Letter #6 - A New Life

Hello All!

Here is my current address if you would like to send me letters!

1400 H G Mosley # 2206 Longview, TX 75604

Holy smokes. Where do I begin? It has been 11 days since my last P-Day. I guess I will just jump right into my days!

Thursday: we took a grammar test that everyone has to take before leaving the MTC. I got a 51%... which apparently is good. They said anyone who gets 40 or higher is on track. So I guess I'm good? Haha, I definitely have lots to learn. It was about average for our district. I also really started to miss my district on Thursday. We were all going our separate ways. It is kind of sad. But I know they will all be great missionaries.

Friday: the day FLEW by. We had a day full of classes preparing us for the mission field. It was pretty cool. I learned a lot about how to use members in the missionary work. It also POURED on Friday. It hadn't rained at all since I had been in Mexico, so that was nice and refreshing.

Saturday: i started packing. It felt weird packing my stuff. I had lived there for a month and a half. Saturday was my last day with my teachers. They all wrote me very nice comments in my transfer book. I have learned a lot from them and will definitely miss them. I have their emails, though so I will keep in touch.

Sunday: my last day in the CCM! It was bittersweet. Church was relaxing. I bore my testimony in Spanish during fast and testimony meeting. Our branch president gave us all these cool Mexican bookmarks that were hand painted by latinos somewhere in Mexico. It was nice. I finished packing and went to bed early. I also ran into Becca Lindsey from our home stake! We took a very awkward picture included below.

Monday: traveling day! I woke up at 3:00. I got dressed and packed the few things I had left. I went to reception by myself. We got permission to do that because I left earlier than everyone else. I was alone. A lone wolf. I got to reception and two latinos were waiting for me. They weighed my bags and then took me down the street where a van was waiting for me. I got in and I was on my way. Just me and my latino driver. It was a pretty quiet ride. It was such an awesome drive. The city was still asleep, so it was cool just seeing the buildings and everything. Once I got to the airport my driver told me that two other men would help me through the airport. So I got out and these two latinos guided me through check in and everything. They said goodbye to me at security. I went through security by myself in Spanish haha it was cool. I waited for two hours before my flight. Elder Jorgensen came through security a half an hour before my flight. So we hung out for a little bit and said goodbye at my gate. It was nice. The flight only had 30 people on it. No one was next to me. It was a long and boring flight haha. I arrived in Dallas and was so happy. I got both my bags and went to the exit. Two elders were waiting for me. They are two of the APs. Elder Walkins and Elder Bunker. In the video that my mission posted, elder bunker was the last elder bringing in suitcases. He left this past Wednesday to go home. His two years are finished. He is an awesome guy though. Elders Walkins and Bunker drove me to the Mission Office where we waited for a couple of hours. We were waiting for all of the missionaries from the Provo MTC. We met them at the Dallas temple. That is a BEAUTIFUL temple. And it is bigger than it looks in pictures. President Taylor was on a trip somewhere else in texas, so Sister Taylor just talked to us about the importance of the temple and missionary work. It was awesome. We then drove to the mission home where President Taylor had returned from his trip. We took pictures and had an awesome dinner. They gave each of the new missionaries PRO rings... it stands for Pray Read and Obey. It is a reminder to do those things every single day. It is an awesome idea. We finished at the mission home at about 8 pm. Then the APs took us to an apartment complex where we set up a projector and played videos of Christ and went and contacted people in the complex. I talked to three people that night. Two in English and one in Spanish. I placed two copies of the book of Mormon. One in English and one in Spanish! It was such a great experience. We then spent the night at the APs apartment. The sisters stayed with the local sister training leaders. What a great first day in Dallas.

Tuesday: we woke up and went to the local chapel. We had chick fil a for breakfast and it made me so so happy haha. After breakfast, we had meetings until 4 pm! We met our trainers and talked a lot about rules and stuff. I learned a lot about being bold and how to teach with a double edged sword. Sometimes people do not commit if you just tell them the blessings, so you have to tell them the punishments too. It's a cool way of teaching. My trainer is named Elder Judd! He is from Las Vegas Nevada. He is the second youngest of 9. He loves to lift weights and play frisbee. We get along very well and I have already learned a lot from him. He is a great guy. We are assigned to the Longview Spanish branch. We cover a large area. East texas is very open and very beautiful. Our branch covers five English wards, so we have a car. Longview is 2 and a half hours east of Dallas. We missed our dinner appointment because our meetings in Dallas went over. We had to go straight to an appointment in Henderson which is 40 minutes south of Longview... It is a lady named Blanca who is from el Salvador and has been inactive for awhile. She wants to come back to church. So we tried to find her house, but we could not find it anywhere! We called her and still could not find it. So we missed our second appointment as well just because he lived so far away. So we went to the grocery store to get my food and went to our apartment. It is a nice apartment.

Wednesday: we woke up and went to the gym in our apartment complex to run on treadmills. We then had a district meeting. There are 6 elders in my district. 4 English speakers and then us two Spanish speakers. We talked about how faith is essential to gain miracles. After that meeting, I learned that I am in a facebook mission! So we tried creating a new facebook and then found out that it is against facebook's policy to have two profiles, so i either had to delete my old one or just change everything on my old profile. So I have to go through and erase every single post on my facebook. Kind of sad, but oh well, this is a new life for me! I also have to unfollow all of my current friends so that I cannot see their posts on my feed. That is a lot of people to unfollow haha. Ramon took us out to lunch. He is an awesome guy. We went to dinner with la Familia Gonzalez. They are so nice. The spirit is so strong in their home. After dinner, we went to the home of one of our investigators. His name is Rodrigo. He is a 9-year-old boy, his family are inactive members. We talked to his parents about setting a baptismal date and they said they would talk about it, so that is a good sign. We then went to talk to President Johnston. He is our Branch president. We had to talk to him about the mission-wide Initiative. It is probably going to be called "Rise with Jesus". The plan is for every single font in the mission to be filled on the night before easter. We are trying to get a baptism in each ward or branch throughout the mission. What an awesome idea.

Thursday: it was my first day of knocking doors! We went south to Kilgore. The bugs here are big. Wasps look like flying cockroaches haha. Door knocking is fun... you watch people walk into their homes, then you knock and they never come and answer... we talked to a girl named Marta about the BoM. She just kept saying that the Bible cannot have another book. It was silly. I found out Thursday night that I would be giving a 15-minute talk in church on Sunday in Spanish.... I got really nervous haha. But it was on la expiación (the atonement), so it was pretty easy.

Friday: we went to go get gas for our car. We need to print the receipts for records, but the printer was out of paper, so we had to go inside. We got the receipt and the girl behind the counter asked why we were so dressed up. We told her that we were her local missionaries! She then said, "oh well could yall do me a huge favor!? I am good with God and all, but my fiance needs some help. Could yall stop by tomorrow morning?" It was a miracle. I testify that God works miracles and puts people in our paths. It is a miracle that we picked a machine that was out of ink and that we had to go inside.

Saturday: sadly the girl from the gas station got called into work so we couldn't teach her... but we set another date. We went to Hermana Rubio's house for dinner. She cooked this delicious chicken. The latinos here make this agua de Melón. It is basically watermelon water. It is SO good. We then met with one of our investigators named Lucero. She is 25 years old and is from Mexico. We focused our lesson on baptism to try and get her to want to commit. The whole lesson she was very hesitant. She didn't want to join the church and then fall away... she was so worried that she wouldn't be able to stay strong in the church. So the whole lesson she was kinda fighting it... and then the spirit gave me a memory from sometime in my youth. I was in a lesson and someone drew two stick figures on the board. One of the two stick figures had a 1 and a 2 and a 3 going from his head to his heart, to his legs. The other stick figure was the reverse. With a 3 and a 2 and a 1 going from the head down to the heart down to the legs. The first guy represents satans plan. Satan puts bad thoughts in your head, which battle and change your heart, which then leads you to make a false decision. The second stick figure represents Gods plan. You start with an action of your faith. Then it affects your heart positively, which then confirms to your mind that it was the right choice. So I tried explaining that to her in the little Spanish I knew, and she said that she would do it. She took the leap of faith to get baptized and start a new life. A life with Christ. It was amazing. I KNOW that God expects us to act in faith. He expects us to rely on Him and strive to grow closer to Him. Once we do, he will pour out happiness upon us. It was such an awesome experience for me. I got my first baptismal date on my first week. Crazy. I know that whoever taught me that dumb little stick figure drawing was inspired to do so. I know that i was supposed to know that for Lucero to finally make the commitment. I love this work so much. She is such a happy person.

Sunday: the day had come. I needed to give a 15-minute talk in Spanish to a group of maybe 50 latinos... I guess that is my payback for being the only elder in my district in the CCM who did not give a 5-minute talk in church. Instead, I had to give one the length of all three of theirs combined haha. It went well. Afterward, President Johnston got up and told the congregation that he has never heard an elder speak that well in Spanish straight out of the MTC before. It made me feel good. After church, a ton of the members were telling me good job and to be more confident in my Spanish skills. I can understand a lot of Spanish, but talking is sometimes difficult for me... Sunday night Ramon came out teaching with us. We finally were able to find Blanca's house and had a good conversation with her. I also got to meet another of our investigators. Her name is Giovanna. She is 18 and has a1-year-oldd daughter. She is super shy, but she is a progressing investigator.

Well, that was my crazy long week! I love it here. I love the work. I am healthy. I am well. I love texas.

Have a good week,
Elder Bullough

Elder Brandon Benjamin Bullough
Texas Dallas Mission
La Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Últimos Días