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Sister B today at the Memorial Day Parade in Bloomfield
Michael on the day of his baptism
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Elder Bulkley and Michael and Lisa (some of our Young Single Adults) on the Cliff Walk in Newport RI
Hi Family and Friends,
I wanted to take a minute to drop you all a note to let you know we are
doing well and having a great experience here in Connecticut. The
spring is almost as beautiful as the fall with all of the bright
colored blossoms. We have been doing a lot of driving, as usual and
have really enjoyed the leaves being back on the trees and the
wonderful weather. It does still rain a lot and in fact nobody waters
their lawns officially. It just gets watered by the rain. We have
been driving to Massachusetts to teach institute at both Amherst and
Ludlow. (We also still teach in Hartford) We only did both for a few
weeks, but it gave us a chance to see the beautiful county side and to
get acquainted with more young adults. Massachusetts is beautiful and
a lot like Connecticut, but was maybe a week or so behind in the coming
of spring. We have also traveled to Boston to the temple to take young
single adults on a temple trip. We actually do this about once a
month. It is very enjoyable. We also had the opportunity to go with
some of the young single adults to Newport, Rhode Island. That was
really fun to walk along the cliff walk and see the mansion homes that
were built in the 1800s there along the coast. I will attach a few
pictures of that.
We have been given some new assignments to help with the Hartford
Ward, a mostly inner city ward. We are delivering all of the media
referrals that come in such as DVDs, Bibles, and Book of Mormons. It
gives us a chance to meet people of all kinds. We have thoroughly
enjoyed this opportunity and have been able to give missionary lessons
and talk to people about the church. We love this part of our new
assignment. We love meeting and talking to people. We meet so many
people from the West Indies, especially Jamaicians and Puerto Ricans.
We also taught a lady from Haiti. Hartford has a huge concentration of
Jamaicans and people from the West Indies. We also work with the young
Elders and Sisters here and we often go on visits with them or have
them and their investigators over to dinner. (Thats the only way that
the young missionaries can go to dinner at someone's home...if they
have an investigator with them) The Sisters here often call me to go
with them tracting and contacting, which is something, I really enjoy
doing. These young missionaries are so amazing. We are learning so
much from them and love their dedication and love for the work of the
Lord.
We are working with several investigators. One is a lady we bring to
church each week from downtown Hartford. She loves the gospel and is
working hard to be able to be baptized soon. We are also working with
several young single adults. Two just recently got baptized. Michael,
who is of Cuban/Pureto Rican anncestry was baptized the end of April
and is doing so well. He has to work on Sundays sometimes, but we are
hoping that he will be able to get it off more often. He is so happy
and says the gospel has really made him feel that way. Another YSA,
Jon was just baptized a week and a half ago. He is amazing. He had
read the Book of Mormon, D&C etc. and was already a scholar of the
Bible. He commented that since being baptized and confirmed,
everything seemed so much brighter and that the world just seemed
better. We are still working with Lisa (Michael's girlfriend) and
Jessica, from Jamaica and others and hoping that they will be baptized
soon. We also have several young single adults that we regularly take
to the doctor or help with problems they have. Its very rewarding and
we love this opportunity
We are both doing well and keeping very very busy. I have not been the
best at answering letters or E-mails, but I hope to be better. We
still go to the gym every week day and try to keep in shape. The price
of gas out here in CT is one of the hightest in the nation at up to
$4.35/gal in some places. We can go to MA though and get it for
$3.70/gal (at least that was what it was last Tuesday when we went, but
I am sure it is up since then) That is one of the advantages of being
able to travel to MA. Our mission got the chance to hear from Elder M
Russel Ballard and from Elder Snow of the Seventy on Saturday. It was
truly a wonderful opportunity to learn from these men. They are truly
inspired and got us all excited about missionary work. The wards here
are really involved in missionary work and are trying to be even more
helpful, which is nice. The members are great to fellowship and to go
on visits with the missionaries. The work is going forth and according
to Elder Ballard, we need it to go even faster than it is going. We
all need to do our part. Elder B and I have loved being missionaries.
If any of you are close to the time when you could go, we want to
encourage you to take that leap of faith and go. It is such a
wonderful experience and the Lord is there to help you with anything
you might have to deal with. It is a lot of work and I can't say it
is easy, but it is so wonderful and the pay off is worth it. We have
been greatly blessed, as have our family. We want to testify to you
that this is the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May God be
with all of you. We love you and appreciate your love and support.
Love, Elder and Sister Bulkley (AKA Van and Judi)
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