now. It still kind of aches, but for the most part it feels a lot better. I hope all is well.

With Love,
Elder Bullough

Letter # 31 - The Eye of Faith

¡Buenas Tardes!

First off, I would like everyone to know that I was not affected by Harvey at all. Not even a raindrop. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have been affected by this great disaster.

I had a pretty eventful week. I learned a lot about being a missionary and about being a Leader.

Let's just jump right into my week! (Yes dad, that was for you.)

Monday - We had a lesson with Maurycio about Repentance. It went well. He has a girlfriend and they are getting married next month! Super exciting for him.

Tuesday - We had a really great District Meeting. Sister Hendricks and Elder Del Angel gave great trainings. I love my district so much. We are all super close and get along great. We had a lesson scheduled with Jose De Leon, but he bailed :( He hasn't responded to any of our calls or texts since. Super sad.

Wednesday - We did a lot of finding work.  We found a new investigator named Brittany. She hasn't answered our messages since then either though. It is hard because our area has been half English and Half Spanish for so long, that now since we only cover spanish, we have to do a ton of finding.

Thursday - We did all of our studies and weekly planning. Once we got on bike, Elder Kraus didnt feel well. Dehydration. So we went back to the apartment, got him some water, and let him sleep so we could bike the whole day on Friday. He didn't want to go back to the apartment, but it was what he needed. Bless his heart, he only wants to work hard.

Friday - We continued our finding work! We prayed about a street to go contact on. Once we got there, we found 3 new investigators! A guy named Juan, and then two cousins, Jose and Roberto Juarez. Jose and Roberto have a lot of potential.

Saturday - We went and painted a trailer with our branch for a member. Took us about 4 hours. Later, the branch had an 8 year old baptism. We were asked to go early and fill the font. We weren't planning on staying, but the father that was performing the baptism told me that the brother who was supposed to give the baptism talk could not come. He then asked me to give it 2 minutes before the baptism started! Scariest thing I have done my whole mission. I gave a short simple powerful talk on baptism in Spanish. Maybe 3 minutes. They seemed to appreciate it.

Sunday - We went to church. Testimony meeting went really well. At 8 that night, the Zone Leaders wanted to have a meeting with the 2 district leaders in the zone. They wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. They gave some suggestions on what to train on at District Meetings and how to accomplish our zone goals. It was a good meeting. I love Elders McCann, Bair, and Hansen.

That was basically it for this week. Kind of a boring week.

I love you all and hope this week is amazing!

Love,
Brandon

Letter #30 - "Everyday I Am Less Like a Chump"

Hey Everyone!

I couldn't think of a email subject, so I asked Sister Sterner what I should title it. 

I moved! Here is our new address!

600 S Graves St  #1712 

McKinney, TX 75069

Here is my crazy first week of training and being a district leader:

Monday: We discovered the outcomes of transfers! I would be staying in McKinney, but with a few twists. 1.) I would be training a new missionary. 2.) I would be District Leader. 3.) We would no longer be covering the 8th ward. So we now only cover the North half of the Spanish Branch. It was a lot to take in. We were confused because the member we lived with lives really far away from any of the spanish work... we went home kind of stressed. Elder Huggins was getting super excited to go home.

Tuesday: Transfer day! We drove out to Frisco at 8:30 to be at my meetings for being a trainer! We talked for about an hour about what our purpose is as trainers and how we can make an impact on our trainee's entire mission. After that, we joined the trainees in their trainings. We then got placed with our new companions! My new companion is named Elder Kraus. He is from Brigham City, Utah. He loves computers and reading. He even made his own video game before the mission. He has a really goofy sense of humour and is a really great kid. We had lunch and some more trainings and then drove back to McKinney. We had dinner and then went to our first lesson together with Jose De Leon. It went well. He keeps falling off the face of the planet though. We keep not being able to get ahold of him.

Wednesday: I had my first District Meeting as District Leader. We did a fun get to know you game that i learned in my theater classes in high school. Then I gave a training on unity and how we can be unified as a district this transfer. They all seemed pretty excited for this transfer. That night, we were doing some finding work. We were doing stop bys for potential investigators. We went to one named Maria Campos and set up a return appointment. On our way back to the car, i felt prompted to knock a door down the street, so we went and knocked. No answer. We left a card and went back to the car. As we were sitting in the car looking in our area book for the next potential, we noticed there was another just up the street, so we got out and started walking up the road again. We were passing the house that we left a card on and a truck pulled up and two men got out. We contacted them and found out that one was an inactive member from Honduras! We got his information and told him we would call him to set up an appointment! It was a crazy miracle.

Thursday: We spent most of thursday moving! We moved all of our apartments around. So now i live in an apartment instead of with members. It is kinda a filthy apartment, so we are going to clean it up. We did some facebook work that night.

Friday: We had our weekly correlation meeting with Hermano Carasquillo. It went well. We then did our weekly planning session. That and our studies took most the day. We went out with Hermano Garcia in the evening. I learned a lot of spanish phrases while with him.

Saturday: we woke up and went to go help with a move! It was fun being able to just lift heavy things and sweat haha. Afterwards, i had my first baptismal interview to do as a district leader! It went well! He is an awesome 13 year old. Later, we did more finding work.

Sunday: We had church! None of our investigators came :( that was pretty much the events of our day.

I know this is where the Lord wants me to be. Please seek Him out in daily prayer. He is there, He is listening.

I love you all!

Elder Bullough

Pictures

1. Elder Kraus and Me

2. Elder Kraus and I on our first day.

3. Me in front of a sign with a gun and a scope that says you are here.

4. Me with my new bike.


 

Letter #29 - Training District Leader

Hey, Y'all!

Another transfer has come and gone. Come tomorrow, I will be a District Leader, AND I will be training a new missionary. This will be an interesting experience for me! I will not find out my companion until tomorrow. Needless to say, I am extremely nervous and excited for what lays ahead. Sadly, I will no longer be covering the English ward. I will only be working in the Spanish Branch.

Here is my week!

Monday - For PDay, we played lots of signs again. After PDay we did a lot of finding work. Not too exciting.

Tuesday - We had an awesome district meeting. It was Elder Huggins last district meeting of his mission. So we took some pictures of his "funeral" and i even wrote an obituary for him! We had a lesson with Cambrie! She is doing well. We had a good visit and shared a great message with her.

Wednesday - We had a good lesson with Jose de Leon. We taught him the law of Tithing and the Law of Chastity. It went well. Sadly, we will have to push back his baptismal date a little bit. But he is totally prepared.

Thursday - We had another lesson with Cambrie. We brought Brother Harper. He was a great fit. The lesson went great. Cambrie committed to come to church! She also told us that she would like to be baptized in the future, but she still is thinking about it. She is a great girl.

Friday - we had a lesson with Lucina Caballero. We read some Isaiah chapters from the Book of Mormon that she couldn't understand and went over them. She is still reading, but we are unsure if she is praying about it. We are still trying with her. She is a really nice lady though.

Saturday - We went on exchanges. I was in our area with Elder Williams. We had a good time. We did some more yard work for Brother Hays. We spent a few hours there. Besides that, just a whole lot of biking to potentials and former investigators.

Sunday - Church all day! Cambrie came to church! Jose de Leon and Lucina did not :(

This was a good week. I am sad to let the English Ward go. The ward is incredible. I look forward to the new challenges that await me.

Love you all,
Elder Bullough


Sorry for the lack of pictures.
1. Elder Huggins Funeral.
2. My first name as a business.

Letter #28 - Is That Bread?

¡Buenas Tardes!

I had a good week! It was a lot cooler than normal. Clouds and rain almost every day! I loved it! Except for the fact that I was biking through rain haha.

Here is my week!

Monday - During PDay, we had the most fun game of Signs that I have ever played in my life. It was so much fun playing with our whole district. After PDay ended, We went back to the house and Elder Huggins got sick... so he went to bed and I started calling people and setting up appointments.

Tuesday - We had a good district meeting! (Picture Included). A random contact was cleaning out their garage and was throwing out a model train set. It was a really cheap plastic one. Elder Jensen and Gomez Alonso wanted it, so they asked if they could take it. Elder Jensen gave a "Train"ing in district meeting using the model train. It was pretty good. Later that night, we had a lesson with Jose de Leon! We talked about the Word of Wisdom. He has totally been prepared to receive the Gospel. He stopped drinking about a month ago after he had been reading the Book of Mormon more. That was before we even taught him about how drinking was bad! He is an incredible man.

Wednesday - We weekly planned! That night, we had to go and do the Stake President Report because the zone leaders are not even in our stake. Because they are not in our stake, the District Leader does it. So Elder Huggins gave the report to the Stake President. There are lots of great things happening in the stake here.

Thursday - ZONE CONFERENCE! It was so much fun seeing all of these missionaries that I have grown to love and look up to in so many different ways. The main focus of our mission has been tuned into Teaching Repentance and Baptizing Converts. It is such a neat experience to see the Lord working through President Dalton. I am excited to see where he takes our mission. After the Zone Conference, We went straight to dinner and ate homemade pizza with the Moss family. Then we went out to Princeton to try and meet with a referral and a couple of less active families. We did not see a ton of success.

Friday - We had dinner with the Moss family again. Only, this time was a little different... Friday is our car fast day. It is a mission rule. We cannot use the car one day of the week. So we had to get a ride to dinner. Sister Moss did not relay the message to Brother Moss that all four of the Elders were going to be coming to dinner, so he showed up to pick us up for dinner in his small Camry with his son sitting in the back seat in a car seat... We tried to squeeze in, but there was no way that three of us were going to share the back seat with the car seat there. So, I climbed in head first and pinned myself in between the front seats, and the legs of Elder Gomez Alonso and Elder Huggins. It was extremely uncomfortable, but I took it like a champ haha. My head was right next to Brother Moss' son's feet. He was totally passed out. He was holding something in his hand that looked like a roll. I asked Elder Gomez Alonso if it was bread and he said, "No, I think that is play-doh!" and I was like, "Are you sure? It looks a lot like bread.." He then reached over and poked it and said, "Nope, It is bread." While I am typing this, I have no idea why it was so funny in the moment, but it was... Maybe it had to do with the fact that I was very uncomfortable and jammed into a car haha. Oh, and I forgot to mention that almost the whole ride back to the Moss Home, we were following a police man, so I was trying to get as low as I possibly could. After dinner, we went to go visit an older member in the English ward named Sister Colley. She was super sweet. Her husband is not a member and wants nothing to do with the church, but we had a nice visit with Sister Colley. She even told me that she thought one day I would be a Bishop haha.

Saturday - It Poured rain... We were on bike too. We went to a pavilion to get some cover, but it did nothing. It was pouring and the wind was so strong. The wind would just blow the water under the pavilion and get us wet. It was a fun time haha. We also got to go to the adult session of Stake Conference. Elder Hammond, who is an area seventy, attended. It was an incredible conference.

Sunday - We attended Stake Conference. It was a great meeting. The themes seemed to be centered on the family and not being content with fitting in. I learned so much and felt the Spirit in abundance. We tried to contact bishop referrals for the rest of the day.

Well, That was my week! I hope y'all are well and healthy. I know that there is no greater work on the Earth than that of Preaching the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel can help us in all aspects of our lives.

I love you all so much!
Elder Bullough

Pictures!
1 - The McKinney District!
2 - Me getting drenched.
3 - Elder Huggins and I, wet.
4 - Three of the zones here in Allen, McKinney, Plano, and Frisco

Letter #27 - "Probablamente Me Voy A Casar"

Hey Everyone!

Don't worry, i am not actually getting married. I will explain.

It definitely does not feel like I have been on a mission for 28 weeks.... weird. I hope y'all had a great first week of August!

Here is my week:

Monday - Even P-Day was uneventful. We had to run to the mission office in Dallas to pick up a new money card for Elder Gomez Alonso. We went back to the church and just

played basketball. In the evening, we mostly were just calling people trying to set up appointments.

Tuesday - We had district meeting and then went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I went with Elder McCann down to Allen for the day. We had a really good time. He is an incredible man. We went out knocking on potential investigators' doors and when they didn't answer we would knock all of the neighbors. We knocked on a neighbors house and they let us in! He then told us he wanted to know everything about our beliefs! Elder McCann and I totally thought this was a miracle that fell from heaven.... boy were we wrong. Not 5 seconds later, another man walks out dressed in a white shirt and slacks. The man who let us in said, oh this is my brother. He is our pastor. Uh oh. Yep, you guessed what happened next. We got bible bashed hard core. The preacher brought up the scripture in Revelations about not adding to the bible or you would be cursed. I calmly and kindly mentioned that the bible is a compilation of several books. John was referring to just the book of Revelation. I continued and read him the verse in Deuteronomy which says basically the same thing as the Revelations scripture. I said, with the logic you have about Revelations, you should really be Jewish. If it says the same thing in Deuteronomy, then is the rest of the bible useless? He didn't have an answer and just responded with other anti mormon stuff he had read online. It got no where. We bore our testimonies at the end. I KNOW that the spirit was their during those testimonies. It was powerful. Anyways, long story short, bible bashing leads no where.

Wednesday - We had a lesson with Lucina Caballero and the Franjesevic family. We watched the first half of the Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration movie. It went alright. It is a very strong movie and is pretty sad at points. Our goal in watching this movie with her was to help her understand that Joseph Smith didn't write the Book of Mormon and that he wasn't just doing it for money or for fame. Afterwards, we had a lesson with Jose de Leon! We set a baptismal date for the 20th of August! We are so excited for him.

Thursday - After 4 Wednesdays of painting with 6+ people each week, We (finally) finished painting that trailer! Took long enough. I am pretty proud of how it turned out. Brenda was very grateful for the help. Later, we passed by a member named Pearl Semer. She is recently divorced and living with her sister. Her ex was abusive and has done some not very nice things recently. Keep Pearl in your prayers. There is a lot of crazy and scary things going on right now.

Friday - We spent most of the day on studies and weekly planning. We had another Lesson with Lucina Caballero and the Franjesevic family to watch the second half of the Joseph Smith movie. It went well. Afterwards, we talked about the importance of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. We also talked about all of the sad things that the early saints had to suffer through. We talked about how they kept pushing forward through their afflictions because they knew it was worth it. They knew that the Book of Mormon was true. It was a spiritual discussion and the Franjesevics bore great testimonies as well. Lucina is just starting the 2nd Book of Nephi.

Saturday - Brother Hays in our ward has been sick for months. He has really high blood sugar and the doctors cannot seem to get it down. So we went by in the morning and helped him in his yard. We pulled lots of weeds, mowed, and weed whacked. It was fun! We then went out to Denny's with a member family named the Garzas. It was delicious. After that, the Zone Leaders asked us to go help blitz an area in our zone. So there were 7 companionships all in the Fairview area trying to find new investigators for the sisters there. Their area hasn't had a baptism in 8 years. We talked to some people and got a couple of good potentials for the sisters.

Sunday - We woke up, went to church to be at Ward Council at 8:45 and then stayed at church until 6 in the afternoon. Still not used to that many meetings. Both churches went well! Great wards and great people. During Priesthood at the Spanish Branch, Hermano Garcia gave a lesson on marriage and families. He made a comment about how everyone in the room except the Elders had kids. They started joking around about it and talked about how after our missions, we shouldn't  be afraid to get married. They were talking about how most missionaries are afraid of getting married when they get home. They asked the four of us if that was correct. The three other Elders agreed and i just said, "Pues, probablemente me voy a casar." Which means, "Well, I am probably going to get married." They all laughed after that. Latino humor. It's awesome. After church, We ate dinner with the Archibald Family. It was a blast.

That was my week! I still love it here in McKinney. The work is moving. The Lord is blessing us. He is sending His angels to prepare the way.

Spiritual Thought!
John 3 : 3 says, "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot SEE the kingdom of God." This is referring to baptism. Nicodemus didn't understand what Christ meant by this, so he basically asks Christ to clarify. Jesus answers again in verse 5, "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water AND OF THE SPIRIT, he cannot ENTER into the kingdom of God.

This is very important when it comes to the importance of being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. When you are just baptized, you can still see the Kingdom of God, but unless you recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost, or are born of the spirit, you cannot ENTER into the Kingdom of God. I know that to be true with all my heart. Baptism is an important step. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is super important as well. Both have brought such great joy into my life. I know that I am so blessed because of the steps I took to be baptized by someone who holds the authority from God to do so, and to recieve the Holy Ghost from a man who holds that same authority.

I invite all men everywhere to repent and to be baptized by someone who holds the authority from God and to recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I promise the blessings of Heaven in your lives. I promise eternal happiness as you strive to follow the commandments and be better each day.

I love you all to Kolob and back,
Elder Bullough

Pictures!
1. Elder Huggins and I after service.
2. A cool Texas state shape carved into a brick.
3. Elder Hansen, Huggins, McCann, and Me after our exchange.
4. Half of our zone here in McKinney and Allen.

Letter #26 - I hope She Comes Back.

Happy July 31 Everyone!

It is crazy to me that July is over. Where did it go??? This transfer has been flying by. The members here are incredible. The work here is moving. I am in kind of a richer area, so sometimes the work is pretty slow, but we have got some good things going!

Here is my week:

Monday - For Preparation day, our zone met up and played some different games. My favorite was Ultimate Frisbee ;) haha. I have gotten pretty good at volleyball on my mission as well. Monday night we had scheduled an appointment with a
former investigator named Lucina Caballero. We went by and had a REALLY good lesson with her. She has a couple of concerns about some of the doctrine revolving around eternity, but she has sincere desires to find the truth so she will find it. She is a single mother of 3. She is really sweet.

Tuesday - Elder Huggins was sick last week and must have given it to me because all I did Tuesday was sleep and try not to puke. It was so much fun... NOT.

Wednesday - We went by that lady named Brenda again to help paint her trailer (who knew how long it would take 3 sets of missionaries to paint a single trailer??). This time, the sisters were on exchanges with sister training leaders, and so we actually had 8 missionaries there helping to paint. One of which is Hermana Gomez! She is from Guatemala! We still didn't finish the trailer so we will be going back hopefully one more time next week. Wednesday night we had a lesson with a man named Jose de Leon. He has been taking missionary discussions for a year on and off. We had a REALLY good lesson with him as well. We asked him what he has liked from what the missionaries have taught him and he said, "I love the Book of Mormon! It is the purest book on Earth!" It was incredible! He already has a deep testimony of the Book of Mormon. So we asked him that if he knew the Book was true and he liked everything the missionaries taught, would he be baptized? His response was, "Oh Absolutely! Why wouldn't I?" It was awesome. He then talked about how his wife is out of town in Mexico and that he is waiting for her to get back so they can be baptized together! He kept saying, "I hope she comes back!" It was hilarious. He was joking around with the thought that she was ditching him and was going to stay in Mexico haha. She gets back in town Tuesday and we have a lesson on Wednesday so I will have more info on him next week!

Thursday - President Dalton requested that all District Leaders go to the monthly MLC this week, so I was on Exchanges while Elder Huggins, Elder Soto and the zone Leaders went to MLC. So I was with Elder Baquedano! He is from Honduras! He is an awesome guy. He doesn't speak English. We had a good day.

Friday - We had interviews with President Dalton! They went well! You can definitely tell that he is new. He was very robotic in the interview. He is a great guy. I also sang in District meeting. I sang My Soul Hungered. I sang that song at my farewell. Sister Hendricks played the piano for me. We will be performing it at zone conference in a couple of weeks.

Saturday - One of the sets of sisters in our district had a baptism! So we invited Jose de Leon to come! He came and felt the spirit there. He doesn't speak a whole lot of English, but he told us he could feel the spirit. Afterward, a member came up to him and started talking to him a little bit in English and Jose said that "someday he would be in there" referring to the font! So cool to see his desire to be baptized!

Sunday -  I am still not used to the whole 6 hours of church thing. That many meetings just wears me out. They were good meetings though. Jose de Leon even came to the Spanish branch for all 3 hours! After all of the meetings and after dinner, we had another lesson with Lucina Caballero. It went well! We talked about the Book of Mormon and learned that she has read some anti about him in the past. So we will be watching Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration with her and a member family hopefully this week.

Spiritual Thought!
This is when Nephi is commanded to build a boat. He starts building, and his brothers start mocking him! They tell him that he is foolish and that he could never build a ship and make it across the ocean. Then they start complaining about how their father led them away from Jerusalem. They complained about how Jerusalem was a great city and could never be destroyed. This is the end of what they say to him. It is in 1 Nephi 17 : 21 "Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy."

Laman and Lemuel never caught the vision that Lehi had for his family or the vision that God had for them. Laman and Lemuel were too distracted and caught up on worldly desires and pleasures. They never caught the vision of eternal happiness.

Sometimes in life, it is easy to get distracted by worldly possessions or activities. I will be the first to tell you that these distractions are tools of Satan. The last thing Satan wants is for us to have a firm purpose to obtain eternal happiness. He wants us to be miserable. He wants to blind our minds from the vision that God has for us. I know that is true. I promise that as we focus on cutting the distractions from our lives, God will pour out the blessing of happiness upon us. We will more powerfully feel His love and we will more clearly see the vision he has for us.

I love you all so much! I hope you have a great week! Sorry for the long letter...

Love,
Brandon

I am so sorry for the lack of pictures... so here is one of Elder Hansen and I. He is awesome.

Letter #24 - McKinney, Texas

Hello Everyone!

I have been transferred to McKinney, Texas! I cover an English Ward, and a half of a Spanish Branch. My new companion is Elder Huggins! He is from Lehi, Utah. He has been out for 23 months... so i am his last companion. 

My new address is: 3601 St. Croix Ave. McKinney, TX 75071  

I live with a member family from the Spanish Branch.

Monday - My last day with Elder Callister. He is a great guy! We found out I was leaving, and that he would be training! He was super excited. I was super nervous because I have not been transferred before! And to make things worse, we were going to be doubled in! So Elder Huggins and I are fresh and new in an area neither of us know haha. We share a car with the other Spanish Missionaries, so every other day we are on bike.

Tuesday - transfer day. We had to be in Dallas at 8:45, so we left Longview at 6. I sat around and talked to other missionaries until noon when Elders from McKinney came and picked me up with Elder Huggins. After we got back to our house, we unpacked and then Elder Hansen came and talked to us a little about the area. We found out that our bishop AND ward mission leader were out of town... Then we went to dinner. Afterwards, we tried calling all of the members of the ward council to get some direction. It helped. We then had a face time with two of the investigators in the area, Jessica and Cambrie. They are sisters and have been taking the lessons. They are super nice.

Wednesday - we had our first district meeting! There are ten of us. 6 elders and 4 sisters. It was fun getting to know each other. That night, we mostly just did member stop bys to meet the ward.

Thursday - we had two lessons! One with a girl named Claudia. She is investigating, but moving this week, so we are about to transfer her record. She will be baptized soon. Our second lesson was with Jessica and Cambrie. They are in a very complicated family situation... too much sensitive information to talk about.... super sad.

Friday - we had lunch with Brother Hiatt (his son is in the Seven Hills Ward in Colorado). We had Chinese food. We then went and did a lot of member stop bys again. We had Dinner with Brother Hiatt as well. We taught his grandson the Restoration. It was a good lesson and dinner. After dinner, we went to Brother Meyer's house for a meeting. He is the Elders quorum president. We talked about members in the ward who could use visits.

Saturday - we helped this hoarder clean his garage out. Super gross and sad... but we were glad to help. We even went to his sons soccer game. We mostly just visited names that Brother Meyers gave us with little success :/

Sunday - wow. Crazy Sundays here. We went to ward council at 8:15 in the morning. That went until 10. Then we had a meeting with sister Miller, the Relief Society President and got more names and direction. Church started at 12:30. We were there for the first two hours. Then we had to book it to a different church building 15 minutes away for our 3 o'clock church in the Spanish branch. We were there until 6. Then we went to dinner with the Garcias and had an awesome lesson and dinner with them. Then we went back to the apartment to do numbers. Elder Huggins is District Leader.

That was my week! It has been a new adventure, that is for sure. I know that this gospel is true. I work my tail off every single day because I do know it. I love it more than anything.

Love,

Brandon

Pictures wont load :(

Letter #25 - La Mision Rapida

¡Buenas Tardes a Todos!

Estoy muy agradecido por la oportunidad que tengo para servir el señor en su obra. He sentido la mano de Él en mi misión. Sé que los milagros y bendiciones son reales. Los milagros existen. Espero que mi Padre Celestial esta muy orgulloso de la obra que he estado haciendo.

I hope you all have had a great week! Mine was really good! I love it here in McKinney, Texas. The people here are so nice. It is kind of like mini Utah. There are a ton of members here.

Here is my crazy week!

Monday - we did some less active stop-bys and saw little success.

Tuesday - We had a really good district meeting in the morning. Later, we stopped by this former investigator named Frank. He started telling us all these pranks he pulled on past missionaries. Everything from split personalities to dead bodies buried in the backyard. Some of them were funny, but i would be horrified if i was the missionary involved haha. Later that night we had a lesson with our top investigators Jessica and Cambrie. They are in a very tough family situation. We will find out August 2nd if they can be baptized or not. They are both super sweet though. They keep and eye on each other.

Wednesday - we helped this lady named Brenda paint her trailer for 5 and a half hours. We had four Elders and 2 sisters there. We still didn't finish, so we are going back next Wednesday with 2 more additional sisters there. It should go well.

Thursday - we had a really good correlation meeting with Hermano Carrasquillo from the Spanish branch. He is a really good mission leader. We then did some weekly planning. That night we did some less active bishop names and actually talked to one! Her name is Sabrena. She has 3 unbaptized teenage girls and wants them to be taught so they can be baptized! So we will start working with them.

Friday - Elder Huggins got sick, so we were home most of the day. We had a meeting with Bishop from the English ward and that was it. Bishop is super cool. He is an assistant principal. Super young, funny guy.

Saturday - We helped Hermano Ortega clean out his garage some more. He has so much stuff haha. It is crazy how much we have thrown away and how much is still there. We then went to a baptism in Allen! Elder Huggins helped teach a girl named Taylore last transfer and she got baptized! She asked Elder Huggins to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. There were TONS of people there to support her. President Dalton even showed up. It was awesome seeing him. He even gave a short talk at the end. We them went to dinner with Brother Harper. He is the English ward mission leader. He is also really awesome! For all my family members, he kind of reminds me of Braden and Ronnie Hurst combined. He and his wife had 3 nonmember families there at dinner with us. We shares a really great lesson about Jesus Christ and Repentance. They all loved it. To finish the night, we visited a recent convert from the Spanish branch. He is getting ready to move to Costa Rica.

Sunday - we had our crazy Sunday again. Do our studies, go to 12:30 church until 2:30. We then book it to a different building for Spanish branch at 3 to 6. Then we went to dinner and visited one less active. Then we went home.

Well, that was my week! I am loving my mission more and more each day. Today marks my 6 month mark since i stepped onto the plane. It is hard for me to believe that i have already been here for a fourth of my time. I am loving it so much, that the time is passing too quickly. I love my Savior. I know he lives. I know that he loves me. And I know he loves all of you. Have a good week!

Love,

Brandon.

I am sending pictures through a Google

drive link this week!

Letter #23 - Farewell Longview

Hello Everyone!

Yup, that's correct, I am being transferred!  This is my first time being transferred in my mission! Crazy to think about. I am excited for the change!

My week seemed to fly by. Here is what I did!

Monday - After P-Day, we went up to go and visit this family again that lives outside of our boundaries. No answer again. We drove back and stopped by a less actives house to talk to him. That ended the night

Tuesday - Happy Fourth of July! the Gilmer, Tyler, and Longview zones all met up at the Tyler stake center for a devotional with our new Mission President! President Dalton is great. He has an awesome family as well. He introduced himself and his family and then had all of us do a very quick introduction. I cannot wait ro work more with them. Once we got back to Longview, we helped Brother Angus in his yard. We trimmed a lot of trees and moved some stumps. It was really hot that day. I was sweating really hard. We ate dinner with mynor Ovalle at Taco Bell. Latinos don't celebrate the Fourth. That night, we drove down to Henderson to visit our investigator Eduardo down there. Once again, he would not stop talking for two seconds haha. He just has so much to say and comment on. He isn't even super interested sadly.

Wednesday - we did lots and lots of service. We started by helping Brother Rossow move a ton of things from one of his stores to another. He owns two Gadget repair shops. We then went and did our weekly lawn care for The Cadenas Family. That lawn is so big.... later when we went to go visit a less active, he didn't answer the door. So we went to a member across the street and she asked if we could trim her bush for her. That was fun. By the time we finished, the less active had gotten home! So we went and had a good visit with him.

Thursday - we drove out to Marshall for a two day exchange with the Zone Leaders. They both are going home this transfer, so they wanted to get Elder Callister in there to know the area a little bit so that he could help the new missionaries in marshall next transfer. Thursday was fun. I was with Elder Wankier. He is such a great guy. We visited some awesome members and did anlot of finding work.

Friday - our second day of the exchanges in Marshall. This time I was with Elder Turnsplenty. He is also a really great guy. We talked with some investigators and had a great time together. There are lots of good things happening out in Marshall.

Saturday - we started the day by helping unload the food trucks for the bishops storehouse. It was really fun. We did weekly planning on saturday because we were in Marshall on Thursday when we were supposed to do it. We did a lot of online finding.

Sunday - Elder Callister and I both gave talks in church. They went well. I compared modern day sacrament to the pre Christ sacrifices. A member from a different ward was attending and asked for a copy of my talk. We had dinner with President Johnston and the Rossows. Afterwards, we visited some families i wanted to see because I knew i would probably be leaving.

I have really enjoyed my time here in Longview, but I am super excited for what lies ahead. Everyone thinks I will be heading downtown somewhere. I am looking forward to it.

Love you all!

Elder Bullough

New Address: 3601 St. Croix Ave. McKinney, TX 75071  

Pictures!

1. Elder White and Elder Toone at zone conferences. They are both going home this week.

2. Mynor Ovalle in my branch.

3. Manuel, Guadalupe, and Adeine Alba from my branch.

4. Francisco Rossow

5. The Rossow Family from our branch

6. A giant Longhorn in Marshall 

7. President and Sister Johnston from our branch





 

Letter #22 - Goodbye President Taylor

Hello World!

This week ended an era... The President Taylor Era. He is an incredible man. I will miss him lots. I would be lying if I didn't say that this letter was titled the same as an episode of The Office: Goodbye Michael.

Let's jump right in to my week!

Monday - We went and visited an Inactive family. We talked about the Book of Mormon and the importance of it. They had never read it... That is usually the case with people who are inactive here. We had a good talk and shared the Restoration lesson with them. They committed to study and to pray about it.

Tuesday - We had a good stop by lesson with Lucero and her sister Yaneth. We shared the Mountains to Climb video with them. It hit them pretty hard. It was a nice short, simple, powerful lesson on their doorstep.

Wednesday - The last Zone Conference with President and Sister Taylor. It was a really good Zone Conference. He talked to us all about how if we wanted to honor them, we need to not talk about them anymore. He told us we need to be ready and willing to change and adjust for the new Mission President. He also made sure all of us knew that if we get married in Salt Lake somewhere, he would like to perform the sealing. That would be pretty cool! Zone Conference was pretty much just them telling us how much they loved us and want us to succeed.

Thursday - Weekly Planning usually causes not a whole lot to happen on Thursdays. But this Thursday


especially, nothing happened. For dinner, Hermana Cadenas had bought us Burger King, but she made a mistake and ordered two mini whoppers instead of regular whoppers. We set an appointment with an investigator after dinner that lives an hour away. So, after dinner, we drove an hour. They weren't there. So we drove back and it was time to return to our apartment.

Friday - We went on exchanges with the English Elders. I went with Elder Mortensen this time. We were just trying to contact a whole lot of referrals that day. However, we went and stop by a member's house. She was going through a really hard time. We shared an incredible lesson about the Atonement. She felt the Spirit and thanked us for stopping by. I love lessons like that.

Saturday - We visited a former investigator down in Kilgore named Yeimi. She was really friendly, but was too caught up in Nursing School, so she did not really want to start taking lessons again. Sad.

Sunday - Church was really good. A lot of heartfelt testimonies were given.  Our Branch here breaks the fast together after church. So we ate a potluck for dinner. It was really good. Someone made really good meatballs. There was also some really good Pasta con Salchichas that the Rossows made. They call it, "Divinity". We then went a Lesson with Carlos Aguilar who is an inactive member. He is currently living with his fiancée who is not a member. We brought over The Restoration movie to watch with them. It went well. Shannel ,(His fiancée) has lots of really good questions. She also agrees that the gospel makes sense logically. She is reading the Book of Mormon. I know that she has been touched by the Spirit.

That is all for this week. I KNOW that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ restored to the Earth in these last days. I know that Christ Lives. I know He loves us. I know He is calling out to us and waiting for us to heed to His Counsel. I know the Book of Mormon is the Word of God and that man can grow closer to Christ by abiding to its precepts than any other book in existence. 

I love you all,

Brandon

Pictures. I am not sure what order they are in... One is of me and President and Sister Taylor. One is of the Gilmer, Tyler, and Longview zones. One is a picture of a birds nest with a bunch of babies in it. One is of the mini whopper we had for dinner that one night.

--

Elder Brandon Bullough

Texas Dallas Mission

La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días

4 Attachments

Letter # 21 - Old Friends

¡Buenos Dias mi familia!

¿Cómo están? Estoy muy emocionado para escribirles hoy. Quiero decirles cómo he estado con mi español. Me encanta el idioma de español. La gente es muy amable. Yo como mucha comida.... Estoy engordandome mucho jaja. Me encanta la obra misional. Estoy aprendiendo mucho aca. ¡Les quiero mucho!

I had a decent week! This transfer is flying by! It is crazy how fast time goes when you are on a mission. I cannot believe that I have already been put for 5 months... where does the time go? I definitely wish time was not a factor so that i could just focus on the work. I do love it here a lot. I already cherish my mission so much.

Here is my week!

Monday -  we had an amazing lesson with an inactive member named Carlos. He lives with his fiancee who is not a member. We had an incredible lesson. We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and the power of conversion. His fiancée even got touched by the spirit and began to cry. It was incredible to be a part of.

Tuesday - The Zone Leaders came out and did splits with us. I was with Elder Wankier in the morning and then we switched at dinner and I was with Elder Turnsplenty for the rest of the night. They are both great. They came into our area for splits, but neither of them speak Spanish... so i was on my own for Spanish! It went well. Elder Turnsplenty and i visited a couple of less active members in Kilgore. We had some really great lessons. We tried to stop by Lucero while we were in Kilgore, but she wasn't there. So we left a note. Come to find out, she got the note and called us, but Elder Callister had our phone, so she talked to him and they set up an appointment for Friday!

Wednesday - Just a regular Wednesday. We mowed Hermana Cadenas' yard again. Then we had a very slow day. We visited a family outside of our boundaries after we got permission from the APs. We set a return appointment with them as well. 

Thursday - Weekly planning took place, and then at night we just visited some bishop referrals. Not very much excitement there.

Friday - The time came for our lesson with Lucero. We planned an incredible lesson for her. We felt really good about things. She showed up with her sister Yaneth as well! We started our lesson and about half way through the lesson, we felt like it wasn't what they needed. We simply stopped and talked about how we are the ONLY church that has the Book of Mormon. So, if we pray to God and he gives us an answer that the Book of Mormon is true, isn't it important? If the Book of Mormon is true, then there really was an apostasy... and we have the fullness of Christ's church back on the Earth today. We asked them if they would read it and pray about it. They both said yes. Then we said, "When God answers your prayers that the Book of Mormon is true, will you be baptized by someone who holds that authority from God?" They BOTH said yes. I went into this lesson with so much faith and hope, and i SAW the miracles that came. It was a great day.

Saturday - We helped unload a truck from the Bishop's Store House. It was a neat experience. Later, we went and gave President Johnston a blessing. He hurt his neck and it was bugging him a lot. We had dinner with a returning less active family. The Rivas family. The wife and two daughters have been coming to church every week now for a month, but the husband has not. We had a delicious meal. Popusas and this incredible homemade mixed fruit juice. We had a good talk with them. I know that Hermano Rivas was touched by the Spirit. His eyes got watery as he talked about the mission he served for the church. Such a great family.

Sunday - Church went well. Then we had dinner with the Rossow family. Then we just went and visited some inactive members.

Not a super exciting week, but nonetheless, I KNOW that i am about my Heavenly Father's work. I know that I am led by the spirit. I know that miracles still exist and that I see them DAILY. i know that our message is one of truth, peace, and power. I know this message can help ANY person in ANY situation.

Love y'all lots! 

Brandon

Elder Callister avoids taking pictures, so sadly there are only two for this week. We got a new couch in our apartment! And then the other is just Elder Del Angel and me here in Marshall.

Letter #20 - Off Roading

¡Hola mi familia!

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there! This week was a good week. It is weird thinking that this is most likely my last transfer in Longview, TX. Longview has treated me well.

Let's just jump right in!

Monday - PDay went well! That night, we had a lesson with Dewond Robinson. He is a perspective Elder. He works at Sams Club and can't come to church on Sundays. We had a really great lesson about the Sabbath day and he committed to talking to his boss about getting Sundays off!

Tuesday - we had our last interviews with President Taylor... it was really sad. He offered me some great advice. He also gave every missionary a blessing at the end of the interview. His blessing was incredible. It motivated me in my mission more than anything has up to this point. President Taylor is an incredible man. That night, we drove down to Henderson for a lesson with a man named Eduardo. He is really nice. He just likes talking so much that it is hard to get in lessons. He agrees with everything we believe. Including apostles and prophets.

Wednesday - in the morning we did the usual weekly yard work for La Familia Cadenas. I took a picture this time. Their yard takes so long to cut. We then had our weekly planning session. I have never seen so much love come from one person before in my life. As Elder Callister and I shared our goals and each other's strong suits, the love i felt from him was incredible. He has so much going on back home, and yet here he is, loving me and wanting to help me and seeing the most incredible things in me that no one has said about me before. It truly was amazing. He is a great guy.

Thursday - Something that President Taylor does is he assigns a few missionaries as Special Assignment missionaries. Their job is to just go around doing splits with missionaries and making sure they are motivated and know how to do things properly. On Thursday, they were out with Elder Callister on splits. Elder Belnap and Elder Nixon. Elder Nixon was here in Longview my first transfer here. He was with me all day. We spent the day doing work in Kilgore. We wrote a letter to Lucero and left it on her door. It basically was telling her how much effort and time we spent on her and then told her that when she is ready to be baptized, call us. It was awesome. We even called up elder Judd! It was great talking with him.

Friday - Because Elder Callister is District Leader, he has to go on splits with everyone in our district, so on Friday, we were on splits with Elder Del Angel and Elder Mortensen. I went with Elder Del Angel. We mostly just hunted down former investigators who had baptismal dates in the past. We then went and picked up some flan that Brother Green from the English ward made us. He is awesome. He makes great Flan too.

Saturday - the English missionaries had a baptism. We knew the two kids that were being baptized, so we went to support them. We ate at Wingstop with Hermano Ovalle for dinner. After that, we went around to a lot of part member inactive families with very little success.

Sunday - Happy Father's Day! It was a high counselor Sunday in our branch. The talks were both very well done. One spoke his in Spanish, and the other spoke his in English and our branch president translated for him. That is definitely a hard skill to master. That night, we got permission to leave our area and visit a family who lives in a different area. They live in an area that only has English wards, so we got permission to go and see them. Sadly, they weren't there. That was all our night consisted of.

That is about it for my week. One fun fact about my area is that ALL of the police cars are SUVs. I have not seen a single police car that was smaller. Kind of an interesting fact.

I know that this work is the work of God. I have more faith and hope than I have ever had. I know God sends His angels to accompany us in this work. I know that miracles have not ceased. The Power of God is REAL. Pray about it.

I love you all,
Brandon

Pictures!

1 - Elder Callister and me after our service.

2 - Elder Del Angel and me on our exchange.

3 - Me, Elder Nixon, Elder Belnap, and Elder Callister after our exchange.

4 - This horrible road we had to drive on to get to an investigator's house.

5 - Elder Mortensen, Elder Del Angel, Elder Callister, and Me at their baptism.