She's Safe!!! :)

We got an email from President Matsumori earlier today:

Dear Families,

There is good news from the Washington DC North Mission.  All missionaries have reported in.  They are safe, warm and accounted for.  None lost electrical power or experienced difficulties of any kind.   No mission cars were damaged, no missionary was in harm’s way, nor have there been problems of any kind reported.  We are happy to say that the mission will continue onwards, “with business back to normal”.   Your prayers and ours have been answered. We thank you for those in our behalf. 

Some libraries and facilities that missionaries use for their Wednesday computer time may have closures.  Just know that if you fail to receive an email this week it is most likely due to other factors and not the missionaries well being.  Again we assure you they are all save and taken care of. 

Warmest regards,

James R. Matsumori

President

Hurricane Sandy....

Hurricane Sandy's predicted path

We got an email from President Matsumori on Friday letting us know that he is having all of the missionaries prepare for the impact of Hurricane Sandy by having non perishable food and batteries for their flashlights on hand.  He told them to fill their cars with gas and to make sure their cars were not parked under trees.  He will let us know how she is doing as soon as he can after the storm passes.  I think Sister Bullock will have many opportunities to serve the people of the DC area in the aftermath of this storm.  We will let you know how she is doing as soon as we hear from President Matsumori.  The local media is calling this storm "Frankenstorm" because Sandy may combine with a cold front to make a monster storm.  Some say it could be the storm of the century....Stay safe Sister Bullock!!

Sister Bullock's letter from Oct 24, 2012

So this week has been a crazy one! Lots of hard times this week thanks to one of our recent converts, Rafi. He's really struggling right now and it just breaks my heart. But Marc is still doing great! He was confirmed back on Sunday!! Sister Wong was awesome and wrote down his blessing. Marc was so excited to have it :) He's such an awesome kid! The rest of the investigators are doing well :) We got Lucy a French Book of Mormon which is a lot easier for her to read, but she still wants to meet with us instead of the French Elders (haha). That way, we can continue teaching her son, Ismael. Ismael is probably the most adorable 10 year old ever! He loves the gospel and cannot wait to be baptized. We're still trying to figure out if he'll have to wait for his mother or not. Michael is another awesome investigator! He's 40 something, shy and super sweet! He has a hard time understanding things, but Sister Wong is so good at breaking things down and helping him out! His baptism date is November 25th! Then there is Little John! He's from Zambia and just so adorable! He's also quiet and shy, and not very confident with his English, but he's amazing! His baptism date is November 18th! I'm so excited for him! You can tell he really wants to get baptized, especially when we talk about the priesthood authority :) Then we are also teaching Nabil, who is John's uncle! We're not sure if Nabil is as committed to the gospel as John is, but he has so much faith! Hopefully he continues to progress. He has a baptism date of November 11th. Then we have a ton of other investigators that are super wishy-washy and we're not really sure about them. But! All is well! I seriously love the work out here! And I have the best companion ever!

Sister Wong

Bubble tea

Sister Wong is so patient with me :) I'm learning (not as fast as I had hoped I would), but I am learning. Sister Wong introduced me to a Vietnamese drink called bubble tea! It's not tea at all, haha. It's like a smoothie with gel pearls at the bottom. So when to sip from the giant straw, you get delicious beverage and fun little gel pearls. It's hard to describe, but we love it! Sister Wong is probably the most adorable person I have ever met! She silly and sweet and super humble! I have a lot to learn from her! Goodness I love my mission so far! I can't believe I've already been out for a month! At the same time, it feels like it's been a year already! Haha, I've never wanted time to fly and stand still at the same time! It's so weird! I miss you all! I hope things are well with you where ever you are! Write me if you'd like :) I'd love to hear from you!
Stay strong, happy, and healthy!
Love, Sister Bullock

Sister Bullock's letter Oct 17, 2012

Sister Bullock with Pres and Sister Matsumori her first day in the mission field, Oct 8, 2012

President Matsumori sent us a letter and included this photo from Sister Bullock's first day in DC.  She looks pretty good for being awake for over 24 hours!

Sister Bullock's letter....

Oct 17,2012

HI!!!!
What a week it has been! This will probably be pretty short since I have other things I need to do before my time is up! BUT! It's been an awesome week! Sister Wong is completely AMAZING! I love her! The rest of the sisters are awesome also :) My area is awesome and the ward is seriously the best! There are so many people here that are friendly and willing to talk to us! I love finding here! It's scary, but fun! We had a baptism back on Sunday! His name is Marc, he's 18, and he's seriously so committed to the gospel! He's so sweet and excited to receive the priesthood! I'm excited to see what blessings this brings to him and his family! 

Sister Wong and I have 4 baptism dates, 3 progressing investigators, and tons of new investigators. White Oak is a pretty large area, so we have lots of people! I love it! Sister Wong is working me hard :) I'm learning that I need to be more bold, haha. I need to step out of my comfort zone and just open my mouth. I need to trust that Heavenly Father will provide me with words to say :) But yeah! I love all of my mission and all of the adventures I'm having! 

I miss you all so much! Thank you for your letters :) They are so amazing! Just a friendly reminder, please send letters instead of email if you can! I don't have a lot of time to read and write emails! Also, I'm sorry about being slow to write you back! It's crazy out here! Also! I'm trying to send you pictures, and apparently it's not working... Maybe I'll just send my SD card home... OH! And thank you for the sweet pictures of Beckham!! He is so adorable!! I want to hoooooold him :( Give him lots of hugs and kisses for me!!

But anyway! I LOVE YOU! I'll hopefully have more time to write next week! I'm so sorry for all of this!
Love, Sister Bullock

Mom again...

We have been blessed again!  Sister Bullock's brother, Logan, got engaged to Amanda Nelson yesterday!  We are so excited to welcome Amanda into our family!!!  :)

Link to DC North Mission Blog

Here is the address of the Washington DC-North Mission Blog.   Check it out!  I love seeing her so happy.

http://www.teachallnations5014.blogspot.com/

Sister Bullock and other new missionaries about to meet their trainers Oct 9, 2012

 Here is Sister Bullock's Mission address:

Sister Kelsey Bullock
Washington DC-North Mission
11700 Falls Rd
Potomac, MD  20854-2823

Sister Bullock arrives in the mission field

Sister Bullock's letter Oct 9, 2012

Hello everyone!

What a past couples of days it's been! I've loved every second of it! So Sunday, we (Elders Loveless and Hart, called English speaking, and Elder Squires, called ASL, and Sister Nakatsuka, also called English) flew from SLC to New York on the red eye flight! Elder Squires and I swapped notes about conference on the flight while the others slept. It was wonderful! Elder Squires is a convert and it was really interesting to hear what he took away from conference and gain insights from him!

 After a 3 hour layover in NY, we flew to DC! Well, kind of. We flew into the Washington Dulles airport which is actually in Virginia. There, we met President and Sister Matsumori, and the AP's. I instantly loved them! Sister Matsumori is so sweet and President is hilarious! And both of them are so inspired and truly perfect for this mission! President and Sister took us to the VC (visitors center) then, and on the way we went on the part of the beltway where you come around the corner and the temple just appears! As soon as I saw the temple, the spirit whispered "You are where you need to be". It was wonderful!

DC Temple from the Beltway

DC Temple Visitors Center

DC Temple Grounds from the air

 When we got to the temple grounds (Which is almost completely wooded) President let us out and we all went into the woods to pray and make a commitment to our Father in Heaven. So there I was, kneeling on the damp floor of the woods, praying aloud to my Heavenly Father. It was a completely different experience! The spirit was so strong and I had this overwhelming feeling of joy and love! I know my Heavenly Father loves me! After that, we went to IHOP, then to the mission home for showers and naps! This was most welcome since I had been up for well over 24 hours! Then came our orientation meeting, dinner (Sister Matsumori is a wonderful cook!), and some ping-pong! Haha it was super fun to just relax and have fun! Then I had my interview with President. He is a truly inspired man. Truly. Our testimony meeting that night was completely wonderful! The missionaries I'm serving with are very powerful and strong! They will all do so well!

So that was Monday! Today, I met my trainer!! Her name is Sister Wong and she is from Hong Kong! She is completely wonderful, and so adorable! Everyone I've met has had only the nicest things to say about her! I love her already and I'm looking forward to learning everything I can from her! We were able to do a session in the temple today! The DC temple is just wonderful! So beautiful! The spirit is everywhere here!! I love it! I haven't been to our apartments yet, but I know there are 4 sisters there (including Sister Wong and I). We are serving in the White Oak area, in a family ward. We also have a baptism this Sunday! That will be so fun to be here for!

My time is almost up (I still only have 30 minutes) but I just want to say a few quick things!

1. If you want to write me, use the mission office address! It's the best way to get mail to me!

2. I love you all! Thank you all for being such wonderful examples and great influences in my life! I wouldn't be here without all of you!

I know the Lord loves His children, and we are all His children! Read your scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. He will bless you with knowledge and diligence as you do! Pray to your Father. Every morning and every night. He loves you and wants to hear from you. He wants to bless you, all you have to do is ask! Live your life in a way that you will be worthy to have His spirit with you always!

Love you!

-Sister Bullock

Family!

I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW!!!!

Ally, Maddux, and Baby Beckham

Christmas in October...Sister Bullock's phone call

Oct 8, 2012

Sister Bullock left the MTC on Sunday, Oct 7th.  She was able to call home while she waited for her 11:25 PM flight to depart.  This made it feel like Christmas in October at the Bullock house!  Oh my, it was so wonderful to hear her voice!  She sounded so good.  We just chatted about her experiences in the MTC and about her excitement to get out into the "field" and get to work.  I asked her what her favorite thing was in the MTC.  She replied that it was singing "Called to Serve" with all 2500 missionaries watching General Conference together in the MTC.  I asked what the reaction was to the age of missionaries being lowered, she said there was an audible gasp and shout for joy at that news!

She loved all of her classes her first 3 weeks in the MTC, but said that she did not like the classes on how to give tours! (That kind of surprised me.)  She felt like you just really can't "teach" that, you just need to learn by doing it.  She did enjoy her time spent on Temple Square though.  I asked her about the "Chat" experience she had and if Temple Square Missionaries are the only ones who man the chat lines, she said no.  She told us that all visitor centers throughout the world man the chat lines.  That is why she will be able to keep up with the investigator "Jana" from Slovenia that she chatted with last week.  She is so excited to have a REAL investigator to work with. (I guess Rick, Kelsey's dad, was right; she did serve part of her mission on Temple Square! haha!)

She is glad to get away from the "heavy" food in the MTC cafeteria.  She said it was good, but she is ready to be rid of it!  She told us she will really miss all of the elders and sisters in her MTC district, but is looking forward to getting to know the elders and sisters in the DC-North mission.

She traveled with 4 other DC North missionaries.  One of the Elders is serving an ASL (American Sign Language) mission, 2 Elders are English speaking, and the other Sister is from Japan and is English speaking too!  So interesting!  They arrived in DC this morning around 9:50 AM  - What a LONG night!  I told her this would be the one time she would be allowed to stay up past 10:30 on her mission!

President and Sister Matsumori Washington DC-North Mission

I was very pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call from her mission president, President Matsumori this afternoon!  I wasn't able to answer my phone at work, but he left a wonderful message for me.  He said that Sister Bullock arrived safely and is doing well.  He told me that they all went to the Temple grounds and spent some individual time there committing themselves to missionary service.  (I can hardly wait to hear her version of this experience!)  They ate at IHOP and came to the mission home for a well deserved nap!  I thought that was so sweet of him to call!

My phone rang again just a little bit ago!  It was President Matsumori again!!  He wanted to talk to me personally, not just leave a message.  How sweet is that!  He has a sense of humor as he joked with me that he wanted to know where Sister Bullock was.  He again told me about her first day and again thanked me for sending her prepared to serve.  He spoke of the exciting and special time and mission this is for her.  I had to agree.  I told him that I hadn't even considered the Washington DC area for her mission call, but that as soon as she opened her call, I knew this was the perfect place for her to serve.  He agreed with me.  He told me that she had a sound asleep nap, had studied a bit and had dinner.  She was playing ping-pong with the other missionaries as he called me.  He said they would have a testimony meeting tonight before heading to bed.  Tomorrow morning, they will do a session at the DC Temple in the morning before meeting her trainer and going to their apartment.  Tomorrow is her P-day so we should receive an email from her then!

Wow, I can't believe she is really on a mission!!  I feel so blessed!

Sister Bullock's Temple Square Experience Oct 5, 2012

Here is the latest from Sister Bullock!

HI EVERYBODY!!!

So many things to write to you about!! So little time!

First of all, last Friday, we had In-field orientation! It was so much fun and so great! It really got me excited and super nervous about actually going out into the field! That same day, I received my travel plans! I leave the MTC this Sunday night! I get to watch all of conference and then fly out to DC!! I'm so super excited! I've also been assigned as Travel Leader which means I'm responsible for everyone in my group! There are 5 of us flying to DC at the same time!! (So happy I'm not alone!) There is another Sister who will be in the VC with me, and then 3 Elders!

Speaking of Elders, mine left me back on Tuesday :( It was so sad and a lot harder to say good bye than any of us had imagined. But we Sisters were comforted by that fact that Michigan is where they are supposed to be right now. They need to be out, teaching Gods children and bringing them closer to their Savior. Not here at the MTC having fun with us haha. I'm so proud of all of them! The Sunday before they left, we all (all the sisters and a few of the Elders) received priesthood blessings. Can I please just tell you how much I truly love and appreciate the priesthood and worthy priesthood holders. The power is great and I know that the words that are spoken during a priesthood blessing truly are the words of God. The things that He would be saying if He were there. So amazing! So yeah! I love my Elders and I miss them, but I'm so happy and excited for them!

Also, I just want to say really fast that I know Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. He wants to bless us- in fact, He is anxiously waiting to bless us. All we have to do is pray to Him and make the desires of our hearts known. We have to take that step of faith and pray to Him and ask Him to help us. It is truly amazing.

Temple Square Salt Lake City UT

So Wednesday, we went up to Temple Square and took a tour and saw how the Sisters there worked. Then we came back and had our first class. Then TRC (it's weird for VC training), then we learned how to teach through the chat feature. If you go to Mormon.org, there is a pink button that says "talk to us". If you press it, missionaries or RM's will chat with you about the gospel!! Coolest thing ever! Also cool about chat? It's the highest baptizing mission. It just passed up Salt Lake last month! Other cool thing about chat? You know how one of the signs of the Second Coming is that the gospel will be in every country? Well, because of chat, the gospel IS in every country! SO AWESOME! So Thursday morning, we were able to actually go online and chat with people! Coolest thing ever! Yesterday was also my last class in the MTC. Ever. It's kind of weird. But I kinda like it :)

Okay, now on to today!! The best part!! We took another field trip to Temple Square today. This time, we were paired up with a Sister that was serving there and we got to go teach with them for a few hours! It was so fun! My companion was Sister Gulevoa (pronounced Nul-a-va) from California. (Fun fact: her brother is serving in my mission!) She was so awesome! We planned, ate, and then got straight to work. We talked to the first people we saw as we came out of the South Center. she was amazing and made it so easy and comfortable, and I felt okay about jumping into the conversation and adding my testimony to hers! Then we went and talked to some other people on the Square. Then we went to the Teaching Center, were they chat and teach over the phone and such. While we were there, Sister Gulevoa and I got a chat. It was a woman named Jana from Slovenia. She was amazing! She's been meeting with missionaries there and had some questions. As we were answering some of her questions, we found out that she didn't know how to pray! So we taught her how to pray and the importance of prayer, right then. On chat! Jana loved it! She was amazed that her Heavenly Father loved her enough to listen to her prayers and answer them! We got her email address so we could keep talking to her. I seriously loved talking to Jana today! It was a great learning experience. Best part: I get to keep her!! Sister Gulevoa wanted to keep her as an investigator. so, I HAVE A REAL INVESTIGATOR!!!! AH! I'm seriously  so excited about it! I can't even begin to describe how I feel right now! I love this! Today was the best day so far!

BUT! I'm out of here soon :) Next time you hear from me, I'll be in DC!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

-Sister Bullock