26 May 2014

Sister Rachel Mullen I had a dream that Elder Hunsaker, the AP, called me and said I was moving. I cried and he was completely heartless and wouldn't change his mind. Everyday, I'm happy to be serving here in Kamphaengphet. This passed week we were able to meet with some great new potentials. The 2 baht miracle guy from last week, he came on Tuesday. We taught him Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity, normal intro lesson, including Keep the Sabbath Day, Prayer and Scripture Study. He is so funny. As we introduced everything, he was just laughing and like, That's too hard. About everything. But he is willing to keep investigating and trying. Another girl we met with, she is already Christian, so of course going into the baptismal commitment, it was not going to be a straight up yes. That is what is so awesome about the way we are teaching now. The FIRST thing we talk about is them being baptized, so after that we know what their concerns are and teach towards that.  So we planned on doing an Intro lesson, but God knows where to take things, so got the impression to just start a whole Restoration lesson. After THAT she said yes to baptism. She came to church and is SO SO SO amazing. She is not progressing towards baptism though, because HUGE story. But basically she lives with her boyfriend. They can't get married because he is a runaway soldier. He doesn't want to go back, so he can't do anything legal or else they will probably find him and stuff. Yeah it stinks, especially because she wants to be baptized so bad. AND especially she's not going to do anything else about it.  This passed week there is a peace thing happening, which also means the military is involved so there are soldiers all over Thailand. So President has wanted us to be on the down low, not make a scene. So inviting was forbidden for 2, 3 days! We were told to just sit at the church and make appointments. It definitely took a toll on lessons, and effectiveness, but then Saturday night, amazing miracles. Someone called and said they wanted to come to church. It was her birthday too, and she wanted to come to church!!! Turns out she is moving away tomorrow, haha but she came! And then Na Tuk, (my aunt) called and said, I want to go to church tomorrow. Sister Ellis said I've never smiled so big. We had 5 investigators at church!!! Dotcom, A (the 2 baht miracle man), Cat, Na Tuk, and Som (the already Christian). and 29 people at church! We had to get more chairs. We ALSO really really need to move buildings! 29 people, 3 fans, NO AC, one small church. We are growing and it's awesome. Na Tuk was sitting there taking notes all throughout too! I went back home with her to Grandma's. Seriously, people always ask if she still remembers me and Jasmine. SHE DOES! I go say hello to her and what does she say to me??? Fat. I say, Excuse me?? Fat. I'm fat? She says no. You used to be fat. SHE REMEMBERS ME!!!  But then there are times, where she just does the cutest old person stuff. Like use the blunt side of the knife to cut some fruit. AHH it was the cutest thing. I got to talk to Na Tuk about being baptized. We talked for a while, and she is way more open than I have ever thought! It's just amazing to finally share these things with her.  did I also say I got to teach plan of salvation in relief society (the 3rd hour of church). It was PERFECT having Na Tuk there. At the very end I expressed my gratitude for my own mother who followed Jesus Christ and was baptized. That's makes EVERYthing possible for me, for my sister. I can't express enough the joys and hope that this brings into my own life, every second of everyday.  We celebrated Elder Delagarza's birthday in our hallway because we live in the same hotel building. We decorated out door with a happy birthday banner, and balloons were everywhere :) We made them pasta, and I brought out my cut up carrots just in case he was wanting to be skinny and didn't want to eat the pasta late at night. Saturday night I also put in my to do list in my planner to go buy lamyay's because they are his favorite. When we planned that night, I saw a little blue pen check next to it... He claims as district leader he was just checking to see how our day was planned out!!! But anyways, when we got to the market, there WERE NO LAMYAYS... so we just bought lychees which are like 2nd or 3rd on his list and said to pretend they are lamyays.  Good week, the no inviting rule has been lifted! and we are back in business. June is going to be a CRAZY good month for Kamphaengphet. mark my words. Sister Mullen #1

Sister Jasmine Mullen OH MY GOSH!!!! Seriously. I cried. It truly does show how much the Lord will bless us if we align ourselves with him. That doesn't mean that He will give us everything we want if we just say we don't want it. But He does what will make us eternally happy.  Everything is WONDERFUL. I actually wanted to make sure I told you guys today that my companion is amazing. She helps me to be positive all the time. I don't think I've woken up in a good mood so many times in a long time. It just goes to show how much of an influence one person can be. I love her a lot. She is definitely one of my favorites. We always have a fun time together. oh and guess what? She fake cries like me! its great.  Wow okay. Turning 21 didn't feel like much but hearing that thomas is graduating makes me feel ancient! Hows amanda doing? I do miss that family.  Thats good that you guys are watching your health. I'm trying to also. President was telling us that thats too easy for Satan just to make us sick. Its like we just let him win! so we need to take care of ourselves.  Poor cat. I actually don't know if i want to be there when she dies. :(  Did you ask the manns about the turners? He is now our new ward mission leader. He's great. Really excited to get started. Hopefully we'll be able to help him know the ropes. Its good because I've had examples of a really good WML and a really bad one.  BUT! to let you know whats been happening this week. Well, again it was just full of miracles. And i couldn't be more grateful. It was kind of a stressful week. We don't have enough K's to get to the chapel (because we were saving them for church) and we skype at the chapel for district meetings. So we asked a member if we could come over and us theirs. They were like the only ones with a computer and internet. So we decided we'd ride our bikes there. Well me thinking i knew the area well rode to GAYNOR street instead of GAYLAND street. yeah. it was on the other side of town. So we rode around for an hour and then we found out that the only way to get to their house was to cross the high way. Sister Newton said there's no laws against it. So there we were. Two sister missionaries riding our humble mountain bikes on the side of the highway. I'm sure people started laughing at us. I'm just glad rocks didn't fall on me or hit me in the face. Anyway we finally got to their house and although we were sweaty we were able to have the meeting.  Another day this week i had made a promise to myself that I would talk to EVERYONE i felt prompted too. (i've started falling back on that skill) Sometimes i just get scared. But i was tired of it so i promised that  I would. Its hard when you start the day with a few bad attempts. But I kept going. So then as we were riding I saw this guy that looked okay. So i was like okay here we go. But then as I got closer he was playing this really scary screamo music. So i was like ahh maybe not. Its crazy how fast these arguments go in my head. But anyway we ended up gqing him and his name is Robert. He lives in boys shelter and he said he'd like to come to church. BUT THATS NOT THE END.  So i'm going to go to another story because it all connects.  A couple days later it was Peter's baptism. It had been really stressful trying to plan everything. Because no one seemed to know how baptisms worked. So we planned the best we could. But there were some bits and pieces that were left loose but luckily our kind members helped us out. It was a bit stressful for everyone and the baptism was kind of in pieces but the important thing was that Peter was happy and he was baptized. I cannot tell you how much the spirit changes when the ordinance is being performed. No matter what had happened that day, that moment was so peaceful. And obviously thats my favorite part about baptisms.  But yeah after that day we felt really bad because we made some members upset and everyone was stressed at the baptism and coordinating rides so when we got home we were just drained. After picking ourselves up we decided to call Robert^^. When we called him he hung up after we were talking for a bit. We were really confused but tried again and he ignored our call. After being disappointed we decided we'll just text him and that way he knows. So we just said "if you ever want to come to church let us know."  And we went out and worked. Sunday morning we received a text at 6:30. Guess who. It was robert asking if he could get a ride to church. OH MY GOODNESS. I screamed. Our wonderful less active, Sister Laycock offered to drive him and John (our wonderfully random investigator who came to church last week). Then we got a call saying Peter's dad was sick and they all needed a ride to church. AHHH! So we quickly called around and found a seat for everyone to get to church. YAY! And THEN AND THEN!  A member at church knew robert and turns out he's a member from NZ, his parents were members and his adoptive family here wasn't. What a miracle. Oh and sidenote a new less acitve came to church. She had a wonderful time.  Maryborough branch here we come! :) i can't wait to see it one day. "thats it".  :)  i love you heaps. thank you for everything.  As we end miracle may, 100 in june is awaiting us. Eeek!  sister mullen