WEEK 30

Hey guys!

So I guess I will start with the miracles of the week again! So Ithink I am going to have to talk about our zone service we did. Ourwhole zone went and did service at this place called Feed My StarvingChildren in Coon Rapids which is really close to where I am at. It wasreally cool to be able to put these packages together for these kids.So what we did was we had a little thing at the beginning that showedus how to do to it and we had to put on hairnets and wash our hands.Then we went into a room with a table where on the end two peoplewould put vitamins and rice and things like that into a funnel andsomeone would hold a bag under the funnel and then weigh the bag. Theyhad to weigh between 380 to 400 grams. Then we would hand it tosomeone who would seal the bag and put it on a table where they wouldput it in a box, and usually 36 packages would fit in a box. So thesepackages were like scientifically engineered to help kids gain healthyweight and at the beginning they showed a picture of a kid named Omarwho was 8 years old and weighed 19 pounds and then a picture after 6months and he weighed 73 pounds and was healthy. So on my crew we hadSister Grover and Sister Card who were putting the food into thefunnel and Sister Apedaile and I would hold the bag under the funneland weigh the bag and if it was over or under we would add rice ortake some out. So while I would be weighing mine Sister Apedaile wouldhave hers under getting the food. Then we would hand it to ElderHarper who sealed the bag and he handed it to Sister Bunting who putit into a box. Then we had other missionaries on other tables and theyhad music going and we could talk and things like that so it was superfun and we were helping these starving children. So the food we packedis going to Haiti, which is one of the poorest countries in the world.We had 51 volunteers there and they said on average they do one boxper person so on average we would have gotten 51, but we did waybetter than that. We packaged 92 boxes in like an hour. In each bagthere was 6 servings so in that hour we provided 19,872 meals and thatis enough to feed 54 kids for a year. I think that is the coolestthing ever that we could do that. Anyways thats my biggest miracle.

My next miracle I wasn't there for because we were on exchanges, butwe set another date with a guy named Cecil for March 18th! So nowsince we have been here we have set 5 dates and the Shingle CreekElders have set 4 and the Sisters are having a baptism this Saturday!The Creeks are literally on fire. While on exchanges Elder Jorgensengave me a haircut so I will send pictures of that too haha. We wentwith the Sisters and taught a Muslim guy too. His name is Abraham andhe was nice, but he was just not getting what we were saying. He gavethe Sisters a Quran to read and gave them a chapter to read and theSister gave him Ether 12 to read, but as they were trying to talkabout it he kept talking about what if Jesus had a mortal father andif we would still believe he was the Son of God and he was confusedabout how we are all children of God, but Jesus is the only literalSon of God. We tried to explain it like so many times, but he justwasn't having it so we gave him a chapter to read and told him to prayabout it and then said a prayer and left.. so yeah

On Tuesday we had interviews with President Forbes so we got to thechurch at like 8:30 and set everything up and then we had our districtmeeting while another district was having their interviews. Ininterviews we just talk about the area and how we like it and how thework is going and he will give us advice and we can ask him somequestions. Elder Harper asked him of we could have more miles becausewe only have 400 a month and we are already over that and he said wecould so thats good. The rest of that day we cleaned the apartmentwhich wasn't really too bad because I have been cleaning it since Igot here, but we cleaned because we had an apartment inspection wherethey just tell you what you need to do better on and if anything isbroken they will get it replaced and stuff. They said our apartmentwas good and we did a good job. We just cleaned the stuff that nevergets cleaned like the ceiling fan and things like that.

So one morning we went to play frisbee golf at a park by the churchkind of and it was cold and I was tired so I didn't really want toeven go. Well we parked our bikes and on my very first throw myfrisbee rolled into the middle of the road and got ran over. Luckilyit didn't break, unluckily on my next throw it hit a tree and broke inhalf. It was not a good morning haha but now that I am not tiredanymore and looking back it was pretty funny!

So this last week Sister Fuchs was sick and we gave her a blessing atthe church and this week Sister Calchera was sick and we got to giveher a blessing too. So that was cool.

We had a district finding hour this week so we all went down to theShingle Creek area and walked around talking to people. I went withElder Meade and we just walked and we talked to this Atheist guy thathas studied our religion too and he would ask a question and when wetried to respond he would just say God is mythic and stuff and I wasgetting a little mad so we just bore our testimonies and left haha hedefinitely did not have a sincere heart or real intent so that wasn'tgoing anywhere. The next guy we talked to was this homeless guy and hewas sitting at a bus stop and we stopped to talk to him and we gavehim a card and a few bucks and he prayed with us and then asked if wewould pray for him. He was telling us how he is Brett Favres secondcousin and stuff and his name is Scotty haha he was a funny guy. Wetalked to this other guy in wal mart, we were just in there to warmup, but as we were about to leave this guy, named JD came up tous and asked if we were the Elders and we said yeah then he was sayinghow his friend stole his truck and he asked if we thought that thereshould be blood shed for his sins and so we asked him what Jesus woulddo and then the guy that stole his truck called and JD was telling himhow we were going to pray for him and stuff. Then at the end he toldus he was kidding and he just wanted to see what we wouldsay and that we answered right. Anyways we got his addressand stuff and left haha.

Well thats about all I got for this week. I have been writing thisemail throughout the week in my spare time so that I didn't getdistracted during and I could make sure I said everything. Well I willtalk to y'all next week!

Elder Bullock

Hair cut via Elder Jorgensen

Zone Service Opportunity

Hot chocolate!

Week 29

Hey guys! This week was really good and we set two more dates! We set
a date with Dawhon's girlfriend to be baptized on the same day! We
also set a date with a guy named Stephan. He was in a trucking
accident and is handicapped from it so he can't drive now. We
invited them all to church but sadly they didn't come.

We had a Mission Presidents fireside and it was my first time being
able to go to the mission presidents fireside.   All the missionaries
that are close to the mission office bring investigators and there is
some people that speak and just talk about their conversion story.
Elder Moore and Elder Huntley got permission to come up because Elder
Moore got to go up and share his conversion story. We got a ride with
Brother Jendro who isn't a member, but he still comes to church. It was
so good to see a lot of missionaries that I have served around. Dawhon,
Stevyon and Andreanne were supposed to come to the fireside but they
ended up not coming.

We had a district meeting this week and it is a lot different here
because we do them in person every week. For this one we had the zone
leaders, the sister training leaders, and the APs. So we had every
form of leadership except for the mission president. It was a really
good district meeting and Sister Fuchs did a really good training on
how to get our investigators to come to church. We set a goal to have 22 of
our investigators come to church this upcoming Sunday. I don't know if
we got it or not, but we are going to do something fun if we did.

Another thing that has been different in this area is how much we have
seen the other missionaries. I know I have already talked about it,
but we literally had two lessons back to back with the sisters and the
other night the other elders slept at our place on the couch. We
literally see them every day. It has been super warm out so we have been
biking out a little more. The past two days have been in the upper 50s
and today it's supposed to be in the 60s. Today has rained a lot and
with the warm weather everything is melting so when I ride my bike
the back of my shirt gets covered in mud. So that's the only
downside so far so I am really enjoying the nice weather. I had to
get used to biking again because while I was in Red Wing we did not
bike at all. When we had those two back-to-back lessons with the
sisters we were on bikes and they were in the car and we tried racing
them, but it didn't work. I think it's a lot more fun to be on bikes,
especially in the cities, because you can stop and talk to people. In
my last two areas there was no one walking around so we can't do that
much.

I'm not sure if I talked about our zone focus yet, but as a zone we
are trying to invite 3000 people to church during this transfer. So
one night we went on an exchange and I went with Elder Jorgensen and
we just walked on the street and talk to everybody we saw. On the way
back to the apartment there was this lady trying to get under the hood
of her car. Usually I wouldn't have stopped to talk to her because I
am not used to stopping to talk to people, but since we have this
focus I stopped to invite her to church. I think that this focus will
help me to be able to become better at talking to people. Anyways, I tried 

to help her get under the hood of her car, but she couldn't unlock her car. I

think she was a little confused, but after she called some guy she
thanked us for stopping and I invited her to church and set up a
lesson with her. She said she has been looking for a church so that
was cool.

We were driving down the road and there was a homeless guy asking for
money at a stoplight so I decided to give him three bucks and then
Elder Harper decided to give him a mormon.org card and invited him to
church. So that was cool... we ended up inviting 67 people to church
this week. Anyways, we are at the church and about to play volleyball
and I can't think of anything else to say. Emailing is a lot harder to get done
when there are other missionaries and you get to do more stuff, haha. 
Anyways, I will talk to y'all later!


Elder Bullock

 New Comp. Elder Harper

Been working hard, time for some rest

     Sister 

missionaries

Week 28--The Liberian snap

Hey guys! So this week has been really crazy.. like things are so
different here in the ghetto of Brooklyn Park. So the biggest miracle
this week is we got a date set with a guy named Dawhon and his son
Stevion and hopefully his girlfriend too when we can meet with her.
The baptism is clear in April because there are going to be some
things that they will have to over come. Anyways let me start from
when I was leaving Red Wing.

Monday and Tuesday was just a lot of packing and saying bye to people.
So I have a lot of pictures from that! The two hardest goodbyes were
the Berniers and Elder Huntley. I said bye to the Berniers Tuesday
night and then on Wednesday we drove to Lakeville to pick up Elder
Moore. Then I went with another Elder up to Bloomington. I talked with
a bunch of other missionaries like Elder Magleby and Elder Araoz and
Elder Bono! Then I met my new companion Elder Harper and he is a cool
guy and we get along well. We rode up to Brooklyn Park with the Duluth
Zone Leaders because we share a car with the Shingle Creek Elders and
we only have 400 miles a months and Elder Jorgensen is training Elder
Meade in Shingle Creek so they had to have the car. And Elder
Jorgensen says Hi!!!!!

Well Brooklyn Park has been interesting. Haha, we live in the ghetto
and we hear sirens like all the time. Everybody we teach is from
Liberia. They are really cool people, but hard to understand. African
food is really spicy too.. like a little too spicy. Oh and they do
this really cool thing where when you shake their hand you do this
really cool handshake. I will have to show you in a video sometime
because I can't explain it. We have been super busy this week and have
had a lot of lessons. We had a date set when we got here but we gave
it to the Sister missionaries. So this area has been fun because I see
other missionaries every day. The Shingle Creek Elders, Elder
Jorgensen and Elder Meade, live in the same apartment complex as us
and they come over for breakfast, lunch and then come over and hang
out before bed. And there are Sister Missionaries, Sister Fuchs and
Sister Calchera, who work in the Elm Creek and Shingle Creek ward and
we see them every day too. So that has been nice since my last two
areas I barely ever saw missionaries other than my companion.

Well I have to go soon so I can talk more about the area next week,
but I basically said everything. I will talk to y'all next week!

Elder Bullock

Last days in Red Wing

Some of the good people of Red Wing, they will be missed!

 

 

WEEK 27-- 6 MONTH MARK

Hey guys! Well we had a baptism this week so of course it has been a great week! We had a Zone P day and a Zone Conference too. Oh and we find out about transfers today!

So the baptisms went really well and there were a lot of people there! We didn't have any problems with the font this time so that was nice! I baptized Rourke and Elder Huntley baptized Amanda and then on Sunday I confirmed Amanda and Elder Huntley confirmed Rourke. Rourke was kind of funny when he was confirmed because after Elder Huntley got done he stood up and said, "That felt awesome!" and jumped up and down haha. They both went up and bore their testimonies and they were both super good and the spirit was so strong! Rourke doesn't have any fear! They both told the stories of their conversion and it was just the best.

We went up to Hudson for Zone P day and we were supposed to bring cheese for the burgers, but we forgot it at the apartment so when we got to Hudson we went and bought more. The funny part was that they didn't even use the cheese so we have a lot of cheese now. The AP's got a pie in their face so that was cool. We played a lot of volley ball and I actually did better than I thought I would. I am really bad at volley ball. Then we got permission to watch Finding Dory! It was super good! That night instead of driving back to Red Wing then driving all the way back up for Zone Conference we went and worked in other areas, but instead of going with Elder Huntley I went with Elder Dygert and Elder Foutz and did work in Oakdale. Elder Dygert is serving in Oakdale and his Companion Elder Moss took Elder Huntley and Elder Gray. We really only got to see this less active lady that was kind of weird, but I got to hold her pet chinchilla! They are like the softest thing I had ever felt! The Oakdale Elders live with members so when we went home for the night they took us downstairs and it is like crazy down there. There is a ping pong table and jungle gym looking stuff hanging from the ceiling so we went and played on those. I guess the members daughter used to do gymnastics or something so yeah. Anyways the next day we had Zone Conference and then got a zone picture then went back to Red Wing.

Well I just saw transfer boards and yeah.... Elder Huntley is going to be here 7 and a half months and me...well I am going to the Elm Creek ward in the Anoka Zone... My area is super tiny compared to the areas I have been in. It takes like 5 minutes to drive width wise and 15 from top to bottom... It is in Brooklyn Park which has like almost 80,000 people.. anyways my Companion is going to be Elder Harper who was just companions with Brody Beutler, who I went to high school with. So yeah...

Anyways.. We had dinner with William Wall and he wanted to take us scuba diving on a p day, but sadly we can't do that haha.  Elder Huntley is going to baptize him someday! They have so much in common. Anyways I don't know what to think anymore because I thought I was staying here haha.

We did service on Saturday before the baptism and we went to this ladies house that was getting evicted and she had some washers and dryers down stairs that we had to take upstairs and out into a truck. Well, the first washer we grabbed was super heavy so we looked inside of it and it was full of dirty water and clothes and smelled sooo bad!  We had to pull the clothes out an pour out the water down the drain downstairs, but it was not fun... anyways.. That is all I have I will talk to y'all next week when I am in my new area!

Elder Bullock
1 Nephi 9:6

Amanda and Rourke's baptism day!

Zone Conference

Zone pday

Pie in the face for the AP's