Week of July 31, 2017

Dear friends and family,

This last week held innumerable blessings as we conducted our zone conferences throughout the mission. It was a wonderful privilege as usual to see all of the missionaries and to teach. Elder Uy and I taught again about the contact method Elder Olsen and I introduced and we also taught about something called "the Restoration Overview" in which we reviewed the principles of the Restoration in about five minutes and recited the first vision. The Spirit was with us throughout the whole week and helped us immensely in our teaching for which I am grateful.

The other day, while pondering in the shower, I had an epiphany in which I realized that we should be enlisting far more help from the members in our branch to facilitate progression in our work. We have done so the past few days, and we have seen some wonderful results because of it. However, last Saturday, while working with a member, we visited a less-active family who has been struggling a little to stay true to their covenants. After having a wonderful lesson with them, they asked me to give a blessing to their son, who was very sick. He apparently had some trouble with his kidneys, and didn't want to go to the doctor for help for whatever reason. Before giving him the blessing, I explained to him that the Lord was expecting him to help himself by enlisting the help of competent physicians. After doing so, I gave one of the most interesting blessings that I have ever given, and I learned much from it.

While pronouncing the blessing upon the brother I mentioned, rather than mentioning that he would be healed, I found myself telling him to repent and prepare himself for the next life. He was counseled in the blessing to do all he could in the short time he had left to be clean. After giving the blessing, I felt strongly that he would soon pass away. I just heard earlier this morning that he did pass away as I felt he would in the hospital.

The man I blessed was still quite young, only in his thirties. And, although he was a member of the church, he has not been true to his faith for quite some time. As I sat and counseled with him before and after the blessing, it was evident that he had some regrets for the life he has lived the last several years. And now, his life is over.

One thing that has become quite clear to me in my ministry as a missionary is how delicate life really is. Perhaps that is the reason Amulek counseled us to "not procrastinate the day of our repentance until the end" for which end we know not (Alma 34:33). It is sad indeed to see a man close to death with so many regrets due to riotous living.

To contrast the experience I just mentioned, I had the opportunity this last week to be interviewed to receive a temple recommend. It of course has been quite a while since I have had such an interview, and it was a wonderful experience. For whatever reason, I could not help but smile as I said the yes's and no's associated with it. There is no better feeling than knowing that you are worthy to enter the Lord's house here on earth, and if called to do so, His eternal home. It is true that being a disciple of Christ is difficult, but I too know that "wickedness never was happiness" (Alma 41:10). If we do all we can to be worthy now I know we will experience true joy which can be felt now and into the eternities.

Have a wonderful week! I will probably only write one more of these. The time certainly is fast.

Love,

Elder Pulley

President Hiatt and Elder Pulley

President Hiatt and Elder Pulley

Santiago Zone Conference

Zone Conference Lunch

Zone Conference Training

Cauayan Zone Conference

Week of July 24, 2017

Dear friends and family,

The last few days have once again held many blessings, miracles, and insights that I am enthused to share. Last week, I was able to work out in the field far more than normal weeks, and it was wonderful! Elder Uy and I conducted two exchanges with some zone leaders, and I was blessed to go on splits with some wonderful elders. One thing I have come to enjoy more than anything else in the mission is being able to learn from other people. I have come to find that the best resources of information and wisdom are the people around us! Everyone has different experiences and insights that can serve beneficial; it certainly has for me while on the course of my mission.

Aside from the wonderful exchanges I was able to participate in, my mind is drawn to something else I am excited to share. A few days ago, I received a call from the branch clerk asking me to speak at the funeral of a member's father. I accepted, and prepared to do so. I prepared a simple message focusing on the purpose of life and delivered it to those present at the funeral. I felt good about the message I shared, but I didn't think it was particularly extraordinary. But, considering the fact that all of the individuals present were members of the church who I know well, I didn't think too much of it.

The next day however, I got another call from the ward clerk asking me to speak at another funeral later that day. I accepted to do so as a wonderful member here requested it. When I arrived at the second funeral, there were far more people than the first, and almost everyone present were members of other faiths. In fact, there was a large congregation of members of another faith also present, with pastors and other ecclesiastical leaders. To make matters more interesting, I was losing my voice due to a cold and there was no microphone present for me to use.

As the meeting started, the member who requested that I speak mentioned to me that all of his family (who are members of other faiths) were present and that he wanted me to inspire them to being more interested into the gospel. At that moment, I felt quite a bit of pressure in which a bowed my head down and offered a silent prayer. I prayed that I would know what to say, what scriptures to share, for the gift of tongues to deliver my message in a way all could understand, and I also prayed for power. When I got up to speak, there was still quite a bit of noise (it was held outside) due to gambling and games going on. But, as I spoke in the loudest voice I could under a cold, all faces turned towards me and the crowd went silent. I don't remember entirely what I said, but I felt good when I sat down. On the car ride home, my companion told me that he wished I could have seen myself, he knew I wasn't the one talking.

As I pondered over the two nights I spoke at funerals and the difference in performance I had between the two, a realization came to my mind that brought me great gratitude to our Heavenly Father. Although nothing about me had changed from one day to the next, the responsibility I bore at the second funeral was far more, and the Lord thus blessed me with far more abilities at that time to fulfill my task.

Although I have now been a missionary for almost two years, I still completely rely on divine help. I have come to know through many experiences such as the one I have described that the Lord indeed does prepare a way that we might accomplish the task that is before us (1 Nephi 3:7). As I have said many times, there really is nothing better than knowing that He has used you as a tool to bless the lives of others. Perhaps the only thing that brings me peace concerning my approaching departure date is knowing that all of us, whether we wear a name-tag or not, can qualify ourselves to be a tool in His hands if we so desire. I am so grateful for all of the heavenly help that I receive every day and am determined to stay worthy of such help. I hope all else reading this letter would do the same.

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Pulley

Week of July 17, 2017

Dear friends and family,

These last couple of weeks have held many blessings for which I am thrilled to share you. It seems that as my mission comes to a close that I am continuing to learn more and more, for which I am very grateful.

This last week, we had two meetings, one being a meeting for all of the new leaders in the mission, and the next being "Career Workshop", in which all of the departing missionaries met in Cauayan and were instructed about how to interview, find jobs compatible with our interests, etc. Considering that I am close to departing myself, I was privileged to attend that meeting. The Career Workshop was wonderful, and was the first time in many months that I was able to sit down in a meeting, relax, and just enjoy the Spirit. At the beginning of the meeting, before anybody had even spoken, I was listening to the prelude music and made a wonderful realization that feel appropriate to share. The hymn being played when I made this realization is Hymn #26 "Joseph Smith's First Prayer". For whatever reason, as I listened to the tune of that familiar hymn,  the Spirit bore witness to  me once again of truthfulness of Joseph's experience in the grove of trees he mentioned nearly 200 years ago. As I simultaneously thought about who I was before my mission, and how I have changed along the way, I came to recognize a blessing that I will forever be grateful for. Before I served my mission, I had strong faith that Joseph Smith indeed did become a prophet, but as I have continually taught about it, testified about it, studied about it, etc. I came to realize sitting down prior to the meeting I mentioned that my faith has become a knowledge.

Now I don't mean to say that I have obtained knowledge in the sense that I saw Joseph's experience, rather I have come to obtain the type of knowledge Alma mentions in the Book of Mormon wherein he compares the word of God to a seed: "Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves--It must needs be that this is a good seed, or the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me. Now behold, would not this increase your faith? I say unto you, Yea; nevertheless it hath not grown up to a perfect knowledge. But behold, as the seed swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, then you must needs say that the seed is good...And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good. And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand" (Alma 32: 28-34) I am happy to say that through the "experiment" that Alma mentioned, and the many manifestations of the hand of God in result of the Restoration of the gospel, my knowledge has become perfect in that thing. Perhaps that will be the best souvenir I will take home with me next month. 

I don't have enough time to write the other experience I had in mind, but I just want to relay again how grateful I am that I decided to serve a mission. Although I still have a little less than a month left I am a little heartbroken that I only have that much time remaining. Although my mission has indeed been the hardest thing I have ever done, I know it is the most worth-while thing I have ever done. Truly it seems, the more you sacrifice to the Lord in any manner, the more you will receive in return. 

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Pulley

Week of July 3, 2017

Dear friends and family,

The last few weeks have held numerous blessings, testimony strengthening experiences, and now some hard goodbyes that I am enthused to share with you.

To start out, I would like to talk a little bit about our zone conferences last week and a chance I had to receive some much needed revelation. A couple of Saturdays ago, President Hiatt, Sister Hiatt, Elder Olsen and I met together to discuss the needs of the mission and thus what we should teach at the then upcoming zone conferences. After much conversing, President Hiatt expressed his strong desire that missionaries within the mission adopt a different method of contacting, which includes quickly referring to the message of the Restoration (Joseph Smith's first vision). And, by quickly President said he wanted our contacts to be about a minute long

To be honest, I had never tried contacting in such a short amount of time, as I had come accustomed to asking inspired questions (such as, "Have you ever wondered why...?) and felt conflicted knowing that I could not introduce myself, ask an inspired question, and connect to the Restoration in one minute. After the meeting, Elder Olsen and I began practicing and timing ourselves, and I could just not make out what I wanted to say in just a minute! Feeling a bit frustrated, the only thing I could think to do was to kneel down in prayer and ask for help.

In the prayer I offered, I first asked for help in seeing President Hiatt's vision for the mission and then told Him my dilemma. It was right after I sat down following that prayer that an idea came to my mind, which was to not to take the time to introduce myself until after the initial contact. Rather, I was instructed to just walk up to people, ask an inspired question and offer to answer it through a message (knowing the answer because of the Restoration).

I tried it with Elder Olsen, and then the Spirit prompted me to go practice the new method at the bus terminal adjacent to the mission office. Elder Olsen and I talked to people hurriedly walking from place to place and to be honest felt some apprehension in doing so. However, the results though were superb. In total, we talked to ten people within ten minutes and received 8 referrals that we were able to send to missionaries in other areas! It was the most successful contacting method I had ever tried in my mission, and I knew it wasn't from me.

To say it short, we took the revelation we received and went about teaching it the next week to all of the missionaries in our zone conferences. And, due to the help we received we feel it was very successful. As I recount what happened, I cannot help but feel immense gratitude in my heart for how immediately the Lord answered my prayer both helping Elder Olsen and I and the mission. At this point, the Lord has made it very apparent to me that He indeed "will show unto [us] all the things [we] should do" if we are just humble enough to ask Him (2 Nephi 32:5). I know now more than ever that His infinite wisdom can be our blessing if we but ask and live worthy of it.

I also have some news. As many of you may know, transfer day is this upcoming week and my companion of over six months is going home. In preparation for his departure, President Hiatt called a new assistant named Elder Uy. I already know him pretty well as he has lived with me the past month (he was assigned in my previous branch here in Cauayan) and things are going pretty well thus far. Elder Uy is a wonderful teacher with a humble spirit that I feel will bless the mission much. I must admit though that I feel a little torn knowing that Elder Olsen is going home. Honestly, the hardest thing I have found about serving a mission is saying goodbye to so many people. I have come to love Elder Olsen as my companion and will miss him in his absence. It makes me a little uncomfortable to be honest that I am the next to go next month. I'm not quite sure how the time has gone by so fast.

Have a wonderful Independence Day!

Love,

Elder Pulley

Zone Conference - Ilagan

Zone Conference - New Contact Training

Missionary Leadership Training

Missionary Leadership Training

Elder Olsen, President Hiatt, Elder Pulley

Elder Uy, Elder Olsen, Sister Hiatt, President Hiatt and
Elder Pulley