23 December 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen We had transfers last week and we are staying together and in Phitsanulok! Some amazing things happened at transfers. Elder Harris is now AP, taking the place of elder Davies. I served with Elder Harris in Bangkapi! President Senior then shows a slide that says NEW AREAS and he says: Going to Kamphaengphet (and then I scream and freak out for a second... yeah it's where the family is at) 4 Elders are going there. There are 2 members. And I was crying. Tons of crazy cool changes in companionships all over the mission, but it's complicated and nobody knows these people anyways so whatever haha. It's all in my journal. Elder Hunt is now in my district! He is the best! He was in my group at the MTC but had to stay behind for surgery, but his thai is way too good and he is the funniest human. Sister Stevenson, my luug, is in MY greenie area now!!! I'm so happy for her! 3 transfers in the Isan and now Bangkok. It was a way cool moment. President was talking across the room and he saw me and just smiled. Came over and shook my hand. I, of course, start crying. But then at the Christmas Zone Devotional (which was so fun) he's like, Sister Mullen, I'd like to speak with you alone for a moment. He takes me into another room and asks, did I upset you? Long story short, he didn't remember my family was in Kamphaengphet, the area he just opened. He told me he wants me to plan a time to actually GO to kampaengphet. He is just amazing. He didn't know, but he is SO positive that the Lord knows. (Obviously!) The Seniors took us out to The Duke's (because our zone christmas devotional was in chiang mai) and they paid for ALL of us missionaries. It's so funny how people's appetite's change when someone else is paying. I got a burger. YUM! So because of transfers and other reasons for traveling... we were literally on a bus for over 25 hours in just 3 days. One of the buses was so cold. Like, SERIOUSLY cold. I was nervous to even put my contacts in I thought they would freeze on my eyeballs. Wow. This Christmas is already wonderful, and I haven't even eaten fried rice for lunch yet. Not that I want to be away from family again, but it is SO much easier right now on my mission, to see what is most important. And right now, that is to keep working. Love, Sister Mullen #1

Sister Jasmine Mullen

16 December 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen We had Da's baptism this week! Definitely cried during my talk cuz that's what I do. I bought chlorine for the font because I didn't want the water to be disgusting. It did nothing. But it was still great. There were definitely some things that went wrong for the service, but in the end, she is such a great example for our other investigators and where they should be in preparing for baptism. So that man that we tried to baptize before he did his whole monk thing... well I called him and set up an appointment for Thursday, the day after he was done being a monk. We reviewed the Restoration, asked him to be baptized and he said no. We asked him to pray and he said no. This last month we had 110 people baptized. In past months, it has been about 40's or 50's... But we got 110. Now President is preparing us to have 200 in January. But with all of these people coming unto Christ, Satan is SO not going to stop. We asked this man to pray and he said no. He had already forgotten that experience he had just 10 days earlier with prayer, when he received an answer that he should be baptized. He will be fine though, just in taking more time. The family we are teaching, they have chosen their date for the 4th of January. The dad needs to quit smoking. We took Brother Sawat and Sister Tong with us. Brother Sawat was AMAZING! He smoked since he was 15 and when he learned with the missionaries, he was able to quit in just 2 weeks and be baptized. We have committed this dad to pray. You know how you pray before you eat... he is to pray before he smokes. He laughed but I think it will work. He said he'd feel guilty smoking if he prayed before he smokes... haha. Yeah that's the point. The Christmas activity was awesome and way fun. Great times inviting. I am ok with people laughing at me. Really. I'm ok with rejections like this. Now it just has me a little worried. I'm REALLY not going to care what other people think of me when I get home. What kind of person am I becoming. Not only awkward, but an awkward person that doesn't care about being awkward. and that will just continue into more awkwardness. Sorry. But really though. Why care what those people in the great and spacious building may be saying. Never forget the bigger picture. Nothing else matters. Sister Mullen

Sister Jasmine Mullen hello! So as for like christmas skyping stuff. I can skype on the 25th which will be the 24th for you guys. i'm pretty sure its 7p.m. but yeah I only get 40 minutes so if rachel wants to do that we'll probably do like 30 and 10? I don't know I think thats the best I can do. Just let me know. GUESS WHAT? This week was AMAZING. James got baptized. It was the greatest feeling ever. I felt so privileged to be able to have seen Greta get baptized and then James. It was so cool. And then he received the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday. I wish you could see it. He's sooo different now. Even just that day he was so much happier and just comfortable there. He was just getting himself involved. And guess what? now his brother in law is a little interested. So hopefully we'll get to slowly start teaching him. Nicholas' family has been sick. They live with a million children so its a bit hard for them to get over their sicknesses quickly. We have been able to get a lot of work done and I have found the solution for gaining weight and dealing with mean people. Both issues can be solved with a wheelchair. Our zone leaders were able to get us a wheelchair because my companion has trouble with her knee. We got it scanned and pretty much she has to stay off of it as much as possible until it heals. So I've been pushing her everywhere. She feels really bad but I keep telling her, its benefitting me haha. I do look like a hot mess everyday though. I'm just sweating all the time. But its been fun. Sometimes I just want to relive our day without the wheelchair and see how it goes. I don't know if its my faith thats changed or people's hearts. Its been really a good week though. The baptism went really well though. My goal this week is to figure out how to be more proactive. Often members get flustered because things are thrown together by us missionaries. And watching those district videos just makes me want to be better. So if you have any ideas of how we can better plan with members i would like some! :) Thats way cool Jacob is back. I was about to email him but he's home now haha. What are his plans now? Wellp! thats it for me. I love you guys and I can't WAIT to see you :) sister mullen #2

9 December 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen We went to go and teach the family that we are working with. The dad is back home from working up north and we gave him a date and pushed back all of their dates so they could be baptized together. Turns out they are not legally married though and the two "kids" are actually boyfriend and girlfriend. EEK! but they are ALL reading in the Book of Mormon so well so we are sure their concerns or doubts will just depend on their testimony of that book. They all came to church also! Da passed her interview! She was so cute, studying and reading and reviewing everything. We were confident with a desire like that, she would pass. We went to go find a place to get a baptismal suit sized for her because she is a little bigger and they don't have one big enough. Now on a quest to find something that will make the water not brownish/yellowish! It is going to be perfect. I miss the cold! That will definitely be AMAZING! Mommy looks so cute! We see a lot of Thai people cooking like that minus the hat. There were some fun experiences in contacting this week. Its just kind of fun now, by going and going and going through all of those rude people, I just KNOW that next person is going to be interested. It's really cool. I really wanted to do 2 hours EVERYDAY this week as we are asked to do, but because of lessons or things like that, it didn't work out like that last week. So we made sure that we did it, and without fail, EVERYDAY I feel accomplished. Even just for ONE phone number. Here in the mission you really see the influence of God more than any other place, but then also Satan's influence. And while it is wonderful to have lessons every hour, things can happen. Satan can make it so that that person can't make it, or there will be a distraction in the lesson to make it not the best place for the Spirit... But as we go out there, push him aside and blaze on through all those people who aren't ready, God guides us to those ready. Allowing us to accomplish more than we could with lessons all day. I hope you can talk to Sister Thong and Brother Sawat sometime. They really love our family and I can see how they really love missionaries, but especially me and I know that is because of you. I forgot to tell you, Na Tuk gave me 2000 baht. So did Sister Thong. So that is 4000 baht for tithing. Sister Anchalee still hasn't called me or answered her phone. I went to their house again and asked if we could visit. I pulled out the whole... I may be moving next week -- on them and the daughter seemed a little more interested. haha but I am just really trying to put myself in these Less Actives shoes. but maybe finding LA's to work with is similar with finding investigators. If they aren't ready, they aren't going to come back. Love you all. Sister Mullen #1

Sister Jasmine Mullen I loved the pictures you sent me! Man to be completely honest i was really mission holiday tapestry week. I hope everyone did amazing! Lexy was in the show? What did she do? Was aley in it? Man i wish i could've seen anna. i bet she was great! This week I felt like all i did was drive. We just drove and drove and drove. It was so exhausting. I definitely like walking better. I haven't walked much at all this transfer because my companion's knee. We got an MRI the other day so we'll know by today what we actually should and shouldn't be doing. But yeah we had new missionary training and it was soo great. JUST what i needed. Trainings always are. We got sort of trained on what a leader is. And President showed this video of Jesus Christ and it was just clips of things he did with attributes listed. But man with the music and everything i just started bawling haha. And something president said was that leadership positions aren't coveted because they're lonely. So i guess i just got a better idea of what i need to be doing. And now i've learned to be okay with it if she's mad at me because she got offended by a correction. Its all a learning process. And its really cool because literally EVERYTHING that i was struggling with at home is being tested here. and I'm being refined in the process which is so cool to see. Man Heavenly Father knows us sooo much about us its crazy. I'm always blown away. We read a talk about being a consecrated missionary. I LOVED IT. Those talks always just pump me up and make me want to do better. There's heaps of stuff that distract me but just choosing not to think about it in that second, i dont know its like a game you play with the adversary except its funny that he never wins. And I've been sooo tired lately and getting kinda angry that i dont have enough time to sleep. But then i realized that Satan never sleeps. ever. and so im so motivated now to work 10 times harder than him. "The game is close and victory means everything" My companion knows that i now talk by quotes. My goal before the end of my mission is to quote the standard of truth to someone who tries to reject the gospel. An Elder in our mission did it and i thought it was so cool! I love what you said about Noah. haha i laughed so hard! I'm thinking wednesday around 1 is when i can do it. It depends on you guys as well and when rachel is available. Just let me know what works best! James is getting baptized in 5 days :) "and may all your christmases be white" :) See you soon! Sister Mullen #2

2 December 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen Taught an investigator this week named Go. I invited him to church weeks ago, but he was finally able to meet. But then he said he loved me. Yeah, we will let the Elders teach him. This week was wonderful. We had balanced key indicators again! We are teaching a family of 3 and we were able to go out with the branch president and teach the 10 commandments. The kids we were a little worried weren't totally interested. They hadn't prayed or read in the Book of Mormon. But they came to church the next day and said they had read to chapter 4 and 6! Our investigator Da didn't come to church, but we were able to see her afterward and teach her the Gospel of Christ. She understands so well and has SUCH a desire to be baptized. And when I say she understands so well, I mean better than anyone other than the Spirit could teach her. We haven't taught her the 10 Commandments, but she told her grandma already she isn't going to be Buddhist anymore. That's what I love when we talk about our weaknesses, ESPECIALLY in spreading the Gospel. I'm awkward. I Never know what to say. But God works with ALL of it. It's similar to a broken clay vase or whatever. You glue it back together and it looks all broken and messed up, but put a light in there and something amazing is going to come from the cracks and missing pieces. We are finding people EVERYDAY that recognizes the Lord's call. No seriously. Everyday. Here, in Thailand, where Satan is working hard, where Buddhism is the norm. God prepares people perfectly. Sister Mullen ps i LOVE the bulletin board!!!!!!!!

Sister Jasmine Mullen Oh man! Jonathan! It seriously feels like just yesterday we saw him leaving. Just kidding it feels like 10 years ago. So this week has been pretty full on. I might have a shot at getting an accent now, my companion is pretty as Aussie and is gets. She's great though. Its been really tough for her adjusting. Her process of coming on a mission was like the opposite of mine. She's almost 23 so when she decided to go and actually left, everything happened within 2 months. Unlike me, where it took like a year haha. She needed to be rushed, and i needed time. Its crazy how God knows EVERYTHING even down to the minute. But yeah so she is such a confident great person, but she puts herself down. So i guess not, i guess i meant she comes off that way but inside its really hard for her to see herself in a positive way. Which is kinda cool, not that she thinks that, but because when i prayed i prayed for someone i could help. And i am not saying anything about my friends but a lot of my friends deal with self esteem issues, like everyone does so its kinda cool that i feel like i know how to help her. But man it is hard she's cried a couple mornings and all i can do is try and say what the holy ghost is saying. But she's really nervous. Its also hard because I literally have no sensitivity when it comes to people and their physical pain. Maybe i'm supposed to learn or something for my future family so that my kids dont suffer haha. But im sorry that my companions have to suffer for me to learn that lesson :P anyway she's not been able to walk very much. so we cant get a lot done but we try and teach as much as we can and if we're home we roleplay. which has really helped her confidence. we have a doctors appointment soon so it'll be good to see what can be done for her. and maybe we'll get a wheelchair! i'd be way excited to push her around. i mean besides all the pity contacts we'd get, it would be fun to push someone. Lets see, other than training, oh yeah. i got a LOVE LETTER. OMG. it was the most awkward thing i've ever experienced. alskdjf i felt so weird and i felt so sad for him and awkward and ;alskdj! i dont even know it was a horrible feeling. and unfortunately for me, when i am anxious i have to eat something so i ate everything in the house that was chocolate haha. but man it was horrible and i had to read it to my zone leaders so they could see if i had to be ET'd. ugh. luckily i dont have to be. but it was so weird and i'm most likely going to be here for 1 more transfer haha. so i just have to avoid him for 9 more weeks. did you get any love letters on your mission? lets see what else. oh! i had the best experience. so i read the book of mormon all the way through for the first time my first transfer and i guess after doing that i was expecting something amazing to happen. i was excpeting to feel different or better. but yeah after i prayed i just felt the same. so i kept going on with life. and it was just last week that something amazing happened. we were in district meeting and elder ottosen asked us to bear our testimony of the book of mormon. i had no idea what to say. and then when it was my turn i just started crying and i just said it was true and i got this feeling like it really was. and then i thought of that quote "i always know when i am speaking by the power of the holy ghost because i always learn something from what i say". ahh it was the coolest experience. I said " i KNOW the book of mormon is true" and i knew in my heart i really meant that. I've learned that I have known the Book of Mormon is true for a very very long time. Probably since I received the Holy Ghost. And so when i prayed to ask if it was true, i felt no different because I've already known its truthfulness. Ahh its so cool. I've also learned that its really true what we tell our investigators. "you dont have to read the whole book to know its true"this gospel is so cool. it just makes sense! Another cool experience, Belinda is someone who I met my first transfer. She was pregnant at the time and so we couldnt teach her. She's had her baby for 3 months now and we've gone over periodically just to do random acts of kindness. I know that planting seeds is the most important thing because now she's reading the book of mormon and she recognizes the holy ghost. Ahhh! im so excited. I dont know if she'll get baptized anytime soon but we brought her Closer to Christ. Which is our purpose. James is getting baptized next weekend. Nicholas' family is taking the lessons. And the Edmonds are still on track. Life is good. I love being a missionary so much! Can't wait to see you guys at Christmas! Love, Sister Mullen

25 November 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen We had Mission tour yesterday so we did not have our Pday to email, sorry! But it was amazing. We learned about how to use the Book of Mormon in teaching from Elder Wilson of the 70. I got interviewed by him which was way cool! He asked if my dad was Mike Mullen and I was like... YES! but I guess it is another Mike Mullen in northern CA but it was way funny. Haha I played piano for a 4 violin musical number. Elder Wilson liked it so much he had them do it again haha. Later on in the meeting my contact was annoying me, so when I play Hark All Ye Nations, I was pretty awful. We had talks and scriptures we were to read in preparing for Mission Tour and we understood the theme: Book of Mormon. In Bovemeber... (baptism in November) I have gained great faith. I have chosen to not give up and I feel that is something that this month has given me. President Senior said the whole point of this month, while it is great that baptisms are the result, was to unite the mission. I have felt great love from all of my leaders in helping us achieve this goal. Brother Nud, the investigator we have been working with, all I did was text him to read Alma 36, he called after he had read it and said he felt he should be baptized on the 30th of this month. WHAT?! He then had the faith to ask his boss person if he could not do the whole being a monk thing for the king's birthday because that coincidentally was on the 1st of December. His boss said no, but I feel all that happened, was our miracle. And it was just after no giving up. This week we also had switch offs... biked with Sister Farrence for about an hour looking for a lady's house. Worth it. She wants to be baptized with her family on the 14th. From this new inviting technique, we got a dater and when we went to go meet with him, his friend was NOT wanting his friend to learn from us. We left, knowing we weren't going to convince this man, but the dater came up to us after and said he wants to meet us at the church next time. Oh, and we got our biking vests this week. They're beautiful. That's sarcasm. Sister Mullen

Sister Jasmine Mullen Hi! Australia is great. It keeps getting hotter and more humid haha. With this being my 4th transfer in the area, i feel so weird because I don't even know what australia looks like really. Just caboolture haha. but i'm so happy to be staying here again. I'm also kind of scared because the other sisters who had been here 2 transfers and were leaving cried so much. i just hope i'm not a wreck when i leave. The baptism went really well. Nicholas' whole family came and his parents got priesthood blessings after. He got confirmed yesterday and during sacrament Aaron (his less active dad) came up to us and was so excited to tell us that his other daughter and his partner want to start taking the lessons. Its really cool to see the hastening just happening. We just had stake conference last week and President Gilkes said that there are 2,000 less actives in the stake. Crazy right? But its so cool because thats where it all starts and thats where all the miracles come from. We bring back the sheep that are lost and find those who are the elect and have been prepared. I'm so sorry because I honestly can't remember anything that happened this week. We read a story on our way to transfers about the missionaries in the Philippines. Man they are just so inspiring. I'm so grateful to be serving. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father gives me the opportunity to always work on myself. I love it out here. I just love the people, I love the work. I don't think that I've become a better teacher, I'd like to think that I know how to trust in the Lord better. I love my mission president and the inspiration that he receives. Honestly ever since we have started the BOM reading as a mission, I've found so much in the BOM than I ever have. Its so fun. We took James to a baptism yesterday. He is now excited to get baptized. Ben one of his friends is going to baptize him. I'm so so excited. Greta (his sister/ the first baptism i had here) is really excited as well. She never thought that he would be interested. Our bishop has told us, everyone is interested in this gospel. EVERYONE. And i was reading PMG this morning and i read the part about recognizing the spirit. We're not here to teach people a gospel that they don't know about, we're here to bring its truthfulness back to the memory. That just really stood out to me how that applies to everyone on the earth. We can help them to remember the truth because its already there. Anyway sorry for the rambling. But yeah my new companion is great. She reminds me of Casey but just Australian. She's eager to learn. And i'm excited to learn as well. She talks all the time which is the opposite of sister hwang ahha but it'll be a nice change. Tell the Reamans I say hello! and everyone else. i love you! sister mullen #2

18 November 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen So this week we got to work with Sister Tong and the Branch President's wife and go visit a Less Active. It was great getting them involved because afterwards Sister Tong had so much fun, she gave us some more names of people we should go see. One of them was Anchalee! So we are hoping to go and visit them. We have a new contacting technique! There is the FUNNIEST training video. Hopefully you can find it online. But before, we pretty much would just go up to people, get to know them, and then talk about the Gospel. We could talk to maybe 20 people maybe a day... Now we go up to a person, show them a picture of baptism... ask if they are familiar with it... tell what it is... give them a date. And with this, we are supposed to convince them of anything else. Extend the invitation and move on. And with that we sift through a gagillion times more people. and still get the same amount of phone numbers! But THESE phone numbers, already know they want baptism, and have expectations for what is going to be taught. I LOVE it. We have 2 daters from it! and we got another dater last night! Her name is Da and she is from English. At the beginning of the lesson, she said she really just liked learning about things like this, like religions and what other people believed. She tried praying but didn't feel anything. But we planned on asking her to be baptized, so we still did. Used 2 Nephi 31. and then asked her to follow Christ's example and be baptized and she agreed to be baptized on the 14th! She then says when I was asking her to open up to 2 Nephi 31, she had already opened it to that page for some reason. It was just what she was already on. Taking that as her sign. Whatever God does, everything that happens proves He is real. Saw the fambam. Crazy. Khun Yai (Grandma) was asking me the same questions over and over again.  She's way sassy. haha Got to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon with them and gave them each one. Asked them to read the Introduction and Na Tuk said she read it!!! I am going to call her tonight and follow up and answer her questions because she said she didn't understand. This month is Bovember, meaning the whole mission is hoping for a baptism for every companionship in November. We did not have people at church this week. So the Elders want us to teach an investigator they had come to church. And teach him everything in a week and a half, and have him baptized on the 30th of November. I have been struggling with this goal ever since having whitewashed into this area. Having no investigators, struggling in my last area to even get an investigator at church... my faith in miracles wasn't where it should have been. I would see miracles everyday, but the faith sufficient for the miracle of a baptism in this month was not there. Today I read in Alma 37 as Alma is giving counsel to his sons. He said a LOT of things I needed to hear, one of them being "teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meed and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls." It starts with our faith, and not being slothful, and never forgetting to be diligent in everything. I am so grateful for this learning experience and how humbling it is. There are things that I need to work on and things I need to understand better. Our leaders receive revelation for these goals. And why should my faith or what I think is the right amount of time to teach someone, hold someone back from being baptized in this month? It's crazy. Miracles are crazy. But obviously I am not going to get miracles with a faith that says someone needs to learn more than a week and a half to be baptized. This is a test of my faith. In seeing if God will really show His power in these last few days of November! I'm super late at getting this whole faith thing but... I know that this is him reaching out and I just need to take it without any doubts, full confidence in Him. Sister Mullen

Sister Jasmine Mullen hello! sorry this email will be short. we just got back from our transfer meeting in the city. lots of traffic. so i'm staying again! im so happy. it really shocked everyone though. my companion was really sad. she got transferred. i'll miss her a lot. but i'm going to be training now. eeeeekk! im excited and so nervous. it'll be a new adventure. we had nicholas' baptism this week. thank you so much for everything you guys do for me. i wont need the money anymore i decided to use my trainer's old bike. all i have to do is buy new tires and it'll be great. thank you so much for not being mad though. i got anna and breanna's package! i loved it so much! :) i hope daddy feels better soon.  i miss the martins so much! she got surgery again?  i'm so excited for rachel that is so inspired. so what do you think will happen? we reactivated 2 less actives. they came to church. it was amazing. our stake has 2000 less actives on record. we are going to find all of them this transfer. i love you! have a great week. i'll talk to you soon :) sister mullen #2

11 November 2013 (Pictures)

11 November 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen I was given permission to see the family as long as it is not a distraction. And it cannot be because we had our first investigator at church this last week! And it was wonderful! She is 15 and we really just invited her at the river this week, called her for church and she came. Not really any real lesson lesson, and of course the 2nd hour is about baptism and she was the only investigator there so they talked to her the whole time. But the 3rd hour was awesome. We got to sit in young women's with her and they all did SO amazingly at making her feel welcome. I just saw the members be friendly and warm and just accepting a new person. That seriously made ALL the difference, I can't even talk about it. ahh Sister Peterson is doing wonderful! She has such a wonderful spirit and you feel it so strongly everytime she bears testimony in lessons. This week Brother Ap and his wife... we taught about temples and families and introduced to them preparing to go and be sealed. They have a lot of concerns, but as we are being taught in the mission EVERYDAY, miracles happen when we believe in them. We encouraged them to work together and plan. Yesterday at church we saw them both there and they paid their tithing! With the temple as a goal, people are motivated. We are trying to work with Brother Sawat and Sister Tong, because they know a lot of LA's but are hesitant to find them and invite them. But we have an appointment with Sister Tong this week to go visit an LA. We went and she taught us how to make food and her and Brother Sawat got to show pictures of our family. They really love you and mommy and I am using that connection to them to get them more involved with the work and getting them more comfortable in working with us, because they are so giving and wonderful and can do so much in bringing back LAs. We went to visit a member to followup with elder ballard's challenge and not many members take it well when we encourage them to reach out to others and invite, but then I asked her how long she has been a member. I asked if she knew Brother Mike. She was like yeah, he's so nice... that big rice pot we have at church, that's from him! and just on and on and when I told her you were my dad, she was just like WOW! and she was more willing to do what we asked her. I've been wondering why I was sent her sometimes. Like, it's cool and all, I can speak Thai now and read and write, but why am I here as a missionary right now? And only having been in country for 6 months getting to serve in each area: Bangkok, Isan, and now the North. Some don't get all three. I am here right now. 2 hours away from my family. This is why. I can't talk about everything socially interesting, but I can explain the plan of salvation, I know how to share Joseph Smith's experience in Thai. I am praying up until I do see the family, that they will be "astonished" and wonder what has all of sudden happened to our family in these missionary efforts. I know that I am here doing what is most important right now and this opportunity to do it 24/7 doesn't go unnoticed. I want to do it forever. I'm not coming home. Bye. sister mullen ps Haha just kidding. but seriously. why am i so funny.

Sister Jasmine Mullen Its week 6. I can't believe it. seriously. This transfer has flown by. I don't know what to do with myself. Well this week some amazing miracles happened. The mission work here is picking up. I don't know if the ward knows it yet, but we do. We have been so blessed as an area both areas are teaching so much. we're always doing something and nothing is ever finished. I must say this week was hard. Satan was working really hard on getting me down. And he did win for a couple of days. Its like when you're sad you just want to be sad all day and then you think of the saddest things and everything bad that has ever happened to you. haha its pretty dramatic. but thats what happened to me. but i just have to say that prayer is real and it works. i have never been so sure of anything in my entire life. it may feel like you don't really know who you're talking to, but God is there and He is real and He is listening. I prayed, it was simple. I wasn't even kneeling, I didn't really say much and I think I fell asleep before i said amen. But what I prayed for was to be able to have some way to get out of this funk i was in, i knew i couldn't do it myself. So Heavenly Father gave us a miracle. We went to a LA house and her name is Natasha. She has been LA for 3 years and is kind of just not really interested she's a single mom and she has 4 kids. She is very disorganized and not very motivated. I'm not saying these things to talk bad about her, I just want to give you a picture of what she looked like before. So then we showed her the talk by Elder Uchtdorf. Bottom line is, she came to church this past sunday for the first time in 3 years. She is ready to make changes in her life. It was the greatest feeling ever. All i know is, that the cure for a bad mood or a bad day is to serve others and to see a change in them. We have shown that video twice to 2 LA families and both times we have shown it, the family suddenly has this change of heart and awakening that they need to come back to church, NOW. Not someday, the very next sunday. Its been an amazing experience. So i know that those talks really are inspired. All we have to do is show it to people. Another miracle happened when we had trade offs. We had trade offs this week on Saturday. I was with Sister Cummings. The day started off pretty rough. But then we went to go teach Nicholas. He is the 10 year old that is getting baptized THIS THURSDAY! EEEeeek! I'm so excited. But thats not the miracle I'd like to share. So his dad is LA. When we first got there he didn't even look at us or say hi. Then a few weeks later he sat in on the lessons but his comments were pretty negative and he wouldnt stay for the prayer. Then on trade offs. He started talking to Sister cummings and I and just compeletly broke down and opened up. He is going through SO much. I've never met someone so in need of the Mormon Message Mountains to Climb. He felt the spirit so strong and he wants a blessing and he is going to pray on his own soon. It was a complete change. I couldnt even speak after the lesson. It was by far the most amazing experience I've had so far. I'm sorry if i couldn't put it into that good of words. But yeah. a funny thing happened this week. The STLs slept over because we had trade offs and it was too late to be driving back to their flat. So we all slept down stairs. Lucky we did because at 1:30 in the morning we hear a banging on our door. I sleep right by the window. But since it was so late i had no idea what was going on, when we all realized what was happening we started panicking. it was so funny (well its funny now but not then) anyway so then we realize its our reactivated member England. He lives down the road from us and he was locked out so he needed to use our phone to call his brother. hahaha it was so funny i think you mightve had to be there. but it was pretty funny. everything weird happens on trade offs. Hmm. What else. we sang at the seminary graduation last night and I'm singing at our northern zone conference tomorrow. Eeek! hopefully i dont cry too much. Everyone always wants me to sing He'll Carry You. So i dont really sing anything else too much. Also so not so great news. So they have a new bike policy and basically I was wondering if you could help me pay for a bike and i will make payments to you monthly by putting it into my bank account? i paid 100 of it already but i need to pay 400 more. i know its not really helping. the whole point of me going on a mission was to not stress you guys out haha. kidding but seriously. also just wondering, ( this is just a question) i kind of want to stay to dress maddie for her last christmas show in galena when i get home. i dont know how that would work with thailand and everything. just let me know if thats possible. i miss you guys. i'm really grateful for how much you support me and rachel. rachel is half way! thats crazy. why does time go so fast now? Oh the other day i had some rice and terriyaki chicken. it reminded me of when we had that at that terriyaki time place. i cant wait to do that with you guys again. i think a really good thing i'm learning is how much i love family time. i think about how much i revolved myself around boys and it makes me so frustrated with myself. i dont know sometimes i still think about matthew and jd but i dont want to and i dont like to. so thats new for me. i love that i'm not supposed to think about anything except the work. i dont know if that made sense but bottom line is im happy to be enveloped in this work. its so great :) if you send this out to people probably dont put this in there haha. i love you. i'm so happy. this is the greatest experience of my life! sister mullen #2

4 November 2013 (Pictures)

4 November 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen This week has been SO HOT! haha It really was such an experience to fast here in Plok, but full of blessings nonetheless. We got a referral from Mormon.org yesterday! Never got one of those before, the Elders gave it to us which is good because when we went to go and find this person, it was a teenage girl! But she has a family and hopefully they will be able to meet this week. She has questions about the Bible and Book of Mormon and she wants it explained to her in Thai... she was an exchange student with a Mormon family in Salt Lake so I think they referred her??? But we are so excited! Chay, one of our investigators from inviting, has finally prayed! We went to teach him yesterday and asked him to pray for the closing prayer... and this is a man that turns 30 minute lessons into 2 hours. We biked everywhere and were towards the end of our fast... I seriously was about to cry as he was continually refusing to pray. He is so great, really wants to know and study, but we told him that we aren't teachers. And the Book of Mormon is not a textbook. Prayer is a part of the Book of Mormon and is a requirement when we progress in the Gospel. He ended up praying and afterwards when I asked him if he would pray everyday until our next lesson on Thursday, he said he will do what he always does. It's pretty much the same... No, no no no no. Prayer is communication with God. You need to start it by saying, Heavenly Father. Committed him to praying to God on Wednesday so we could follow up on Thursday. Brother Ap did not come to church this week :( Going to visit him this week though, and we had a member call the wife and just say hello. We are slowly but surely getting better at working with the members here. There is a lot to be done and we can't do it without them, so this last Sunday we went to church with a list of names and talked to everyone about them and what we can do to reach out to them. I really feel like this is so important. Baptisms are wonderful and amazing, but it is what we do to help them keep that ultimate commitment of staying active in the church that is just as important. Love, Sister Mullen it was weird seeing na tuk. haha i invited her to sit in class with me, but she couldnt stay. i felt bad but we had a lot to do that day. i do need to ask permission though and will know next week... not by this week though. sorry

Sister Jasmine Mullen Hello! Sooo much happened this week I don't even really know what to say. Lets see, I had a wonderful halloween. We had special interview training. I was so excited. Probably the best halloween I've ever had. For some reason these past 2 months, I've been feeling like I haven't had the spirit with me. I had no idea why. But then I had interviews with president and it was just so cool because when you're in room with him there's no WAY you could not feel the spirit. He just started talking about how God loves me, (something I tell people everyday) seriously he did "God is our loving Heavenly Father" to me. But I just started crying and I told him and he was just so calm. I thought something was wrong with me like I'm not really a missionary. But he just told me to take time to recognize the spirit more. Its always with me. At home I would go to church and pretty much that was where I felt the spirit. I knew the difference then. But now that I'm always around the spirit, I never really feel that huge difference. But yeah. I love the Holy Ghost and ever since then I feel so good! I feel like i don't know. But i realize now that Satan wanted me to feel unworthy of the spirit. But yeah. it was a good experience. The Edmonds cancelled our appointments this week. I think she feels very overwhelmed by the gospel and that's not how its supposed to feel so we're going to take a step back and help her help herself through the gospel. Oh we got caught in the rain the other day. I'll send you some pictures but we were soaked! It was so fun. I could barely see. Greta bore her testimony in Young Womens about when she went to the temple with annie. She's super shy so she was really excited! She's amazing. Her brother James still doesn't have an answer about baptism yet. He loves church and everyone in it. He just doesn' t know what to do yet. Oh we were at Nicholas' house, the boy who is 10 getting baptized. his less active dad finally sat in on the lesson. It was a step up that he actually acknowledged our existence this time but all of his comments were negative haha. BUT the next lesson was SO cool. We taught Nicholas the plan of salvation and Nicholas kept insisting that he would see his dad in the Celestial kingdom. It was so cute. and we were able to get Nicholas to church on Sunday. I barely got to talk to him because we had 5 investigators at church (Eeeeek!) . But he looked so happy in his classes. And his baptism has been moved up to the 14th! AHH! it'll be an amazing experience to see him baptized. So last experience I want to share is with a lady named louisa. So i go up to this lady on the street and ask to give her a card and then she said I used to teach her husband. Then i recognize her. OH MY GOSH. This lady every time we'd go over she yell at us and tell us to leave. She was always so angry. She was studying with another church and was very upset when we came. So the second time we tried to come by, we dropped her husband because we couldn't teach him. So then she was being so nice and was like yeah come over! I was super creeped out. I seriously thought she wanted us to come over so she could bash us or kill us. haha kinda not kidding though. But yeah so I go over (we went on a split) and She had the most amazing spirit. She said that after she told us to leave she would see us around and be like oh i bet they have something important to say, i guess i'd better listen. WHO THINKS THAT? NO ONE! Thats something off of like a preach my gospel video. It was so cool and it was real life. So basically the lesson was filled with the spirit and she is reading the Book of Mormon. Simple but really cool experience. Anyway. I guess thats it. My health is okay. i never get sick! so thats really good. I'm trying to eat healthier though. I drink lots of water so thats good but it makes me have to pee all the time so its a bit annoying anyway. have a great week! thank you for everything :) love you. sister mullen #2

28 October 2013 (Pictures)

28 October 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen Phitsanulok is wonderful. We are working really hard and got our first dater off of a street contact! We definitely need a back up for him though because I think he just enjoys talking to us. He was the one who said his wife died and then I started pulling out Plan of Salvation stuff how he can see her again. And he didn't really care, he just wanted a new wife! He's great though. Always willing to meet with us. We taught him in the park again and as we taught the Restoration, random people were coming in and sitting in on the lesson! Haha it was way fun. He was hesitant to pray but then I just had him repeat after me. We have another investigator from a street contact that is already talking about the struggles that he will face when he becomes Christian. We haven't been able to get him to make that first step in even praying though. But he has felt the spirit. No doubt about it. He loves reading the scriptures. If I ever needed more confidence in my teaching, he is the first person I go to. He is always saying things like, "Molly (because Thai people forget to say Sister and the 'n' at the end of my name). Molly, you're so good. So diligent and hard working trying to get me to do these things." Hahaha! it's the Funniest thing ever. He loves the scriptures we will pull out and give him. After I will go off on a whole shpeel on how he should pray, he's like where did you learn to talk like this. (ive got great parents) He is so great, but so scared about what other people think. That's incredibly rude that nobody wants me to come back. "[They're] only in it for the food." -ever after Haha, it's understandable. I guess they can enjoy the joys of Thai food there while I stay and BASK in it here. No. Mommy's is way better. and OH MY GOODNESS! the MSG! im going to come back bald. I finally know how to say it so I am going to ask them to NOT put it in everything! The Elders had a baptism this last week. Sorry. I am REALLY bad at taking pictures. So you can expect a gradual increase in pictures this next transfer as I struggle to take pictures. I have been spoiled by my first two companions who were crazy picture taker-ers but I know you love them for it. Me and Sister Peterson are going to help each other and with that, the unity in our companionship will be stronger than ever. We had a missionary fireside this last weekend too. Just some awesome activities. No investigators at church but Brother Ap came AND his wife!!! We went and visited them once this week and she came after not having come since May! We will count them as 2 saves next week when they come to church again. I explained in my last letter the need to work with members but I have never felt it more strongly than here and right now. We are going to come up with a plan to better work with the members and help them retain those who have been baptized. Sister Mullen

Sister Jasmine Mullen I am thankful for the weather here actually. Cold and rainy weather is only nice when you can stay inside and have hot chocolate. Its been pretty nice the past few days. Man. Reading your mission life makes the mission now seem like a breeze! It pretty much is. I try to work my hardest because everyone always talks to us like they feel bad for us because we have "horrible hard lives or something"? Its been an amazing week for the Centenary Lakes ward! Both companionships taught soo many people. Sister Hwang and I worked very hard. Some sad news, The Edmond family is not getting baptized. it will be soon, but not yet. I'm really bummed about it, but I want them to feel ready. You can just see how great of a family they will be and what a great addition to the church they will be because Satan is tempting them left and right, trying his best. Discouragement is the worst. Its so hard to make them feel like they are good enough. No matter how many times you tell them they are its the spirit that has to say it to them. So we'll just keep praying and keep trying. Greta our recent convert went to the temple Saturday :) :) ahh. those pictures were the greatest things to see. She just looked so happy. She went with Annie who is the girl who got baptized a month after her. It was such an amazing picture. I'll try to get it to show you next week. We went over to greta's house on Friday and we did the plan of salvation with chalk with her and james. James still hasn't got an answer yet. But its funny because I asked him if he believed if all these things were true. But then we realized he doesn't know if the church is true yet but he believes literally everything else. We explained that everything we taught him IS the church. Hopefully he gets an answer soon. :) he will. So with all the excitement with Nicholas our 10 year old investigator, its going to be tough to give him a solid foundation. He has 0 family support. They're pretty indifferent to the fact that he wants to be baptized. So we'll have to provide rides to church and activities and we're going to try to visit twice a week. We're so excited for him though. The elders before us taught him so well. He remembers so much! Lets see yeah Yuan moved to the Sunshine coast. We were so sad. But he sang Hotel California for us and it was soo funny. We gave him to the elders there and they said they'd invite him to church that night. So we're hoping he went. The ward members who met him here really loved him and miss him. We went to the Polsonis this weekend to teach all the people living at their house. Sister Polsoni used to be homeless and now she houses people who are homeless and need help getting their life together. All the people they have right now are really keen on listening to the gospel and they come to church. One guy, Wane is a homeless man the other sisters met who lived in the park. We invited them to be baptized and they both want to be they just want to know more. Ahh its so exciting. What else? Oh so originally the mission was super into finding hours. But now its people contacted. So our goal is for everyone to contact at least 150 people every week. And this week we were blessed with so many lessons so we seriously last night ran around to every person outside and contacted our 150th person right before our district leader called for our numbers. It felt SO good. and from those contacts we were able to teach 3 amazing lessons at the train station and we made one return appointment. Ahh. man i was so happy. it was a good day. anyway. I can't really remember anything else that happened. It was a good week and we're expecting an even better one this week. its already the 4th week of the transfer. Crazy hey. Man. Wow its so official! I wish i could see the website. Can we plan one for the week i get home? It was so fun to participate in I want to do it again. And yeah I would love to go to thailand! That would be amazing. I'll be able to be home with you guys for a bit though right? They had a trunk or treat the other night but we couldn't go because we had too many appointments. So i was happy in that sense haha. I have my halloween decorations at home so that was enough for me. So when I say I'm thankful for all the love and support I REALLY mean it. I love both. I mostly like pictures though. Love you! thank you for everything :0 sister mullen #2

21 October 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen So Monday, after we did emails and everything, President Senior calls. Thankfully it was Sister Stevenson's phone day and she answered. I was freaking out like usual. Then he talks to me and says I'm getting a new assignment. I was being transferred and I would be training again. AH! The next few days happened. We gave our investigator Cream a date in November! Said my goodbyes. Way sad. Didn't have time to go visit the lady, Amnuay, that we contacted, but Sister Stevenson told me she has a date now for November 3rd! We lit off lanterns with the Elders my last night. Super dramatic I know, but it's actually the season for it or whatever so they had some. We're not very good at it. Sister Stevenson threw her's in the air and it landed on the roof. I thought we were all going to die. Another one went into the neighbors yard! Yeah, should NOT give these things to foreigners. We didn't know what we were doing. Took some last minute pictures and were on a bus to Bangkok. Got no sleep. Got to see so many missionaries! It's always fun to see everyone. Transfers was crazy. A missionary who has been an AP for a while is training, same with another Zone Leader. It was amazing what President Senior said about trainers. For him to do that, he said it really shows what God thinks about ALL of his trainers. They said all of the Bangkok areas and I still wasn't called. Crazy, I thought I would be going back to Bangkok. but Oh my goodness. He said Phitsanulok and I stood up and screamed, WHAT?! haha Anyways, that happened. Got on the bus with the rest of our district. 4 sisters and 2 elders so this will be different! Sister Stevenson's mom sent me a package! SO SWEET! she made me an elephant, like one that sister stevenson had with her! AH i almost cried on the bus. I am so sad to be leaving mahasarakham. So many amazing things are about to happen. But I am so grateful to be going to the North! to Phitsanulok! First day, we did an inviting activity with the rest of our district. Drew the Plan of Salvation with chalk on the wall by a river... It totally worked. Got to talk to some people. Our next day we invited some more. That's all we can do for a while because we are white washing in. We got an appointment with one guy that we met inviting. We went to teach him the Restoration yesterday. He gets really distracted. He keeps saying I look like Mona Lisa. There was something kind of like a chili cook off but for papaya salad on Saturday. I invited a Less Active Brother to the activity and he came and it turned out to be someone I remembered from a while back. It was sad to see he was a less active but we got to talk and I got to show him pictures. And then he also came to church the next day! I learned so much in Mahasarakham, white washing in and I really want to bring all of that here to Phitsanulok. We had a miracle on Saturday also when someone called and said, Hey what's going on at the church? This person was outside and saw all the vehicles outside. It was way funny. She came in and I got to give her a Book of Mormon. She was contacted a while back and just called! Let the miracles begin! Sister Mullen #1

Sister Jasmine Mullen Man. I always hate when we have temple day just because I have to try and tell you all the amazing things that happened this past week. It really was amazing. I'm so excited for Tia. Where is she going again? Caboolture is pronounced Kaboocha. Thats how you say it with an accent at least. Nope no baptism. It got pushed back again. But I just know that they will be baptized on their new date November 1. If they don't then, wellp. it might be a while. So one Less active doesn't talk to us much now. He got offended because we couldn't get him into the talent show. I felt so bad. I cried so much because he was mad at me and I felt like it was my fault. But then I realized if he stopped coming to church because he couldnt sing in the stake talent show, then he wasn't coming to church for the right reasons in the first place. It just breaks my heart when people stop coming for those reasons. We had the Jones family come to church on Sunday. Not sure if I told you about them but Yanine ( the mom) has been texting us asking US to come over and teach her family. Her daughter paris has anxiety and shes had a rough time. I really hope they felt the spirit at church. We had an amazing lesson with a lesson with a referral from our EQP. He had been meeting with this less active man and his son wants to get baptized. So he told us to go over and meet the family. We did and i can't even explain. His name is Nicholas and he is the most amazing 10 year old i've ever met. He is reading 3 nephi and wants to learn more so badly. Just to give you a picture of what his life is like, he lives in a house with 2 families. His parents have lots of tatoos and many children to attend to. He is around drinking and foul language. Can you imagine? I just cant even wrap my brain around the fact that he lives there and yet he is the sweetest little boy with the strongest most simple testimony i've ever seen. I just wanted to keep asking him "why do you want to get baptized?" I didn't. I figured once was enough but i just wanted to hear his testimony all day long. He is getting baptized next month and I am so excited to teach him. We also met a guy tracting. His name is Yuan he doesn't speak good english just moved here from Taiwan. We knocked on his door and he came outside and started talking to us. i thought he wasn't interested but then he started crying. 22 year old man crying. He invited us in and asked to know more. then he told us the trial he was going through. He just broke up with his girlfriend. :) it was a little bit funny considering i thought someone died. But i can understand why he was so sad. he ended up coming to the ward activity that night and make really good friendships with our Less Actives! Our ward is great. But its really cool to see the less actives stepping up and hastening the work. Its inspiring. And yeah then he had work sunday but he's made arrangements to get work off this upcoming sunday :) I don't even know what I'm doing. Its like the Lord literally just needs vessels. Vessels of people who are willing to give up a short amount of time. All He needs are people willing to help. Willing to listen to the spirit. All i have to do is listen to the spirit. I'm so grateful for the miracles I've seen this past week. I know that coming on a mission was for me. I know i've said that before but its the biggest truth out there. My mission is to save ME and to teach ME how to be a better disciple. I have been reading my setting apart and particularly brother martin's comment stood out to me "some of the most sorrowful and joyful times of your life will be on your mission" i can testify that that is 100 % true. of course it is. and i love it. i love you. i'll talk to you again really soon! sister mullen #2 thank you for everything.

14 October 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen I'm so sorry about your test! Sometimes when things are under pressure like that I don't perform as well. Like... ugh... roleplays. But I recognize that after they are done, I know EXACTLY what I need to do to improve. It's kind of like a love hate relationship right now. Same with accountability in conferences. We were told to ask people to be baptized at the first, no later than the second lesson. We hadn't been doing that and I felt so bad. And when I think about what struggles we have had with some investigators, I think about those commitments that I MYSELF did not keep to be a better missionary. So after we realized that we went street contacting and told everyone about baptism. We met an Amnuay everyday for 3 days. I think that means something. We went inviting one day and went passed a thai temple, some young monks were sitting on the roof and were yelling at us that we were cute. How awkward is that? General Conference this week was inspired. We finally got to watch it and I loved it. I especially liked No Other Gods by Dallin H. Oaks, especially because afterwards when we went to go and visit 2 different Less Active women, they brought up concerns we could probably hint at, but that was easily answered by his talk. Before my mission I would just assume that people become less active because they are lazy, or they were offended. But here I have learned that they just forget, and how easy it is for these people who have been members for years, but have stopped going to church for years, to gravitate back to their Buddhist ways. We are teaching them as if they are investigators because they do not remember that they LOVE God. If we are not keeping the commandments of God, any one of them, we need to reevaluate our love. That is what I have learned. I love God. As I see Him everyday in this work and how much He helps us in the saving of His children I know how much He loves us. That makes me love Him. In return I am expected to keep His commandments and help others. And how important it is that we hold so close to us, the recent converts of the church, so they do not forget and continue to convert. I LOVED Elder Ballard's invitation to each of us to reach out to at least one before Christmas. I hope that everyone is praying for that person that they will introduce to the missionaries. I am also praying for my person. I may be a missionary overseas but am still a member that has friends still at home... hopefully haha. I know that no matter what happens, we will all be blessed for having done something that is seemingly scary at first. But if we Know these things for ourselves, that should give us courage. When you know, that enables to to act differently. Do it. Sister Mullen

Sister Jasmine Mullen Okay so i have so much to say. First off, i gained 20 pounds. yep. i did. and i cry all the time now. haha but no I'm going to start taking that cardio tip more seriously. :) Also I take back everything i said about christmas. Please don't send me anything. If you want to do something, listen to what happened at general conference and donate to the mission fund and find someone to share the gospel with by Christmas. That would make me more happy to hear about the blessings that come from doing those thhings than eating a bag of hot cheetos would haha. But seriously. This week was full of miracles. Our DL asked us why we thought we were doing so well. I couldnt answer. I thought it was from our obedience. But I know I haven't been exact lately so I was trying to figure out why Heavenly father was blessing us so much. (Not that i wanted it to stop!) But then I realized its because sister hwang and I have been praying for enthusiasm and happiness. And so from that, I think thats how it happened. It was an amazing feeling to see that our prayers were answered, and its even cooler to see that, we can change our natures if we pray. One miracle is a LA that has been texting us. Its pretty much her saying that she needs our help to help her come back to church. and now we are teaching her daughter and husband. they are so elect its unreal. (im crying right now in a library) The Lord is preparing so many people to hear the gospel. I dont know if they are ready to get baptized now, but the fact that they're willing to listen and they dont find it peculiar is a testimony to me. Conference was amazizng! It was funny because we started watching last april's one and i thought i had received revelation or something because i recognized the talk president monson was giving haha. when we finally got the right one started, man. i cant even believe what i heard. i want to read them again and again. i loved all of them! especially Bednar's! eeek. So something I struggle with a lot is approaching groups of people my age, especially boys. They're usually mean or say something demeaning. But i did one day because I wanted to practice courage. I didn't know i'd have to practice charity and patience as well. They said something demeaning and so we walked away and they started yelling Jesus at us. I wanted to throw something at them. And then I thought about how much Jesus was persecuted for the hopeful message he brought to others. He had to suffer that and more. Its so humbling to think about how much He endured. This whole week was humbling for me. We have the Edmonds baptism next weekend! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK! I've never been more excited. I love you. I hope you're not working yourself too hard. you are both amazing. and i hope you know how much i appreciate you. thank you so much for the cd. its perfect. i miss you a lot. love, sister mullen#2

7 October 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen Balanced key indicators this week for this companionship. We made a lot of changes. We had to drop Elvis because after the 3rd time of even a soft baptismal commitment he hadn't opened his heart to coming into this church. He enjoys what we teach but to progress, at this time, wasn't happening. But we went this week to our new investigators home to have a family home evening. We taught the message of the restoration. It was 11 am, but who cares. We won the heart of the boy by playing UNO and the heart of the mom by the cupcakes we made. And they came to church! We had 2 people at church this week and they stayed all 3 hours. We have never had an investigator here stay and sit with us in the 2nd and 3rd hour. We won't get a baptism, but I'm so grateful for this miracle. We were praying and fasting for our dater Beer. She told us, the Elders, everyone she was coming to church. She wouldn't have been able to stay the whole time because she had to go with her family somewhere but she had bought a skirt and everything! But then at 10:29 pm she calls and says her family is leaving earlier than she thought. She said she was going to pray about it and if we didn't see her at church the next day it was because she went with them. President Senior told us to share Matthew 10:37 with her. It's pretty perfect so we are going to see her tonight. We went last night to visit a grandma. She has a lot to deal with but we enjoy just helping her and making her feel good. There was a man drinking with some others at another table and he starts speaking English to us. REALLY bad I might add. I don't think I have ever heard worse pronunciation skills than this semi drunk man. I say things super clear, several times, and he still didnt get it. "BATHROOM!!!!!!!" so we accepted "Toilet". Taught him a few phrases and then of course, how to pray. He asked how we speak such good thai. I say Jesus Christ. As I was talking to him he kept motioning for me to scoot to the right... there was a light in his eyes hahahha and he wanted me to block it for him! hahahah He would say things like, "Hello darling" -"No. Sister." "Hello sister?" -"Yes." "Hmm... [he walked away and said "rejected" in thai] Hahaha it was the funniest thing of my life. Anyways, just loving this place, loving the people, loving being a missionary. No bad days. Sister Mullen #1

Sister Jasmine Mullen I know! Its going to be weird watching conference this weekend in a church building. I won't be able to just sleep. I think i got my package today. Sister Jenkins went to the transfer meeting so hopefully she's bringing it back with her. I GET TO STAY! Sister Hwang and I are the only ones in our zone who didn't got to transfers. We are so excited! I really didn't want to go but then I thought, maybe I was going because I want to stay. So i tried to do reverse psychology (that doesn't really work on the Lord) haha. But maybe it did work because I'm staying! I'm alskdjf;a i just cant even contain my joy. It is sad though because Sister Parata is leaving. She was so much fun and she always kept our flat really fun and peaceful. She'll do great in her next area though. Ahh can you get her email for me? and sister langi? Maybe wear more cologne than the sister. then maybe she'll stop wearing so much. OR go in their room and accidentally dump her bottle out. But yeah this week was good. very busy but good. we had a mini missionary. she was a blessing. I realized that I have a lot of growing to do particularly in patience before i train someone haha. she was SO enthusiastic it almost made me explode. she was very shy but she felt so motivated. i hope that we were a good influence on her. me and sister hwang dont really talk when we walk to appointments. when we're working we work and we like the quiet. but i think she had a good time. We have our investigator Bruce who kinda just calls us whenever he feels down. He's really trying to stay sober for a relationship with his family. We went over to his house before church and he looked awful. he'd been on sleeping pills for two days and he hadn't shaved his face. he was so hopeless and he's just so hard on himself. all we had to do was show him the "good things to come" mormon message. and he started crying/laughing and was like alright. who cares? i got drunk two days ago. I'm going to keep trying. I'm going to shave and put on some nice clothes and go to church today. then he did! It was great. We are preparing the Edmonds to be baptized on the 26th. i am so excited! I am so happy that i will be able to be here to see them. They are an amazing family. We made dinner for bishop and his family on saturday. sister hwang made kimbab and the other sisters made garlic prawns and i made....EGGROLLS. yes i did it. thank you thank you so much. (i said that in a kristen wiig voice on snl when they're playing the secret word. "yes i said it. i said the secret word") i hope you remember that haha. but yeah it was good. didn't taste like mommy's of course but it was okay. i couldn't find the right wraps. bishop and everyone loved em. so it was a success. i'll send you apicture of those soon. thats crazy about the missionary meals. i'm excited to go home and help out with those. are sister missionaries still going to be living at our house when we get home? i hope so. love you! thank you for everything :) i really liked what i think was an exerpt from your journal! its funny because it related to what i wrote you today! (oh and craig is not doing so well. hasn't been to church in a while we'll get him back though) love always, sister mullen

30 September 2013 (Pictures)

30 September 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen This week has been crazy. First off we were studying on Tuesday and during the middle of it, the sister training leader called and just started talking: Ok, you need to get on a bus to Korat and you are going to work there with Sisters Steele and Madsen while your luugs go to Bangkok to do visa stuff. They need to leave no later than 6 pm from Korat. So we packed, got on a bus and there went a couple days we hadn't planned on for our week! But it was so fun to be with Sisters Madsen and Steele, we all came in to Thailand together and I love them both! As we were inviting at the bus station waiting for our luugs to come back to Korat from Bangkok, Sister Steele got a phone call from President Senior. So what we knew was, there were Thai missionaries coming in and 2 were sisters. And we thought 2 of the Thai sisters that were already here would be training them... Because they are companions right now and so that wouldn't disturb any other companionships, because there are about 3 weeks left in this transfer too! Long story short, Sister Steele was training a new missionary coming in and her luug had to go back to bangkok the next day. I felt so bad, she looked really sad. It was so unexpected. An even longer story short, Sister Steele is training a sister missionary from LAOS. I bet you anything she is preparing to go there! Ahhh! It's so exciting! There was a mini transfer before transfers. It's crazy right now, but if anything we are working so hard right now. We know that President wants us to have a baptism before we leave and we are SO close with Sister Beer. She didn't come to church this week again. We try so much to make her feel comfortable about the fact of going, but we are going to pray so hard for her, she is so willing. She also lives with her boyfriend and she expresses concerns about how she is 28 and if they broke up it would be hard for her to have a family any later. It makes sense. I just feel for these people here where the family is not a strong unit. She wants a family in the church, but he is not yet interested. And he doesn't understand the need for her to move out to be baptized. But I have so much faith in her and I know that things will work out for some reason. Funny story, we were out inviting and then stopped to buy something to drink. I go up to pay, Sister Stevenson is still looking at what to buy and the man sees my nametag and just wonders if we believe that we live again. I end up telling him about how Christ was resurrected and how we will too... So Sister Stevenson comes back and is like... woah. She comes in as I'm like talking about how "our spirit and bodies will be reunited again" haha. It was just funny. Anyways, Faith produces miracles, and we need miracles these next few weeks and I know they can happen. For sure. I love this place and these people, but I know that if I move in the next few weeks after having been here for over 3 months I want to leave it better than I found it. Trust in God and work your hardest every single day. Missionary or not. Sister Mullen

Sister Jasmine Mullen Thats an amazing story! I'm really happy you guys were able to get everything. I wonder why that memory card was so dumb. Oh yes please! I'd love to see it! Yeah apparently I have to paint eyes on the back of my helmet. And their real name is "Butcherbird". If i knew there were birds called that, I would never go outside. The work is great. This week was rough, but its the last week of the transfer (CRAZY) so we're expecting to see some miracles. We have a mini missionary this week. She's so excited about being a missionary. Way more prepared to be one than I was when I was 16 haha. remember that year dad? Man good times. haha Something is going on with Craig. He hasn't been to church 2 weeks in a row now and every time we go to his house he's drunk. I think its getting harder for him to come to church because the more he comes the more he feels the spirit and the more he knows that he has to change his life. How do you do that after 10 plus years? I couldnt imagine. But we're going to try to keep helping him. Tracy and Jade still have a date for this saturday. We havent been able to see them this week though, We stopped by everyday but they were busy or not home. It was cool though. The other day when they weren't home, we'd thought we'd tract around while we wait for them. So we did and we found some less actives. I love when that happens. Because you seriously see the Lord guiding you to find them. They'd been living in our area for a few years and no one knows about them. Hopefully we can help their family, ( the powels) come back. :) OH MY GOSH. and how could i forget. Sister Powel was like, I feel really good about meeting with the missionaries again. You guys are the only church who comes when i ask God for help. Everytime, someone from the church shows up. I love those experiences that give you goosebumps. So good news! I'm a good budgeter. I'm the only one in our flat who still has money on their card at the end of the month. So i've become the sugar missionary. I buy our last week's groceries haha. I dont think I do anything, i think its just the Lord taking that load off my shoulders because that would be too much maybe. And maybe he knows how bad i used to be at that so he's helped me out a bit haha. Oh one of our investigators John came to church. He's the atheist. We went over to visit with his wife who tries her best to be active. She has a lot of health issues. But she is gone to the Philippines this month and he came! crazy right? What a miracle. And our recent convert Greta's brother sits in on the lessons by himself now and he comes to church. the young men love him and he's going to the ym camp this weekend. We don't even have to do anything, the Lord is doing it all, its an amazing miracle to watch and i have front row seats! I think thats it. Its been a quick week since we just had pday on wednesday. I love you! Thank you for everything :) sister mullen #2