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