Zone Conference

RACHEL - Mom and Dad and family!

I am so glad you got the tape! Wow mom!! I am sooo happy that you gave her a Book of Mormon!!! I wish you could see the smile on my face right now! Yes, I got the package and I really love them! Thank you so much! I am excited for the 4th of July Package as well! That reminds me, in our ward coordination meeting, we were trying to find ideas/ways to better unify the ward here in Swinton (they are already pretty unified but it definitely doesn't hurt to be completely as one!). And of course I came up with the idea of having on the 4th of July a Family Home Evening BBQ... and they are actually doing it! Ha I was actually quite surprised that they went for it! But they are not so much promoting the 4th of July part though, but that's OK with me :)

This past week has been a lot of different kinds of emotions and changes. On the Tuesday we were able to teach a young man, J. R. on the bus an entire first lesson and to invite him to be baptised! He said he would when he knew it was true! However we were right on the boundary line of our area so he didn't live within our bounds so we passed him over to the Sisters in Wigan. I was a little worried as the bus kept on going further and further and wasn't quite sure if we had left our area or not by accident so we quickly got his information and hopped off the bus. But another beautiful miracle came from this. If we had not gotten off when we did in the Tyldsley area then we would have never ran into J. J. She is a mother of a 21-year-old son. At first she wasn't interested but as we walked with her we spoke to her about the gospel. As we arrived to her house we stood there with her as she told us of her struggles in life. Tears were in her eyes as we bore testimony to her worth and her purpose in life then we decided (because of the promptings of the Spirit) for the 4th time to invite her to learn more. We are going over to Tyldsley this evening and teaching her the Restoration. If we had not met J. R. we would have never met J.J. We were able to make 5 more appointments that day!

On the Wednesday, the Assistants to the President and two other Elders came in a mini van to pick us up for Zone Conference. This has never happened before but they called the night before because they had some extra room, we were grateful for the lift! This Zone Conference was the final one with President and Sister Bullock. It was a wonderful day where we heard Sister Bullock give a training on holding on the Iron rod by following the first principles of the Gospel. It was wonderful. Then President Bullock gave a training on the Atonement. It was miraculous; the Spirit bore truth to me of the reality of the depth that my Savior Jesus Christ suffered for me. I love Jesus Christ and I am striving so hard to become like Him and for Him to be my best friend. We then had lunch and we able to take pictures together. After we played the Bullock's "How many game" where we were to be in Districts and to guess how many Cookies Sister Bullock has made during her Mission or how many times President Bullock forgot his missionary badge. It was hilarious and we all had a great time. I have come to realize that my District is amazing! They then put on a slide show of the past three years and that was really great to see. Then we sang a special musical number for President and Sister Bullock of "Each Life that Touches Ours For Good" to the "Come Follow Me" melody. Sister Davis played her violin, which sounded beautiful. President Bullock then asked a few missionaries to bear their testimony on what the Mission culture has meant to them. And I was one that was chosen! I said how grateful I am for it that it has literally changed my life. That my idea of my potential before has changed to something greater. My limits have vanished and that now I don't just want to be good, I want to be good for something. I have come to understand my true worth as it should be, a daughter of a Heavenly King and how there is nothing more important to me than becoming like my Savior.

I heard My Mission President and his wife give their Farewell testimonies, which really touched my heart. At the very end we sang the hymn, "God Be With You till We Meet Again" and when I first saw that I chuckled to myself at how awful that was because by the second verse all us missionaries stood and sang and were in tears. There is only one time our Mission President can give us a hug throughout his whole mission and that is if either we are leaving or they are. And so all us missionaries gave President and Sister Bullock a hug goodbye. It was a very sad feeling to see them go but I do know that President and Sister Preston will be amazing.

We had Sister H.C.P.'s Baptism on Thursday and that was great! She asked if I could give a talk on Baptism

On Saturday we had the Stake helping hands day and there were hundreds of members helping improve this park/lake. It was a really good time! Sister Bibb and I painted the Women's bathroom the entire time! They gave us these great suites to wear as we painted! We looked like Tellitubies, it was hilarious :)

H.C.P was confirmed on the Sunday and 6 missionaries (that's including me and Sister Bibb) sang the Primary song "When I Am Baptised". This past week we were able to have 3 New Investigators and it has been full of different kinds of emotions but I have learned so much from it!

I love you all and hope everything is great for everyone! Thank you for the prayers for Teresa and I!

Love always, Sister Rachel Kullick