23 February 2014

Sister Rachel Mullen So we went to sukothai last week. Way fun. Way hot. We went because the 3 missionaries that weren't in p-lok last transfer hadn't been. The cute old people bikes were a hit, just like last time. On our way back, Elder Lucas got the call. He was moving and so was I. I was actually pretty sad. I typically, before moves, feel pretty ready to go... but here I feel I could have stayed longer. At FHE that night, after the closing prayer. Elder Lucas told everyone. He was like, ok I think you all know already, but Sister Mullen and I are leaving this next transfer. Ok. See you all next time. Haha. And then you know Thai people, they were dramatic and cute about it, crying and stuff haha. It was cute. Some people I didn't even really know were really upset. But all is well in Zion. The next few days were just teaching people. Tuesday we went to go see Brother Ap and his wife. I love them so much, but they just really make a lot of excuses. They haven't been to church in a few weeks and so I asked them what that was about. Brother Ap was saying things that were really upsetting me, so I stopped him right there and committed him to serve his wife (also because the appointment was going long and we had to go teach english). But what I have learned from my mission, is when you (as one side of the companionship) feel like the other is holding you back, or the other person's faults and weaknesses are hindering the work... you serve them. You take a look at yourself and change that. You can't do a THING to change the other person, but you can control what you do, what you say. I was pretty straight forward with him, but he wasn't offended because he still wanted a picture once we were leaving haha Wednesday, Keng wanted to come to the church on her way to work to take pictures. So we met her at the church with Sister Ice Cream and they gave us a hymn book and we took a couple pictures haha. Keng was Really crying. She is so cute. We then had an appointment with a potential investigator. She said that her scripture study group meets then and we could go and share from the book of mormon. Anyways, she drops us off and leaves us with 6 women talking about the Bible. They don't even bother to introduce themselves or let us... they just continue doing their thing. They said prayers and the same time, they prayed for visions, it looked like they were blessing each other. I don't know. It was SO awkward. They allowed us to share bits here and there but overall it was SO weird and awkward haha. Perfect way to end my time in plok. Some investigators and members went to drop us off at the bus station. They sang us a song, people just started giving me things that were in their bags haha. I got a highlighter, pencil, etc. haha Believe it or not, I did NOT cry. Got to transfers. We all slept in the chapel because we got there around 4ish 5ish. Got to see some members from Bangkapi again!!! yeah!!! Sister Kittima always comes over and sits by me, because I'm always to lazy to stand and socialize. She always talks about how she wants mosquitos to bite her so she can get sick and lose weight. haha Transfers started. Long story short: Sisters in Kamphaengphet, sister ellis and me. I started crying. The powerpoint they had was a little different, it was faster and a little more awkward, so I didn't realize what it said right away. President told me to get started on the 17 referrals. Ahhhhh. PS, then they opened up a few other places for sisters. and Myanmar is now open! YES. Myanmar. is. open. It was the most amazing transfers meeting. ahhhh can't believe it. Elder Bartling and Davies sat down and talked to us about the RC's we will be taking care of. It's so amazing what they did in just a short time. The next day we had a sisters meeting. It was so wonderful. I bawled pretty much the entire time. Then we had lunch, which made me super miss relief society in the states. Just the best salads EVER that we haven't really had for a long time here in Thailand. SO GOOD. President told us to meet him at the office to print out the referrals. We long planned because didn't leave for a while. Going to miss the Phitsanulok sisters, but we are so close it's fine :) We got in around 4. The Elders and members are angels. They got us situated. Brother Sutaab took us out to the radio place where some RC's work. Got to talk and meet with them! and then... We were on the radio. Yes. MOMMA I WAS ON THE RADIO! it was crazy. I said nothing important, it was so weird. haha but it was cool. Church was amazing. We got to meet the amazing members/ recent converts and they are all amazing. So strong in the Gospel and you can't even tell how young this branch is. 16 people at church, but it is only going to get bigger. We tried contacting some referrals. Went to Lung Uthai. he is SO sweet, and recognized me. Haha, Introduced the Gospel to him and got a return appointment for this wednesday! Went and had dinner at the family's house. Good food. Good people. Now that that is out of the way, we will sift through and find the ready ones. I was reading Jacob 5 in studies. Yep. The amount of trust that the Lord puts in us is overwhelming, but so perfect for our growth. I'm a little bit nervous but I am going to work, oh so hard. Sister Mullen #1

Sister Jasmine Mullen This week has been great. Its been really crazy. But really really great. So we were GQing last week and there was this lady that needed directions. Her name is Maria, she was with her son Martin. They are from Colombia and they were looking for a new house to get away from a bad situation that they were in. Basically when we met her, she was just golden from the start. Sister Tempany and I could barely even speak because we were so afraid we were going to mess it up! But as we spat out words we were able to invite her to church and then even more in awe of her and her spirit, she said she had been praying to find a Christian church she could go to. I was seriously looking around for cameras, thinking it was some kind of new video for "The District 3". As we went about the rest of our day we both just wanted to go back and relive that feeling that just happened. She lives out of our ward area but she's moving into our area soon. But a ward member happily picked her up and she came to church and I think the ward could even feel how golden she was because they were all just filling her with all the love they could. We went on splits during church because we had 10 NONMEMBERS there. 6 being our investigators and 4 being people in our area who now want to be taught. So yeah, things just got interesting in Chermside :) Anyway we went on splits and luckily a member of our ward speaks spanish so my comp taught her a bit. And yeah tonight she is having dinner with one of our members ahh its just sooo exciting. And then there was another guy who came to church. He lives down the street and he is from the Philippines and has seen missionaries there and decided to come on Sunday randomly. So we're having dinner with him at Sister Mann's sisters' house on Tuesday and teaching him. He asked how he could become a member of the church. Seriously, I don't know whats going on! Abi and Nirosha are getting baptized March 5th. Her husband is supposed to be coming tomorrow so maybe their whole family can get baptized. :) :) Melissa, Harriet, and Cooper are doing well too. Melissa has started taking us more seriously now. The other night we just wanted to stop by and ended up staying an hour because when we gave her a scripture to read she just kept going and going and going. Haha it was great. When someone doesn't stop reading the book of mormon, i say let em go. How could you ever stop something like that? Oh and at the beginning of the week do you remember George? He was the guy I talked about my first week in Chermside, we met him on the street and he came to church. Yeah he moved back to WA and he called me! He said missionaries haven't contacted him yet and he doesn't know how to find the church. It was just so exciting so i sent int he referral again. Hopefully he can just get baptized soon. Something thats been kind of hard is repenting for me. Everyone here says " I love to repent". I don't yet. I really don't I don't like getting in trouble or someone telling me i'm doing something wrong. So that's something that i've had to deal with. We have new APs so they're really good at helping us know what we're doing wrong. Yeah. I really have to get better at dealing with that haha. Its hard for me to just take it and let it go. BUT! I will carry on haha. I came across a scripture the other day Luke 6;31-36. OH MY GOSH. I LOVED IT. Its really true. Of course you love everyone who loves you but its loving those who don't love you that is the real challenge. I know that if I can do better at that, a mighty change will happen. Oh and no we're not really teaching that family anymore, their dad was really the solid one but we'll follow up soon. And something that my Zone leader taught me was that miracles are always real and they happen and sometimes Heavenly Father allows those simple miracles, like someone saying they're getting baptized or someone saying they're coming to church, just so that we can know He still loves us and He's still helping us. Sometimes I don't like getting excited because it might be just "for the moment" but i'm trying to embrace all miracles and replace my fear with faith. I love you. Thank you for helping me so much. I love the pictures and thank you for the updates. Really what you said to me last week has helped me so much this week :) I love this work and i'm grateful to be a part of it. Love. Sister Mullen #2