26 August 2013

Sister Rachel Mullen This was our official first week with the new district leader and it's funny how each DL emphasizes different things. So now we are all about getting balanced key indicators which seemed crazy because... balanced key indicators include: 2 daters: We only had one. 10 lessons with a member/RCLA: never have gotten 10 2 new investigators 2 people at church: After weeks of inviting, none of our investigators have EVER come to church But we did almost Everything! We just needed one more person at church. But even that one person that did come to church, we were so pleased and happy she came anyways. This investigator, she has learned with many elders before. She has been interviewed before but did not pass because she has to work on Sunday. We have not taught her since we have been here because we were told she doesn't want to learn if she can't be baptized or something like that. I asked our District Leader if she can be baptized if she still has to work after church and he said yes. We went and told her the good news and she came to church with her less active husband! Ah, it was wonderful! After church we went to her little store and started teaching her, just by starting off with a review of the restoration. Didn't have to teach much because she remembered it so well. I asked her if she has prayed to know if it is true, and she said she hasn't prayed in a while, but she starts tearing up as she explains that everytime she talks about Joseph Smith's experience with missionaries or members, she can feel it and she knows. It was so powerful as we just sat on the floor of her little shop in the mall and talked about the Restoration of the Gospel. Also in the search for a new dater, we committed our cute little 15 year old investigator. It has been pretty slow with her because her Grandma is so outspoken and scary. I remember the first time we went there... The Elders took us to meet her because they had been teaching her before us. We went with another member and she asked the grandma if we could turn off the tv and the grandma was offended and she DRAGGED the tv into another room so she could keep watching it! I will not explain the few other visits that we have had but let me tell you about this last one: We got there. Said Hello. The grandma tells Min (the 15 year old investigator) to bring the table outside. The grandma gets a red table cloth out. Takes us to the kitchen to taste what she has been making... and we sit there. And eat a delicious dinner, apples, grapes, and a frozen drink that she made. And then every now and again she would sit in and listen to us read the Book of Mormon with Min. We were really nervous because the grandma wasn't leaving and we were planning on asking Min to be baptized! But it was great that she was listening in. After a while, the grandma got up and we asked Min to be baptized and she said yes. We said with planning and prayers we can make it happen. The grandma came back as we continued to teach about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and the precious love that God has for us. God's work, I'm telling ya! No new companion. Sisters usually get to stay with their moms for ALL of training which is nice! She is worried she is going to train after training too. She's ridiculous. Of COURSE she is already ready to train. She knows this whole, me training her is MY follow up training. She's already ready though for sure. Funny story: So we are on our bikes at a stop light. A man walks up and holds out his hand to shake my hand. I shake his hand. Then he leans down and kisses it! AH! Mind you he was missing teeth. I pulled my hand away and God LOVES HIS MISSIONARIES because the light was green and I sped off. Lesson learned: people are not going to come up to you and want the Gospel. You need to tell them and invite them first. I really thought he knew I was a missionary. ugh. hahahahha Anyways, Sister Nok... you need to meet her. I told her about my hopes and dreams of being the first sister missionary in Laos and she is going to read the Laos Book of Mormon with me!!! But then she also said she is not going to speak Thai to me anymore... just Isan/Laos. aweiohnfrkljasdbnkljdfg;qoiwerhfjlwse;fl~ Love, Sister Mullen #1

Sister Jasmine Mullen Thats so cool about going to the temple! I'm excited to go! OH THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT YOU BOTH NEED TO BE HOME ALL DAY SATURDAY. YOU HAVE TO. I CANT TELL YOU WHY BUT IT IS VERY IMPORTANT. I'm am all better! im really glad i'm done being sick. It was awful! Oh man, i'm getting fat. I eat too much bread. Its just so good i can't help it. But I am going to start being healthier. A member is feeding us friday and asked me what i missed and i said vegetables haha. she looked at me really funny. It is officially the first day of a new transfer. Man! I am feeling good. It was really hard to say goodbye to Sister Taivei this morning. She was an amazing missionary and I learned a lot from her. I didn't expect our goodbye to be as heartbreaking as it was but, it was hard! Especially because we really did have an awesome last few days. I dont know if you remember me telling you about the Edmond family. Their daughter is jade who is ready to get baptized. Well they had a "date" but they started not returning our phone calls and not being home for our appointments. So we had no idea what was going on. We stopped by on Sister Taivei's last day and had an awesome lesson. It might've been just a spiritual high for us because we were working so hard to end Sister Taivei's misison with a bang. But who cares. It was amazing. We brought up something that someone said to me in the MTC. Just before Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, he almostt gave up. They are on the verge of a miracle. They will be baptized before the end of this transfer. I am SO EXCITED FOR THEM. Greta, the girl that got baptized my first week here, her brother came to church! And we had dinner with their whole family! It was a big step and we were very happy. Craig came to church! Ah! we were so happy. His testimony is so strong and I know that once he recconnects with his family in the church and his friends, a miracle will happen. He's really excited about the musical fireside we're planning haha. he's pretty much planning it himself. So one of our ward missionaries is really great. She works hard and loves it. But she does go overboard sometimes haha. Its great to have someone over rather than under though. The other night she wanted us to come out to her house and correlate. We were so confused and told her the mission rules about only having meals with members for an hour and that we only correlate with our ward mission leader. She was going to call the mission president to "talk it over" apparently she's done it before. She's awesome though. It was just so funny. But other than that. I'm doing great! I'm excited to work with my new companion sister hwang. We talked in the car and we both LOVE being obedient. I am still working on not being crazy about it though. I learned a lot this week. I need to be more patient with myself. and not expect too much. just improvement. I have learned that being a missionary is not something that you "get good at". Its a daily decision that i will make for the rest of my life: to serve the Lord, or to not. I have also learned that "the tough times will out number the good times. but the good times will out weigh the bad". I love being a missionary and i love tough things! I'm excited for this transfer and to see the miracles that will come of it! I love you. sister mullen