WEEK TEN

 The Last shall be first

 

Hey guys this week was pretty crazy with transfers happening! On Tuesday we just packed up Elder Moore's stuff most of the day. Elder Moore went and said bye to a bunch of the members. We didn't get home until like 10:30 that night and Elder Moore still had to pack so we didn't get to bed until like 12:30.

On Wednesday we left at about 9 and went to Lakeville to drop Elder Moore off an then I took Elder Johansson, who is from Sweden, and Elder Heiden. I drove up to Bloomington with them and then we parked at the mission home and got all of our vehicles inspected and then I met Elder Last! He is one of those guys that is always smiling and he just gets along with everyone! We get along super good though and we have been talking to each other like nonstop. And yes there has been a lot of Last jokes like, I hope you are not the last missionary. We went and ate at Taco Bell with Elder Callans, and I gave him a ride to Lakeville. Then we went back to New Prague and unpacked and we decided to clean the apartment like super good which was super awesome. I think we might have the cleanest apartment in the mission. We went to the church to go introduce the members to Elder Last. When we got there Sister Seger asked us if we would go and give Sister Grewe a blessing. Brother Thomas is her home teacher so he drove us out there and about half way we got a call and apparently she was on her way the ER in New Prague so we turned around and went back. We checked in and then we were able to give her a blessing. She is in a lot of pain and she hasn't been able to eat since Wednesday because it hurts her. While we were there we were able to give her daughter a blessing because she was really sick. 

On Thursday we went to Le Sueur and we were going to ride our bikes around because that is something we decided to do this transfer to save miles and it is something we both like doing. Unfortunately when we got there we realized my bike has a flat tire so we just parked the car and walked around Le Sueur. We were able to do a lot more contacting, which is just talking to people as you pass them. We were in the library to use the wifi for a few minutes and when we left we walked right into rain. We walked back to the car in the rain, which was fairly close and ate our amazing pb&j dinner and it stopped raining. We decided to go introduce Elder Last to Brother Lewis. When we got there he was having dinner so he fed us anyway. After we left it was raining again, but we decided to be tough and go visit Brother Snow before we went back to the car so by the time that we got there we were pretty soaked. He offered to give us a ride to the car which was nice. The drive back to New Prague was pretty rough though. It was raining so hard I could barely see and Le Sueur is the farthest town. 

On Friday we went and helped Brother Reinwand move for a few hours, but they gave us pizza so it was totally worth it. It actually was super awesome and Brother Williams made us laugh the whole time. It was pretty cold though, but I have been hearing from a lot of people that this winter is going to be pretty bad. Sister Dvorak showed us pictures of the bad winters where she couldn't even get into her car because there was so much snow. I honestly think that would be super awesome and am pretty excited to test drive my new snow boots. They said that the worst is when it is so cold that it can't snow so there will be no snow but just freezing. Elder Last is from Hurricane, Utah so he is used to the warm weather. He said he got here in March and thought that was pretty cold.

We got a text this week from Little Fawn telling us that they are getting married which is super awesome. We are going to have President Hoskins marry them so hopefully we are here for that. They said they want to get married soon so hopefully. 

Saturday we went to Montgomery again and went to help out at the food shelf again. It was pretty slow but were able to talk to Little Fawn there a little and it is always nice to help these people out especially because no guys work there and they cant carry them out and I would hate to have some old lady have to carry this stuff out. We walked around Montgomery all day which was awesome and we got to see a lot of new things that I didn't notice before when we drove everywhere. 

Sunday was super awesome and it is always good to fast. I even bore my testimony even though I was like super nervous. We went out to Le Center with Brother Brimhall for a bit and then had dinner with the Dvoraks again. Brother Dvorak gave us a lot of advice again and he is way awesome. 

This week has been one of the best weeks so far. Elder Last is a really good missionary and I have been learning so much from him and he has been doing a good job of training me. We are really similar and I love how he talks to people and I have been really trying to improve my talking skills. One thing that stuck out to me from conference is joy. And I love in Elder Nelsons talk he said that we need to suffer with joy and that our suffering will be taken by Christ. We can only feel joy through Christ and this gospel and I know that everyone has their ups and downs, but as long as we stay close to the teachings of this church and keep the commandments that God has given us we can have that true joy. I encourage you all to look in to that talk because it is super awesome. I am super glad to be out here and I am excited for it.

Elder Bullock

That is some random persons garage and we just really wanted to take a picture with it.

New companion,  Elder Last

WEEK NINE

TRANSFERS!

Hey guys 

Tuesday we didn't do a lot because I got Elder Moore up on time and we worked out and then got to studies. We put some less actives into our area book that we didn't have then Elder Moore decided to take a nap because he woke up on time. He slept until like 4:30 so we didn't have a lot of time to do anything that day so we just went to New Prague that day. We went tracting at some apartments where one of our investigators live and we eventually met Terry. She is I think Lutheran, but she is willing to hear what our beliefs are and she is really nice and told us she knew a little about our religion. She told us her great grandma rented to some missionaries and she called them her Mormon boys and Terry told us she has some Mormon boys of her own now. We said a prayer for her at the end and then she asked us if she could pray for us and that was really awesome. We had dinner with the Thomas family and they are so awesome. They live in a bus that they turned into a RV type thing and Sister Thomas makes a lot of herbal things and she uses a lot of plants in her cooking. They are moving to Arizona soon and are going to eventually live on a sailboat. I told Brother Thomas that he looks like Rob Lundquist from Homefree and so he looked up a picture and they are like twins.

On Wednesday Elder Moore said he didn't sleep at all so he was going back to bed. I let him sleep for awhile and I just read my scriptures for a couple hours. Sister Williams asked us to help them put in their pool liner over in Belle Plaine. So we did that for most of the day and Felix fed us homemade pizza and spaghetti. He is a really good cook and is the one who gave us the peppers that almost killed me. We didn't eat breakfast that day so we ate a lot there and we ate at like 1. We had a dinner that day too over in Elko New Market and Sister Choe texted us and asked us if we could eat earlier at like 4 and so after that my stomach really hurt. We went to teach a less active named Hyrum Labaron-Jones and his wife, Amber, opened the door and said Hyrum wasn't home, but he was going to be in about an hour. Amber told us that she was due the next day for her baby so that was pretty cool and she ended up having it on Thursday. Anyway we came back and Hyrum was there and he likes the country boys so I made sure I wore my cowboy boots. He has an interesting story with the church. He was raised in Mexico and was part of one of the break offs from the LDS church. His parents practiced polygamy and he said his dad had 50 kids and didn't know most of them!  He got baptized into our church when he was 20, but I'm not quite sure why he did because now he is going to a different church and doesn't actually know a lot about our church. He really likes to talk and he talks really fast so it was kind of hard to even get a word in, but he is super awesome and I think he liked me because of my boots and my voice. He said we could come back whenever and he said he has an open mind. 

Thursday we had a district meeting through Skype and then we went to Le Sueur. We stopped by Kristy's and she is going through a lot of things and she told us that she really appreciates us and then we tried to teach the restoration and then after we taught the first vision she told us that she need to be alone and told us to leave so she could think about this. Elder Moore asked her to be baptized if she found out that this was true and she said yes but she wouldn't commit to a date. It was kind of a weird situation to me. We stopped by a few people that weren't home except for Mike who is a stay at home dad but he was making dinner so we taught him a short lesson. We went to Le Center after that and I can finally say I have been to every town in my area now. We actually didn't even get to teach anyone there because Le Center is so far away that we can't go there that much, but we have a lot of miles left for this month. We did have dinner at this Mexican restaurant which was pretty good and then drove home to New Prague after that. 

Friday we got some more money for food so we went shopping because we had like no food at all. We got back to the apartment and I started reading my scriptures because I was almost done with Mosiah and then when I was done Elder Moore was asleep on the couch so I just read some more because it is almost impossible to wake Elder Moore up and if you do he is still half asleep and won't remember it then just go back to bed. After he woke up we went and had our weekly planning session at the church then went to the Segers for dinner. The kids and nan were the only ones there but Sister Seger made dinner before she left and Aurora brought the food outside for us to eat. After we got back to  New Prague we were able to just stop by one of our investigators. 

On Saturday we had General Conference! I hope everyone was able to watch it. We went to the church to watch it and apparently you are supposed to wear suits when you watch it. We were the only ones at the church but they were really good talks and I got a lot more out of them when I took notes. In between sessions we went and ate McDonald's in our suits and we got a lot of looks. We got invited to go to the Segers for dinner and a bonfire with the Grewes. So we went there and watched the Priesthood session and had dinner then we had a fire outside and it was one of Sister Grewes kids birthday so we had cake and I ate it to be nice.... anyway we just played with the kids and the dog for awhile. One of Sister Grewes kids always grabs my pinky and walks me around to show me things she is like 4, but she is the cutest. 

Sunday we went back to the Segers for Conference and we got there at like 9:30 and they made us breakfast. Mollie was supposed to come watch it with us but she never did. It was pretty much just watching conference. They made us lunch and dinner too so that was kind of nice. 

Today we drove up to Lakeville and are going to try and stay here the whole day. We are getting transfer calendar which tells us where we are going next transfer. I am staying in New Prague, but Elder Moore is leaving and I'm and getting a new trainer Elder Last. No one knows who he is though. Anyway I'm kind of excited.

Elder Bullock

Week eight's post was late because of my procrastination.  Tayson recently sent me his favorite scripture, which I was super impressed with so I will share it with all of you---Tayson's Mom

Alma 26:12
Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak: therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

WEEK EIGHT

Hey guys

This week was really fast and slow at the same time, if that makes sense. It felt like forever ago that I gave a talk, but it was just last Sunday. Anyways we had a zone p day on Tuesday with Faribault and actually just stayed the night on Monday so we didn't have to drive in the morning. We packed the car up with our mattresses and they didn't really fit so we just squished them in there and by the time we got everything in the car I couldn't really see behind us. On Tuesday we went bowling for a couple games and played basketball. It was a lot better than regular p day because p day is pretty much just doing chores and emailing, which is my favorite part. We went on splits that night and I went with Elder Bono to Northfield and we visited Brother Pietsch, a less active who actually used to be in the New Prague branch. We ended up being like 15 minutes late so when we got there he said we should have just been 30 minutes late because NCIS, or something like that, was on and it was only half way done so he told us to go get a pop and we just watched the rest of the episode with him. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do so I just went with it. After it was over we had a pretty good conversation and then we showed him a video because he always likes the videos. Elder Bono wanted to talk about his Temple covenants and what they mean to him. His ex wife was excommunicated and I think that has been hard for him. We invited him to go to church and try to get a temple recommend but he said he couldn't pay his tithing to get his temple recommend because his wife keeps suing him. I know the blessings that come from paying tithing and it says in 3 Nephi 24: 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

On Wednesday we had a District Meeting and the Zone Leaders came and we had a training and we just talked about how we could make all of our areas better. Elder Moore and I left after that and we went to Elko New Market and tried to stop by some potentials and we were never able to have a lesson and we tried to stop by a less active named Hyrum Labaron and I guess his relatives are the ones that kept practicing polygamy. We have been trying to get a hold of him and when we when to his house his wife opened the door and talked to us for a little bit. She is a less active too and she wasn't in our area book so she hadn't even been to church in awhile.

Thursday we to Belle Plain and while we were there we stopped by another less active who is actually Sister Walsh's son. His name is Marty and he went on a mission to Argentina and when we got back he married a less active and he went less active with her. His wife was in another marriage and had two kids, but her ex husband isn't really accepting of our church so Blake and Gavin can't really be baptized if they wanted. It's a pretty rough situation and I really hope things will work out so they can get to church. Gavin actually came to church so that was really cool and we talked to him about football because he is really into that. We stopped by a nonmember named Chelsea Jackson and her husband is in boot camp and he is a member. He has been a member his whole life and has been going to church at boot camp. When we knocked on the door her mom opened the door and  let us in and then we talked with Chelsea about it and about her a little. She is 19 and has a 2 year old and they were from Utah before Chelsea moved here to her parents to help with the baby while her husband was away. Elder Moore asked her mom what church she went to and she goes to a friendship church. She knew a lot about our religion and she pretty much bashed us in a nice way. She thinks that if you believe in Christ you go to heaven, you don't have to work your way into heaven. She thinks that we are just trying to work our way into heaven by coming out here and how much service our church does and doesn't believe that we are going to make it into a higher heaven and that we won't be like Heavenly Father and have our own worlds. She believes that in heaven we won't be with our family but we will know who they are and will recognize each other. She said she knows the Book of Mormon isn't true because of anti Mormon books that have came out. She reads out of a different Bible that us so when Elder Moore would bring up scriptures hers wouldn't say the same thing and they pretty much had a Bible bash. Elder Moore said he didn't bash, but he totally did. I was trying to tell Elder Moore that we had to go because we were already late for a dinner, but he just kept trying to prove things. At the end she told us how she would pray for us to know the truth and stop believing all the things and said she admires how we are good people and she wishes Christians were like us in the missionary aspect of it and we tried to explain to her that we are Christians, but she is way to hard hearted and I kind of just wanted to tell her what's up. I didn't though and we left which was probably a good thing because I was getting pretty mad.

On Friday Brother Brimhall dropped of Elder Moore's loaner iPad. Earlier we called the mission office and they said to bring the iPad in and since Elder Moore doesn't have any money they would figure it out and it's possible there is still a warranty on it. It was really early when Brother Brimhall came so I don't really remember opening the door, but I'm pretty sure I just opened the door and grabbed the iPad and closed the door without a smile or anything or any words. We went to Montgomery and that night we stopped by Little Fawn's again and talk about baptism for Ezra. When we got there there were a bunch of girls getting their hair done for the homecoming game. There were like 15 of them in this tiny apartment so we just talked to Joseph and Ezra in the kitchen for a while and after they all left we talked to them about baptism and they said they are still going to think about it. Little Fawn gets off parole next year so she is excited for that and she is having a hard time with people and coming to church because she is tired of listening to people complain because of how bad she had it and how all she wanted to do is dope and how much she loves it, but she is 19 months sober from it. We showed her a really good video called the Savior Wants to Forgive and we showed her the Tattooed Mormon. I think she really wants to accept the gospel I just think it's going to take a while for her to do it. She is super awesome though and likes us to come over. She told us she did pray to know if God loved her and she said she did and she felt really good about it and that he does love her which is awesome.

We went back to Montgomery on Saturday to work at the food shelf and were able to get two new investigators Joan and Gail. Joan is homeless now from all the rain and her trailer flooded and she lost most of her stuff. She is living out of her car and she was very appreciative of us talking to her and asked for our number to talk sometime.  We invited her to the General Woman's Conference at the church and she said she would try to come. We invited Little Fawn to it too and some other people. Gail was super excited while getting food and was, in her own words, a kid in a candy shop. We talked to her a little while helping her get her stuff to her car and we gave her a call too and she said she would call us. After we were in Montgomery for a while we went back to New Prague because Brother Felderman was going to pick us up and go see Mollie with us. Unfortunately Mollie wasn't there even though we setup an appointment and she wouldn't answer our phone calls. We just went over to Brother Felderman's and talked to him and his wife for a little. Then we went to the General Woman's Conference and waited to see if anyone would show up that we invited, no one came, but we got free dinner. We helped them put stuff away and went and helped Brother Brimhall with the nursery.

On Sunday I blessed the sacrament with Mitch and usually Elder Moore does it with him. Mitch has a disability and he can't read because of it so you have to whisper it into his ear and he repeats you. It is really cool that he can still bless the sacrament and he is planning on serving a service mission. I was kind of nervous because I was nervous saying it myself and when I said it to Mitch he couldn't understand me sometimes and Elder Moore said it's hard when you say it and he messes up then you have to start over. I did survive though and I'm glad I was able to do it. We didn't stop by any investigators but we stopped by the Brimhall's for lunch then Brother Brimhall came out to teach with us. Brother Brimhall wanted to stop by the Dvoraks so we did and Brother Dvorak gave us a lot of advice and said that this is a mission that doesn't get a lot of baptisms and he said that people that get sent to places like South America and gets a lot of baptisms that because the need those baptisms to strengthen their testimonies. People that get sent to places like here that don't get a lot is because they already have a strong enough testimony which I thought was cool and it really helped me. He told us that even if we don't have a lot of investigators we always have less actives and part member families and to focus on them and to have a list of everyone and make note of who doesn't want contact and things like that so that we can keep our area organized for future missionaries. He said we may just be put here to plow the ground and plant seeds so that future missionaries can come and harvest what we planted. He said that we need to build that foundation here so that we can build on it and that if they don't figure out how to keep this place organized and get into like a joint teaching calendar setup so that members can go out teaching with us. If the missionaries don't stick with something it's like building a 15 mile foundation and nothing's ever gets built. I really think that members need to go out to with the missionaries to go teaching and I'm not sure how it is back home because we didn't seem as missionary oriented because pretty much everyone there is a member. Later we went to the Segers for dinner and talked for awhile and then we had a lesson. We had a really good talk with them about the lesson, I showed them the video Wrong Roads and I think you guys should watch it it's pretty legit. 

So the ZL's, Elder Bono and I have been racing to see who can finish the Book of Mormon first. I'm not sure who is in first, but I think I'm in first or second. This morning I just got to Jacob. In my reading this morning I read 2 Nephi 27-30 and I thought it was super powerful and I was like glued to the words. It talks about prophecies of the latter days and there is a lot of things that just make sense to me that this is the true church and I want to encourage you guys to read it and ponder it. In 2 Nephi 27 it says:

23 For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.

God really is the same yesterday, today, and forever so why wouldn't he show himself to Joseph like he did to the prophets of old. Something that I think is awesome is that all these prophecies are coming true and all these people that are telling us that we are wrong and denying the truth are just helping our prophecies come true.  I love you guys and I am loving my mission and I'm excited for the rest of it and the many different experiences I will have.

Elder Bullock

WEEK SEVEN

Hey guys

This week was a little crazy because we had New Missionary Training and Zone Conference. Tuesday night we were in Le Sueur, which we don't get to go very often, as well as Le Center because they are so far away and we don't get a lot of work there anyway. We taught one person that was pretty interested and wanted us to come back. Elder Moore has taught her before and didn't know if she was even going to want to talk to us, but she shared some personal things with us and we even invited her to be baptized, but she didn't commit to a date. Brother Brimhall and Mitch came to Le Sueur and went out with us. We were only able to visit a couple people including a less active person, only because of school. He doesn't know when he is coming back to church though and he is way cool so I hope it is soon. After we were done talking to Brother Snow, that less active, we had a call from the Fairmont Elders asking us where we were. Apparently they were staying at our apartment that night so they could ride up with us to New Missionary Training the next day on Wednesday. So we got back late and then met Elder Miller and Edwards again.

Wednesday we got up and we had to be in Bloomington by 8:45, but we were a little late which didn't really matter. I had to drive which was kind of scary because I'm used to this little town. When we got inside I was able to see Elder Huntley again which was awesome. Elder Rossell, Sister Rosier and Sister Benson was there too and I was able to talk to them too. It gets kind of lonely out in New Prague because we never get to see any other missionaries. They call it the sticks out here, but I still think these are big cities, New Prague has around 7,000 people. New Missionary Training was really awesome and I learned a lot about the mission. We were able to have lunch there and talk to everyone for a little bit and then we all left. I actually went back to Faribault ( pronounced Fair-bo) with Elder Aroaz, who came out the same time as me and Elder Moore stayed in New Prague with Elder Bono, who is my district leader. I took the Faribault Elders car and had to drive through Bloomington and take some other Elders home then drive to Faribault. Elder Aroaz and I went to an investigator named Amber and had dinner with some members. Amber had actually had a baptismal date set, but then she started smoking again. She is trying her hardest not to smoke and is taking pills for it and we recommitted her to baptism again on the 1st of October. We shared a message with her and we decided to show her the Mormon Message "The Savior Wants to Forgive". I had wanted to show this to a Little Fawn earlier and I asked Elder Aroaz if he wanted to and he agreed. We showed her the video and she and the member there were crying and it was way cool how it had helped them. That night we tried to stop by some other people but no one was really home. We did talk to Sister Espinal, but since the Faribault Elders are Spanish speaking all she spoke was Spanish so I just stood there and nodded. It was kind of awkward, but I have been trying to learn Spanish too because there are some Spanish people in New Prague.

The next day on Thursday we had a Zone Conference, which was actually in Faribault so that was nice that I didn't have to drive for a half hour that morning. The church is right next to their apartment building so they walk like 30 seconds. The ZL's came to the apartment to grab the key to the church and then we finished getting ready and went over there. All the trainings were really good and President and Sister Forbes were there, my mission President, and they gave good trainings as well. The Conference was actually two zones because in the Lakeville stake it's so big we have to have two zones. So I was able to meet new people which I really like to do, especially new missionaries. I was able to get a few pictures with people like my awesome Zone Leaders and then we went back to the Faribault apartment and had dinner and then went out on splits and we tried to go teach more people. Zone Conference took so long that we didn't really have time to go do what we were going to that day so we stayed in Faribault that night and then came back the next morning. Elder Moore has been having a lot of trouble sleeping so he hasn't been getting up on time which has been kind of hard. So he took a nap for a little while when we got back to New Prague the we went out to proselyte.

On Saturday there was a parade in New Prague and then there was a bunch of other activities after that. It's called Donžínky days and there was a big parade that was kind of cool. We had to go to work at the food shelf though and I was pretty bummed because I kind of wanted to go. When we got to Montgomery though there was no workers at the food shelf. They were all at the parade and we actually ran into some of them at the parade. We decided to just go to the parade because everyone was going to be there and it would be hard to proselyte anyway because no one would be home. So we walked down the street until we found some members to sit by for the parade, we sat by the Segers. While we were walking I noticed that everyone would look at us and then look down at our name tags which I thought was kind of funny. During the parade there were a bunch of different churches that were in it and while the New Day church came by they gave us a card for a recipe for salsa then we looked on the back and it was talking about their church. There was three bullet points that it had. Kicked back, relaxed, casual atmosphere. A live band playing great music. And relevant and practical messages from the Bible and I thought it was kind of funny how they put God last in what they think is so special about their church. Then the baptist church came by and Elder Moore said he was kind of scared because I guess they have given missionaries trouble before. We aren't allowed to go around and proselyte in big gatherings like that so we walked around and hoped someone would ask us about us and the church but no one did. While we were talking to Sister Seger a guy came up to us and he slipped money into Elder Moore's hand while he shook it. His name is Brother Dopp and he is from the Faribault ward and he knew Sister Seger so that was really cool. On the way back to the car we walked past a softball game going on for Dožínky days and I'm pretty sure everyone there was drinking cause I could smell it everywhere. This guy came up to us with two beers and was asking us what we were selling and after we told him we weren't selling anything he didn't believe us. So Saturday was just kind of a weird day.
 

Elder Moore has had a super bad cracked iPad most of his mission because he dropped it and can't afford to fix it. Well he sat on it on accident and the lcd went out so he can't use his iPad and he doesn't know what to do because he could barely afford his mission.

On Sunday I actually gave a talk on how we could better keep the commandments. So mom you weren't alone I was speaking with you, kind of. It was really cool and I felt so much better prepared with what I know now compared with what I knew before my mission. And it was cool I actually was able to introduce myself because they never let me do it earlier and after sacrament Brother Lewis came up to me and was like I didn't know you were from McCammon then he asked if I went to Marsh Valley or Century. He told me how he is from Malad so he knows the area and said he misses it there and said he was going to have to have us over for dinner so we could talk about it. Mollie wasn't at church again today which was kind of hard since we have to push the baptism date back a week. She has to be to church 3 times before she can be baptized. She had a good reason though. The kids she babysits had head lice so she was busy with that and she said she wants to come this week and I know she does. She asked Sister Seger for a ride and Sister Seger said she is not leaving Belle Plain without Mollie. We haven't had any other investigators come to church either and it's really hard for people to commit to do anything.

Today we have only like half a p-day and we still get to do laundry and shop and stuff but we are going to go out to Le Sueur and proselyte later because we are going to go have a district p-day with the Faribault Elders and go bowling or something like that then Wednesday we are having a district meeting. Anyways time has been flying by and it seems like yesterday it was just September 1st and it's the 19th, and happy birthday future Elder McQuivey! I think once I get done with my first transfer and training it will fly by even faster. I love you guys and I hope life is good back in the best place ever, Idaho.

Elder Bullock

   Elder Edwards and I, he was in my zone in the MTC

       Elder Moore and I

My Zone Leaders, Elder Peterson  and Iand Elder Magleby,

 The parade

WEEK SIX

Mollie!!!

Hey guys

This week has been really good and I'll tell you why in a bit. First we had our Zone Leaders in Mankato come to New Prague and go on exchanges with us. So we just went around New Prague trying to contact some potentials while we waited for the ZL's to get here. They didn't get here until later in the day though so we didn't have as much time to go on exchanges. I was a little nervous for the exchange because I had only talked to them on the phone and on Skype and I didn't really know how they were. My ZL's are Elder Magleby and Elder Peterson. So when they got here we made some dinner then went out and on exchanges and I stayed in New Prague with Elder Magleby and Elder Moore went to Belle Plain with Elder Peterson.  Elder Magleby and Elder Peterson are way cool. When I was out with Elder Magleby he was asking if I had any questions and he was trying to teach me but he was still cool about it and he is way funny. When Elder Peterson and Elder Magleby are together they get even funnier. When Elder Peterson and Elder Moore came back they came back with some hot sauce that Brother Williams, a member, gave them. It has Ghost peppers, Habanero, Scorpions, Chocolate Scorpions and the hottest pepper in the world Carolina Reapers. I just have to say it felt like my mouth got stabbed multiple times and I barely had any on the fork.

Now the best part of the week. While Elder Moore and Elder Peterson were in Belle Plain on Tuesday they went and stopped by Mollie's again and she was busy with dinner and told them to come back the next day. We were thinking that she was just trying to get rid of us, but we prayed about it and decided that we should go back and have faith that she was really interested. So the next day the Zone Leaders left and we went to Belle Plain. We went to Mollies and when she opened the door she seemed happy to see us. We asked her if she had read any of the Book of Mormon yet and she said almost. We were a little confused and Elder Moore said almost started it or what. Then Mollie went and got the Book of Mormon and she showed us where she was. She was already in 3 Nephi just since the Thursday she got it, so less than a week. We started talking to her about it and she asked where it talks about the Book of Mormon in the Bible. We shared Ezekiel 37 where it talks about the sticks of Joseph and Judah. We shared John 10 where it says And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. And how it was saying the other sheep are the people in the Americas. She told us that it made sense and she was believing everything we told her. We asked her if she would try and have a kneeling prayer and she told us that she already does that every morning and night. She pretty much invited herself to church and she asked if that was okay and we said that would be awesome and told her when and where it was. Then we asked the big question.... We asked her if she would prepare herself to be baptized and she said she would and we asked her if she would prepare for the 8th of October and she said yes! One of the kids that was there that she babysits asked us when he could be baptized. But that's not even the coolest part. We sang a hymn for her and said a prayer with her. After that we left and as we were driving we were like we don't have her number. So we went back and when we got there on of the kids said that Mollie got the job. We were a little confused so we went up there and when she opened the door she was on the phone and she had watery eyes. She told us she got a job she has been trying to get since January and she told us that they called to tell her she got the job while we were praying for her. She told us that she knew it was a sign from God and I am super excited for her. Then on Friday we were going to Belle plain again and we wanted to have  a member present with Mollie. I think we called like 5 people before Sister Seger said she would come with us and she called Sister Harcourt to come as well. Sister Seger drove 20 minutes with no notice just to be there. So we got there and Mollie let us come in which was the first time was were inside and the Sisters and Mollie just started talking and when we finally got into the lesson we went into more depth of the restoration and talked about the organization of the Church and told her about General Conference and she kept telling us that she was going to Church and she was excited and she had never been this excited for Church. She is excited to bring the kids she babysits too because their Grandpa takes them to a church where they believe only 144,000 are going to heaven and they don't celebrate holidays or birthdays and Mollie doesn't want them to believe that. While we were teaching Kiara, who is seven, sits by my on the couch then scoots over by me and then lays her head on my shoulder. Then she started talking to me and told me she likes my tie and asked if I was married. Then she hugged my arm and told everyone that I was her boy. I'm not quite sure was that means, but she is the cutest. After the lesson as we were leaving all the kids were jumping on our backs and grabbing on to our legs telling us not to go and said they like the nice church people. Kiara was holding onto my leg and I told her I would see her Sunday and she made me promise that I would. Sadly though Mollie couldn't make it to church, but she said she was coming next week.

We had a church tour with Ashley on Wednesday and I think it went well. She said she felt a little uncomfortable during it and a little overwhelmed. We showed her the pictures on the walls and went aroundto all the rooms and showed her where she would go if she came to church. She was surprised we go to church for 3 hours. We had Sister Seger there and Sister Walsh and they were awesome and I think really helped. She ended up not coming to church though and we haven't been able to contact her since. She just got a new job so her schedule is a little crazy but  it is hard when you invite all these people to come to church and none of them really show up. This week we had invited 18 people to church and only 2 came, Ezra ,who is Little Fawns son, and a less active, Chuck. On Sunday though we went into the primary classroom and were part of a lesson. All we had to do was go in there and eat cookies and pretend like we wouldn't share with anyone. It wascompared to not sharing the gospel with anyone and they said that we are all missionaries and can all be an example. Then they let the kids ask us all these questions like if we had to cook and stuff like that.

On Saturdays we always go to Montgomery and help with the food shelf and this week was awesome. When we got there at 10 it was really slow and there was hardly anyone so we just kind of sat and talked with thepeople that work there and Renee, the main person that runs it, just kind of asked us how our week was and then we told her about Mollie. Elder Moore threw in some things like, " We told Mollie about the Bookof Mormon and how it is another testament of Jesus Christ and how Christ actually visited the Americas after he was resurrected." And then later after we were done she started talking to us about the Book of Mormon and she said she didn't know that we believed Christ came to the Americas. We ran and grabbed her a Book of Mormon out of our car because she asked for one and then we talked to her about how the church has blessed our lives and she told us she was going through some hard things like her husband had died a little bit ago and then we asked if we could say a prayer with her. After the prayer was over I looked up and she had tears running down her face then she told us how grateful she was of us and she gave us like 3 hugs and she asked us if she could meet with us sometime next month since she is super busy.

While we were helping with the food shelf we were helping them weigh their food then we would help them carry it out to their car and when we were helping this lady she saying how nice we looked in our clothes and then when we helped her carry her food out to her car we asked her if she has seen missionaries before and then started telling her about the church and she asked us if she could give us her number and the she gave us her address and her name, which is Cathy. We said a prayer with her as well and she was crying after and gave us hugs and was really appreciative that we wanted to help her.

After the food shelf we went and visited Dennis and I still haven't met him. When we got to the door his mom, Mary, told us he was sleeping because he works nights sometimes and has a crazy schedule so we asked her if we could sing her a hymn and then we sang I Believe In Christ. We had talked to Mary a lot before trying to meet with Dennis, but this time after we sang for her she started asking us questions and we answered her questions and she asked us to come back sometime and she said she was excited for us to come back.

So last week Branch President Hoskins, who actually lived in Soda Springs for awhile, told us about a family that moved here and he told us to go visit her because she was already asking for money and she hasn't even been to church yet. So we called her and she told us to come over then canceled and we haven't been able to meet her but she said she would see us Sunday though. She wasn't at church two Sunday's ago I guess because she was stuck in Iowa visiting a friend that was in a coma. We found that out because we were going to try and stop by and she told us about it but she said that she got a ride down with a friend and she didn't know how she was going to get back and she didn't have lds tools so we went to McDonald's to get wifi and we found a church that was nearby and call the Branch President and I guess he helped. Her husband drove down but they needed money for gas and food so I'm exactly sure what happened but they made it home,right after church this Sunday. She called us again and said she needed money for a deposit for another house or something. She just keeps asking for money but she hasn't even been to church. We tried to help her as much as we could though which I feel good about.

Today we got a ride up to Lakeville with a member and we played some basketball and I was able to meet some new Elders, which is nice. We are pretty much just by ourselves down here in New Prague. In otherareas you get to see Elders and Sisters all the time which I think would be better but at the same time those are usually in bigger cities and I don't want to go there. New Prague has like 7,000 and I think it's too big. If I ever have to go to Minneapolis or St Paul I might die, probably get mugged too. I am even scared at night here even though pretty much everyone here is religious I feel like someone is going to break in to our apartment. I could beat them up though if they tried. While we were in Lakeville Elder Moore and I had a pretty legit game of Jenga going on. We got it stacked up to like 30 high and I won of course.

We went to a members house for dinner on Saturday and she was talking to me about horses and stuff and then she went out and showed me her horses she has and I said I wished there were missions that you could ride horses and I guess there are and I am actually kind of mad that I'm not in one of those. They get to ride horses, wear jean, boots and I'm pretty jealous. I'm just hoping they turn parts of this mission into one of those. I just have to have faith.

In my studies this week I was reading in Moroni 10 and I read:4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

I was thinking about it and something I thought was if you pray with real intent and a sincere heart that means you don't just pray and then wait for an answer. You have told have the Holy Ghost to give you an answer through prayerful study and through pondering the questions you have and looking for help. When you have done as much as you can and tried your best, God will take it after that and help you with whatever it may be. I just want to ask you guys to try and really study and look for answers because that is the best way to receive an answer to your prayers.

Elder Bullock

Jenga!

Getting "swole"

Week Five

Hey guys

This week had been a lot better than last week. I know it is going to continually get better and I am starting to focus on the work. The days seem so short and it's crazy to think that I've been out for more than a month and I've been in Minnesota for almost two weeks. The hardest part about being here is probably all the rejection. There are so many Catholic and Lutheran people here and they won't even give us a chance to talk to them at all. One guy just opened the door and said he has been Catholic all his life so he knows he won't convert. Another guy just opened the door and then looked at our name tags then just said no then shut the door. I do understand kind of what they are thinking just like if someone talked to me about what they believe, but I think I would at least listen to them because I know what I believe is true, because I have asked God and prayed about it. Sometimes when we talk to people we ask them if they have prayed about it and they usually say no. I do love this place, but it is getting hard to find people that are willing to listen to us. We had a guy in our area book that we were going to visit and they never got his name so he was just in there as nice guy haha but when we went and knocked on the door this lady answered the door with her kids and when we asked if her husband was home she said no. Then her kid said that he was home so the mom said no he just left. The kid told us that he was right over there, pointing inside the house, so the mom just got mad at him and us and just closed the door. Now I wanted to say some mean things to her, but I didn't cause ya know I'm a missionary. It was hard to understand why she would lie to us right in front of her kids, setting that example for them. I would have much rather have just told us that they weren't interested. There have been a lot of people that are nicer about it and it always makes me feel better about it.

There are some people like Molly that are willing. It's was really cool how we met her. After our study we were getting ready to go to Belle Plain to go visit some potential investigators. We were all ready and we got in the car and my Tiwi wouldn't work. Tiwi is just this thing in all missionaries car that makes sure we are good drivers. They make sure we don't go to fast or turn too sharp or go over bumps to fast. It sends the information to the mission office or something and if Tiwi gets mad at us too much then we get in trouble. I have been super good at it I promise. Whenever you get in the car you have to sign in using a Tiwi card. So when I went to sign in it wouldn't say driver logged in and I had already started driving and so we pulled into the Catholic Church across the street from our apartment so Tiwi wouldn't get mad at us. This has happened once before and all we had to do is just reset the Tiwi. It's kind of hard to do because you there is a tiny hole that you have to push in to reset it and all we had was a staple. It would never work so we walked back to the apartment and got a thumbtack and it eventually worked. This took a while to fix so we got to Belle Plain a lot later. When we got to the little apartments to check out the potentials in our area book they told us to go away through the door and as we were leaving there was Molly outside the door. We just asked her if we could share a card with her and we started talking about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and she asked about heaven so we went into the Plan of Salvation and she asked for a Book of Mormon and told us to come back. I could tell how much she wanted to know and how much she liked what we were saying. Sadly though when we went back she wasn't there and a kid in the hall said she was at the state fair so it kind of scares me a little bit that she maybe lied to us. Our area is so big and we have limited miles to it is hard to be able to talk to all our investigators regularly. Every time we try to set up an actual lesson they just tell us they are so busy that they don't know. So we always just have to stop by when we are in the area. There is a guy named Dennis that I haven't met yet but he agreed to be baptized but doesn't have a date set and we can never catch him home. We tried giving our card to his mom but nobody ever seems to want to call us.

Just to let you guys know, I'm gonna be super buff when I get home. Elder Moore and I have been working out a lot and this morning I had like 50 grams of protein in my breakfast so ya know. I had like 3 eggs and some Sausage on a bagel that has 15 grams of protein with some milk (that was Elder Moore's ideas). Elder Moore is pretty strong but he said that he wasn't that strong when he left on his mission and that he was going to get me ripped haha.

So the bed bug situation is finally over. When I got here the bed bugs were all dead by some exterminator dudes. I guess they just made our whole apartment really hot or something. So when I got here we didn't have a bedroom and we just had some mattresses in our living room. Then we got some new mattresses and box springs from the mission office but we had to bring down the old ones and put them outside. So we cleaned up our room and vacuumed and all that and then brought our new stuff up. I haven't seen any bed bugs so I think we're good. We had to wait a day or so with the old mattresses and box springs outside until the Assistants to the President came and got them with their awesome truck. So now we have a nice air conditioned bedroom.
The humidity here is going to kill me, it's making me sweat when I'm not even doing anything and the mosquitoes are super bad here. I'm pretty sure the thick darkness that gathered around Joseph Smith were just mosquitoes sent from Satan because I'm pretty sure that's who created them. It makes me excited for winter even though it's gonna be super cold but I have always liked winter. It has started to cool off which is super nice.

This week we have been study the trinity and how to teach against it because a lot of the people we try to teach try to argue with us about it. Elder Moore has this paper with a bunch of scriptures in the bible saying that they are not the same person. I have a picture of it so I'll put it in my pictures if you want to study it out for yourself haha. I am feeling a lot better and not feeling quite as homesick sothis week has been so much better. I love you guys and I'll talk to you next week,
Elder Bullock

Downtime at McD's

Mom got her "tag" picture