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!