Pres. Bulloch's message

March 1, 2010
Dear Elders and Sisters,
Wow! It's March! They tell me winters can be long in New York, but March sounds to me like spring is near. Perhaps it is the possibility of winter lingering that has led me to my message today. Among the virtues that have been referred to as the "qualifications for missionary service" in DC 4 is patience (DC 4:6). It doesn't take long as a missionary to realize why it is listed. Preach My Gospel says "Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. It is the ability to do God's will and accept His timing" (p. 120). We live in a world that is out of patience. We want things to happen now, to be fixed now, to end now, to be ready now, etc. I was reminded of something I heard once-"Patience is a virtue, catch it if you can; it is seldom found in women, and never found in man." Patience is a rare virtue indeed. Yet as we think about it, aren't we glad that our Father in Heaven is so patient with us? I have often prayed that God would grant me the ability to be as patient with others as He has been with me. I am so glad He is patient!
Patience is required in many areas. We must learn to be patient with people, with circumstances, with difficulties and challenges, and even with the Lord's timing. The Lord has repeatedly counseled us to "bear with patience thine afflictions" (2 Corinthians 6:4; Alma 17:10; 20:29; 26:27; 34:41-41). In doing so we will find ourselves "waiting" until the Lord in His wisdom decides to comes to our aid (Psalms 37:9; Isaiah 40:31; Mosiah 21:34). President Monson said, "Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required" (PMG, p. 120). I noticed that the March Ensign has several articles on dealing with adversity. It is something we all face. Paul taught we should "glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope" (Romans 5:3-4; see also James 1:3-4). Patience is a virtue that is necessary in overcoming the "natural man" (see Mosiah 3:19). The Lord commanded us to "Continue in patience until ye are perfected" (DC 67:13). Missionary work gives us plenty of opportunity to develop our patience. As you do so, you will find it is easier to be happy.

We congratulate Warner and Maria Rodriguez in Greene for their baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were taught by Elders Williams, Daniels-Brown, and Nielson.

We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming Zone Conferences. Please keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

President Bulloch

1st Baptism

Yeah everything is going great we had a baptism this last saturday!!! Laurie Pace she is an awsome lady she's really changing her life around I love change its the best thing we can do for our selves and others!

Blessings, Blizzards and Baptism

Hey everyone!

I can't believe that it's already time to write again! Well I've FINALLY got my new email account all figured out so I decided to do the mass letter again! This week was AWESOME! As you might already know NY was just SLAMMED with a blizzard. Let me tell you it was waaay fun! We got 12-14 inches in the matter of 24 hours! Why is that awesome? Well it gave Elder West and I the opportunity to do tons of service shoveling snow for everyone. By doing so it helped us find a TON of new people to teach! I couldn't help thinking about Ammon and how he was serving King Lamoni and how he really didn't need to go the extra mile... but he did. And so did we and because we followed Ammons example we were able to find people who where or are now being prepared by our Heavenly Father. And I hope I can carry that mentality through out the rest of my life, because I love the feelings that that Christlike love or charity gives me and also the blessings it brings. So I guess that brings me to my challenge to you is find someone that is in need of help, and show them your love for them and I promise by doing so you will come to understand this gospel more fully and also come to the knowledge or deeper knowledge that Christ is our Savior and it was through his Love and Charity that we can one day live with our Father in Heaven. I say this because I know this, that charity brings us closer to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Much Love-Elder Ray Dandridge

Binghamton

Family!
Hey I thought I'd tell you about my ADVENTURE down to Binghamton, because it was Quite Exciting, SO!
I went up to Utica and got there at about 10:30 and didn't get out of there until 3:00pm! So, we had to take Ithica's luggage with us because they didn't have enough room! So Elder Lyman and I were Crammed full of missionary STUFF in a Toyota Corolla! as we passed through Cortland almost to Ithica we hit a really BAD SNOW Storm and someone in front of us tapped their brakes and so did Lyman, and HE started to swerve and then our car went into a BIG DITCH!! We had to call a Tow truck to pull us out and that was $60 Thankful for reimbursements! so we had Cortland Elders come pick us up and we stayed the night there and then we were picked up by Elder Hilton (AP) and Elder Ware(ZL)and they helped us get the car running again it had a bent rim, So we drove from Cortland to Binghamton on a DOUGHNUT! but I got there all safe and sound and I am LOVING it!
Thank you everyone for everything you do for me I'm so blessed to come from such a good family with loving parents and siblings and sibling in laws and nieces...and NATHAN... (Ya dude Love YA) (I still gotta pick on ya BRO) Buy the way who was the 1st one to pass out all of their pass along cards??
Go to Church/Pray/ Read/ Practice CPR and Unlimited blessings will shower upon you I PROMISE!
Love
Elder RayRay Dandridge!