Letter #17 - Fear of Drowning

Hey,

everyone! I hope you had a great week!

Tomorrow is transfers! Elder Judd is leaving and I am staying in Longview! We do not know who is coming in yet. Elder Judd has been great. He will definitely be a lifetime friend of mine. He is a great missionary.

Monday: Elder Judd had a dentist appointment because he had a tooth that was bothering him. The dentist told him 4 mm of his tooth was showing that should have been covered by his gums. He told him it was due to brushing his teeth too hard! So be careful kids! Brush with care! After PDay ended, we went to the hospital to visit an inactive member who was in a car accident. It was a good visit.

Tuesday: in district meeting, Elder Judd gave an incredible training on hastening the work. He talked about the fuel for our behavior and how with the right fuel, our behavior lasts stronger, longer. We ate at wing stop with a member for dinner.

Wednesday: lots and lots of knocking doors. I don't even know what to write about for this day.

Thursday: we visited a less active member named Maribel. She has been having really bad head pains. She said her whole head has hurt for over a week. She has cancer too on top of that, so she is just going through a hard time.

Friday: we had another lesson with Lucero... she went on her retreat and had a ton of spiritual experiences. She told us she promised God that she would work at the Retreat to show she wants to follow Him. We asked her if she believed in the words of the Bible. She said yes. We asked if she believed in following everything Jesus Christ said. She said yes. We read John 3:5 with her which says a man must be born of water and of the spirit or he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. We told her that baptism is more of a priority than working at a retreat. She basically was just hardened and only wanted to work at this retreat. She has no desire to actually follow what Christ said.... it was really sad to see. Last time I checked, being accepted into the kingdom of God is more important than working at a retreat.

Saturday: we had dinner at 3 pm, so the rest of the day just felt really long. We knocked a lot of doors and our one set lesson didn't even open the door.

Sunday: there was a HUGE storm. Tornado sirens, rivers in the street two feet deep, broken or blown down trees, flooded houses, no power. We were driving and couldn't even see. It looked exactly how it looks when you drive in a blizzard. You can't see a thing. It was terrifying. I thought i was going to drown and I was inside a car haha. Lightning was striking EVERYWHERE. it was terrifying.

Anyways, i know it is a short letter this week, but nothing really happened...

Love y'all!
Brandon

Letter #16 - The Power of the Spirit

Hey,

Everyone!!!

Had a crazy busy week! I was in Longview, then I went to Tyler, then I went to Marshall, and then I went back to Longview! It was a great week. I will have lots to say, but maybe not too many pictures.... Sorry! (Specifically to mom)

Monday: After P-Day ended, we went and taught the Restoration lesson to Amy and her husband. They are an interesting couple... Amy only speaks maybe 30 percent Spanish and is white. Her husband only speaks 20 percent English and is a Latino... I am not sure how they communicate, but we teach in hardcore Spanglish. Flipping back and forth between English and Spanish. The lesson went well. I also got asked to sing at a zone conference for Wednesday in front of half the mission and President Taylor...

Tuesday: a lot of calling happened between me and Elder Toone and the APs because we couldn't find a pianist. So we ended up asking Elder Hansen to play. He told us that he doesn't play the piano very well, but that he would try his best. So I gave him a list of hymns I felt weren't super complicated on the piano and that I like to sing! We chose I Need Thee Every Hour. Tuesday night we went to Hermano Diaz's house. He is a returning less active. He wants to receive the Melquisidek Priesthood! So we went over with President Johnston to teach him more about that commitment.

Wednesday: THE BIG DAY. We drove out to Tyler for a big zone conference. President Taylor taught us about repentance and the atonement. He told us everything as missionaries that we need to be doing better. The Texas Dallas Mission is already insanely sanctified, so he was just calling out the small things. It was definitely a huge call to repentance though. We all love and look up to him so much. My singing number went well! Elder Hansen did perfectly! He said he practiced it a million times and prayed like crazy. He is a great guy. President Taylor told me he loved it. Same with several others. Apparently, a lot of people didn't know I Sing... after the Zone Conference, my Zone Leaders were going down to Nacogdoches to do some splits. Our zone leaders are not companions. So it forced this 3-way exchange because Elder Del Angel and Elder Teague are not allowed to drive... so I ended up going out to Marshall to go on Exchanges with Elder Teague until Friday Morning where we would switch and I would be with Elder Del Angel in Longview until Saturday morning. We went straight to dinner. We ate this 7-course meal with this lady who is a chef. It was insanely good.

Thursday: we went to a man named Bo's house and taught him the Restoration! He is awesome. He has so many questions and is just so open to listening. We then went to a diner for lunch that is owned by a member called Granny Pats. They give the missionaries food for free. So we ate there for lunch. We talked to the waitress and set up an appointment to teach her the next day! We then went to one of Marshall's top investigators, Cheyenne. She has a baptismal date and only needed to stop smoking. She used to smoke 8-10 a day and she had gotten it down to 4. I read Helaman 5:12 with her. I told her that she needs to trust that Christ will help her stop smoking. I told her faith was an action. And then i felt led to tell her that she could stop right then. I promised her in the name of Jesus Christ that if she took this step of faith and stopped, she would be able to stop smoking with ease. She accepted and then brought out her pack of cigarettes and broke all of them in front of us. Then she said, "I'm done". She still hasn't smoked any since. For dinner, we went to an investigator named Zemeka. They fed us chicken and waffles. Probably one of the best Waffles I have ever had in my life.

Friday: We woke up early so that we could drive to Longview and switch companions. As we are walking out the door, we get a call from Elder Judd and Elder Del Angel saying their car was towed last night... so we ended up not switching for exchanges because Elder Teague had lots of appointments set, and we wouldn't have time to go and switch. We went to teach the waitress from Granny Pats. We taught her the restoration. She is golden. She has so many questions and said that she just feels something different every time she hears the name, "Joseph Smith". For Dinner, we went back to Cheyenne's house.

Saturday: We drove to Longview to switch back companions. It was POURING rain. Lots of knocking doors that day. Also, the #CatchThePowerChallenge was announced. We had to make videos on Saturday and get them approved by our district leaders so that we could post them on Sunday. If you haven't seen it yet, go to my Facebook page to watch it.

Sunday: Church was... good? One of the speakers had to have surgery and couldn't be there, and the other just didn't show up... so Elder Judd and I spoke of Prophets and Revelation! And whatever time we didn't use, President Johnston took. So I gave like an 8-minute talk. We had dinner with the Rossow Family. Besides us and President Johnston, they are the only white family in our branch. They are so cool. Are "Fidget Spinners" big back home? Everyone out here has one. Brother Rossow owns an iPhone repair store. He started selling Fidget Spinners and is really making a profit. He gave me one for free. I will include a picture.

That's all for now! Love you all!
Elder Bullough

Letter #15 - Cuerpo, Alma, y el Espiritu

 ¡Buenas!

I had an awesome week. I hope all of you did as well! Let me know!

Let's hop in.

 This is when Elder Bunker and Elder Walkins
 picked me up from the airport my first day here in Dallas.

Monday, May 8th - we talked with this preacher in the park who had no idea what he was talking about. We asked him what he thought happened to all those people in Asia who never got a chance to hear about Christ. Did they go to heaven or to hell? He told us that everyone has the chance to learn about Christ and that it says his name everywhere.... in case you didn't know, no, it does not say Jesus Christ all over the place in Asia. And also for those of you who don't know what happens to those people who never got a chance to learn about Christ in their lifetime, email me and I will gladly answer that.


This is when Elder Bunker and Elder Walkins
 picked me up from the airport my first day here in Dallas.
 Elder Bunker took a selfie
Tuesday, May 9th - we got four new investigators! We also ran into the same preacher guy at the park. We taught him so much doctrine straight from the bible and he still wouldn't accept it. He would explain his beliefs and we would ask where it says that in the bible and he would say, "umm... well... it isn't in the bible... I just know it...." he also tried to tell us that we have a body, spirit, AND soul... a soul IS a body and a spirit combined. He got really mad and left to go on his run. At the end of his run, he passed by one more time and yelled, "CUERPO, ALMA, Y EL ESPIRITU! SOLO HAY UN MEDADOR, JESUCRISTO!" (Body, soul, and spirit! There is only one mediator, Jesus Christ!) it was so hilarious to Elder Judd and me.

Mosquito bite.

Wednesday, May 10th - We cut the Cadenas family's yard! If you want to know how big it is, it took 3 and a half hours for two Elders to mow and weed whack it all. It was definitely a large task. It was fun though! I didn't think I would miss yard work, but I guess I do! I love the smell of freshly cut grass.

Thursday, May 11th - we had interviews with President Taylor! Wow. I love that man. the interview with President Taylor was crazy. Each missionary got 8 minutes. Before mine, he told Elder Nguwa, "Could you make this one 12 minutes? I want some more time with this one." We talked about having undeniable faith, striving to be exhausted at the end of each day, and how our Book of Mormon topical guide study just made our Book of Mormon Reading clarified and focused. At the end of the interview, he said, "I see you doing incredible things in your mission here." He also talked about how he is jealous of the new incoming president for getting to work with me and the other new missionaries, but then he said, "Don't worry, we will keep in touch" so cool. Elder Cox talked to Elder Judd and I about how and when we wear the plaque, we wear Christ's name. We represent Him and this church. He told us that we shouldn't be passive aggressive with people. When we get down to business, we show them that we are serious about this. It creates a better image for the church. During some of the last interviews, i was sitting outside of the room with Elder Nguwa. He is from the Congo. He told me his incredible conversion story. After that, there were only 5 missionaries in the building. Elder Judd had left on an exchange with Elder Cox. So it was me, Elder Watkins, Elder Nguwa, Elder Buford, and Elder Del Angel. Elder Buford was the last interview. It was his exit interview since he goes home this transfer, so it took 50 minutes. Elder Watkins and Elder Del Angel left to go teach a lesson. Then when Elder Buford came out, he and Elder Nguwa left to go do something really fast. I just got to stay with President Taylor alone for like 5 minutes! It wasn't that long, but it was so cool to just be with him and talk outside of an interview setting. After all, he is a general authority...

Friday, May 12th - we had lessons with all 4 of our new investigators from earlier this week. Minerva is moving faster than we are! We taught about priesthood authority and baptism. While we were teaching, she interrupted and said, "Wait, so if someone is baptized by someone who doesn't hold God's authority, it is invalid!" We told her that was correct and then asked her if she would be baptized by someone who holds that authority. She said absolutely. She had a baptismal date for the 10th of June! We also taught the Ramirez Family. They are our other three new investigators. We taught them about repentance and baptism. We extended the invitation to be baptized to them and they said that it is something they will need to think about. They told us they have a lot of struggles in their family right now. We promised blessings for following God. We also got two new investigators.

Saturday, May 13th - we helped move a piano. Pianos are heavy. we had a branch party for Mothers Day. It was really nice. Not a ton of people were there, but it was fun. There was singing, Latino music, and lots of food. Latinos aren't that good at karaoke... after the party, we taught a lesson to Lucero. This was our last lesson. Do or die. We taught her more about the importance of baptism and why she needs to be baptized... she ended up leaving really mad. She told us that she doesn't sin... which means that Elder Judd and I have failed at teaching it.

Sunday, May 14th - Happy Mother's Day! In church, all of the youth got up and said nice things about their moms. It was really sweet. I also got to skype, my wonderful family. I love them infinitely. It was so good to see them and talk with them! We went teaching with Hermano Mynor that night. We got a call from Minerva's husband telling us to never come back... never gave us a reason, just told us to stop coming by and that they have their own religion... it broke our hearts.

That is all for this week! I hope all is well! I love you all,
Brandon

Letter # 14 - Cassandra

Buenas Tardes mis amigos!

What a long week. Being a missionary is definitely not easy, it is extremely hard and taxing, but I love it.

Before you get your hopes up... no, Cassandra is not a new investigator.

Monday: we had a video lesson with Lucero about the Anti-Nephi-Lehis and how they buried their "weapons of rebellion." We talked about how in order to more fully




follow Christ, we need to bury our weapons of rebellion towards Him. We invited her to be baptized again, but still a no. It is hard for me to watch her fall off the trail to forgiveness and complete happiness in her life. I mean, our purpose as missionaries is to help people increase their faith, and she definitely is way closer to Christ than she was when we first started talking to her...

Tuesday: we had a district meeting with the Assistants Elder Maxwell and Elder Walkins. We talked about the power behind teaching with the words of Christ. We talked about how using the words of Christ straight from the bible in conversations cuts straight to the heart of the individual. It is powerful. After district meeting, we went on our transfer exchanges with the District leader. This time i was with Elder Teague! He is awesome. We had an... interesting... day. We were knocking some doors and came across a door that was open. So we knocked on the door. No one came. We knocked again louder. No one came. We called out, "hello!" No one came. We took a closer look and it seemed like the door had been kicked in. The door frame was broken and the lock was broken on the door. We decided we felt more comfortable just calling 911... they showed up. We watched them put on their bullet proof vests, draw their guns, and clear the house. It was pretty cool! They told us that it was vacant and that it has been vacant for years. We still felt more comfortable calling than doing nothing. Later that night we went by the house of this mentally insane man named Michael. He lives in this old civil war house. He and his dad are trying to renovate it. Michael gave me a book he bought called, "All the prayers in the bible" by Lockyer. I can't read it on my mission, but still cool!

Wednesday: It poured. I have never felt wetter in my life.

Thursday: we woke up and drove to Dallas! We were getting a new car! It took all day. They had to install a bunch of programming and stuff into the cars. There were 11 new cars, so 22 other missionaries were at the mission office with us! I got to see Elder Toone! He is such a good guy. Elders Toone, Twitchel, Blanthorn, Judd and I were all talking about the church and its doctrines. Elder Toone stopped us and said, "Guys, look. What other 18, 19, or 20-year-old boys would be sitting here on a Thursday at 2:30 talking about Christ? If that doesn't prove that the church is true, i don't know what to say." It was funny and true. Our car finally got finished! It is a really nice new Chevy Malibu. It is a really nice car. It is bullet grey. We named it Cassandra. On our way home, we had to go get gas. The gas pump wasn't accepting our mission gas card, so we had to go inside. For the mission cars you have to imput a driver number and the odometer number. We had forgotten the odometer number, so we told the lady we would be right back. We ran out and came back in. We typed in "92" for the odometer. The lady saw it and said, "That car has 92 miles on it?" We said, "yup! It is brand new!" She then said, "What do you guys do...?" It was so hilarious! We had to explain that we were missionaries and it wasn't our car haha.

Friday: not a lot happened. Lots of studies and planning and calling people in attempt to clean up our area book. We had an interesting lesson with Lucero... she told us she didn't have faith in Christ anymore. We had a long lesson with her. We read Alma 32 and talked about what Christ CAN do, and what he CANNOT do. In the end, she said she felt better and that she would be at church on sunday.

Saturday: we had a volleyball game that all the youth could invite their friends to! Only two friends came, but it was pretty fun! After the game, Elder Judd and i went to deliver a cake to a less active family in our branch. They weren't there, so we left it on his truck and sent him a text. But on our way back to our car, we saw his neighbor outside. We had talked to him before and his sister is a member. His name is Jeremy. He waved to us, so we went and talked to him. He spent a good while just venting to us about everything going wrong in his life... we then asked him if there was anything we could do to help him. He said, you guys already helped just by being here. He told us he wants to start studying the Bible with us twice a month! It was pretty cool.

Sunday: Testimony meeting was powerful. Lucero and her sister Yaneth came. I felt like every single testimony was directed towards Lucero. It was really cool. Afterwards, she even told us that she felt like each testimony was meant for her personally.

That is it for this week! I have lots of pictures... I hope they all send.

Love,
Brandon