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

16 February 2014

Sister Rachel Mullen Ok. Transfers are this week. Things are crazy. Not really. I'm just being dramatic. Let's start with Lukas. We taught him the 10 commandments this week. We started with No other Gods. He is fine with that. He has been calling himself Christian for years already. No Buddhism in him. Next was no idols. He grabs his neck. "MY CROSS!" haha He GETS IT! Next, saying the Lord's name in vain. He says Oh my G.. ALL THE TIME! He got a little embarassed, haha. He was like, WHY DIDNT ANYONE TELL ME! I SAY IT SO MUCH! Haha, so we said oh my goodness is fine. So he quickly changed to that the rest of the lesson. Got to the Law of Chastity, and he got a little worried. He is gay and telling him that he cannot act on those feelings was scary. I didn't know what to say. All I could do was invite him to pray for strength to live this law that God has set forth. He is such a bubbly person, so happy. So he left still just as happy, but I know a lot more on his mind. We saw him a couple days later. Just wanted to follow up. Asked about his praying, how it was going. And he just smiles and says he will try. He wants to keep this commandment. He may have been investigating the church for WAY to long (10 years!) and doesn't have ALL the knowledge of the gospel quite yet. But this man's faith, love for god, and willingness to keep the commandments is more than I have ever seen in a person. I am working hard, but I will say it: I did nothing. ah, crying right now in the internet cafe. haha whyyyyyyy Keng is now working on sundays, but she should be able to come back to church next month and be baptized. But she is planning on moving to the south where there is no church in a few months. Crazy how fast people make such HUGE life decisions! I take 10 minutes just to figure out I want fried rice for lunch. I love this place. Don't know who is leaving, who is staying. Either way things will be exciting. The district presidency came this last weekend. They got to see the fireside and they met with us afterwards and told us how they are planning on calling some missionaries to be called as counselors in some of the auxiliaries of the branch. Lots of good happened this week. It was good. Way good. love, sister mullen #1

Sister Jasmine Mullen My week has been WONDERFUL! So far so good with my companion. It was tough at first, but I remembered the lessons I have learned from my dealings with other companions. I made a promise to myself that I would not regret anything. And ever since then, life has gotten a lot easier. I'm glad that you guys have been able to spend more time together, or more QUALITY time together. I saw this quote on a door the other day and it said, "Love is when two people sit in the middle of a bench, even when there's plenty of room on both sides." I often think of what you said to me one day about how marrying mommy was the easiest decision you ever made. That brings me a lot of comfort and its easier to stay focused. So this week has been kinda crazy. Melissa had a bit of a break down. Its funny how sometimes we see when our heart aches, as weaknesses but they're really gifts from God. Melissa has been blessed with a heart that loves all of God's beautiful creations. She cannot stand to see an animal hurt or mistreated. Thats truly a gift. But if we cannot access the powers of the Atonement, then we can not find peace and rest that we require. I am continuing to try and grow a more bold testimony so that hopefully one day, with the right timing, and the right circumstance, the knowledge of the atonement will pierce her heart, in a good way! So she can get baptized! But yeah we spent 2 hours with her the other day just letting her talk it all out. You could see that the spirit was back in her home by the time we left, Although we have an hour limit, thats how i like to leave people. My heart cannot leave someone without it. Well, its really hard to leave. But yeah Abi is getting baptized March 5. The ward is really excited. I am praying and hoping so much that he will do it even if his dad is not here. The ward is praying really hard though. I am really grateful for the Atonement, and I am so excited to be more deeply converted. I learn new things everyday. And I really would like to just have it so engrained in my soul that nothing can shake me when I get home. i love you and im grateful for everything you've done and continue to do for me. Sister Mullen #2 :) :)

2 March 2014

Sister Rachel Mullen This week was LOTS of inviting. We teach English twice a week here which is great, we just need more people. We have not been able to meet with any of the investigators that were already in the area book, so we have just been starting fresh... with inviting and finding those ready and prepared. It has been difficult this week meeting with people. Just sifting after we have already sifted. Whatever. It's normal. haha We gave a date to this cute old man. His name is Amnuay! The same as Grandma! That's got to be a sign. We taught him The Gospel as well as the Word of Wisdom. He is good. He can Totally be baptized soon. When we gave him his date... pulled out his journal... turned to that date and wrote in when he was being baptized. Then he went back to the 23rd of February and showed us his entry when he saw us and we invited him to be baptized on the street. He wrote down what baptism was and all the stuff that was on the card that we gave him. He is just a little forgetful. He came 1 hour late to his appointment, and left his phone at the place that he first went to when he got lost. So currently, he does not have a phone. But we have his address so no worries, he'll be baptized on time. This week, the Unit Leader (we call it a unit because it is not a branch yet), was not here. So us missionaries were Totally in charge of Sunday. Gave a 20 minute talk... Hey, that's better than in English! Then, maybe because it was fast sunday or something, but Satan was working crazy hard at getting me depressed and tired. I won't go into the problems and challenges I was thinking about, but it was just hard to get up. But as we all know, the best way to get over that is to just get to work. We went inviting and it was interesting. Had a few people laugh at us here and there, but thank goodness for companions that can be there, so we are never alone. Met a guy named Brigham... I really hope that's another sign and HE will be baptized too! :) There was going to be a baptism yesterday, but since the Unit Leader wasn't here in Kphet, they needed someone else holding the priesthood to be witnesses for the baptism because all the other members are RC's and don't have it yet. So they had to have the Phitsanulok Elders come in and their bus got in late so we didn't get to the river until about 7 for the baptism. But oh man, was it amazing. that's all I can say. Nothing better than this right here. Love Sister Mullen #1

Sister Jasmine Mullen OH DID I HAVE A GREAT WEEK?! This week seriously couldn't have been any better. I don't know why the Lord has blessed ME so much. Like the more I'm out here the more I am amazed at His love for us. Like I get blessed for waking up at 6:30. I get blessed for going to bed at 10:30. I get blessed for knocking on strangers' doors. Man truly by "small and simple things are great things brought to pass" So the week started with our miracle investigator Maria. We didn't have anything to do Monday, our back up plans and back up back up plans all fell through and we didn't feel GQing was the most effective thing that night. And then we just started talking about Maria and then Bro Williams called us and invited us over to dinner with Maria! They invited her over and we just got to know her and seriously its weird. but COOL. she just seriously accepts everything we say. Like I still pinch myself sometimes and sometimes Sister Tempany and I just sit and stare because she's so amazing. These are the elect that are prophesied in the scriptures. So we've seen her everyday since and she's getting baptized this Saturday. YES. THIS SATURDAY. She's just a blessing from heaven. And she knows its true and she was just a blessing to give us more faith that God really is behind all of this. She like seriously says the stuff it says in preach my gospel like, "I feel like something has been filled" I get chills just typing that. She truly is elect. We taught the Word of Wisdom and I though thats when it was going to get a bit realistic. But no, she just filled my heart with faith and cast out my fears because she has a really bad addiction to coffee and when we simply just told her over the phone we don't drink coffee. She stopped immediately. She hasn't had one for 3 days now. She has really bad headaches but she just "wants to follow God" (in her own words) I hope one day you can meet her or I hope you can truly feel the spirit that I do when I talk about her. She is a light for others and she is a disciple of Jesus Christ. Eek! She's just too amazing for words honestly. We had trade offs this week. Something I wanted to learn was how to just be bubbly all the time. Sister Moran my STL definitely taught me that. She just radiates happiness. She taught me so much in just a day with her. My companion had another sister who honestly traumatized her. It was awful. And really scary. She's fragile to begin with and this STL just tore her apart.She's a great missionary but the love in the trade off was the most important part and it was missing. Its been great though this week for me, i've learned how to love loving my companion. I love serving her and being able to help her. So her bad experience blessed me! Man seriously i don't know whats going on, but I know God loves me. :) Abi is good for baptism. He's so amazing. He's excited to get baptized and then get his bike fixed so he can come out with us haha :) he was scared a little bit but, nothing that the spirit can't fix. Apparently his mom got baptized. sooo... not sure what that was all about but we haven't caught up with her yet. His baptism is This wednesday night. Its the "mutual activity" for everyone so I"m really excited. I love the youth in our ward btw. they're awesome. Oh the weather is bipolar as. I don't ever know whats going on. But it makes the mission an adventure as always. haha Oh backtrack, after trade offs my GQing skills definitely improved all thanks to amazing leaders. We went off inviting everyone to church and 4 people said yes. They didn't come but I know they will next week :) One lady we helped with her groceries home. She's from Greece. Its seriously like I'm serving in 50 different countries. But its great. Also a guy asked me if he could get baptized. WHAT THE HECK. haha :) Oh yeah and my first day back on my bike in 3 transfers, ( i have no idea how to GQ on a bike) but yeah i tried to give him a card and fell off my bike and my bike just yeah. it was ridiculous and embarrassing. haha good times. Anyway, I think thats it. Obvs, my testimony has grown heaps this week. But most of all my heart has been enlarged. I've allowed Heavenly Father to do that. I'm so happy I could cry. I do all the time now. haha I love you and thank you so much for everything Sister mullen #2

10 February 2014

Sister Rachel Mullen So Lukas, that investigator that has investigated for over 10 years, he came to church for the second time this last week and he told us he is willing to Keep the Sabbath Day Holy. He hasn't been baptized because he had NEVER gone to church, because of his amazing job at 7-11. But now he has just made the decision to just do it. His date is for the 22nd, but we are going to prepare him to be interviewed this week, so he can be baptized a week early. No reason to keep waiting. It's been 10 years. Keng, she moved out of her boyfriend's apartment. Now she is just working on forgiving others. She has had hard things happen in her life, now it is time to help her realize how the gospel will help with ALL of that. It's WAY hot here. like I'm dying. During our two hours of contacting everyday, I like to now crunch of leaves. I feel like I'm in a musical. And it is no longer painful or annoying to contact, but enjoyable every stinking minute. I love it. Just a time to stop and increase the teaching pool! We went out far to go see some Less Actives. Sister Nancy drives a thing for work, so we call her up sometimes when we don't feel like biking way far. We asked her to go with us to Sister Gung (RC) and Sister Gung's youngest son was there!!! He is way sweet, 15 years old, got some tattoos but he came to church. She is working on her family one step at a time, it's amazing. Anyways, when Sister Nancy learned we were going to take a bus out to the LA's house, she offered to go with us. Mind you, it is her day off. Ah. It was good. We worked, ok?! We worked. but we also may have had a great time and drank out of coconuts too. We have our musical fireside this weekend. I'm singing Where Can I Turn For Peace. Hope all goes well and I don't mess up everything about this concert. ps that's what we call it now because thai people don't know what a fireside is. Sister Mullen

Sister Jasmine Mullen Well i'm glad everything is okay. I don't know if you guys ever look into your patriarchal blessing very much but sometimes i read mine and i just wonder WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. I'm very grateful that it was nothing. Continue to be healthy! So this week was great! I don't know if i had a chance to tell you but i'm playing piano more now! I practice sometimes. And I played Nearer my God to Thee for district meeting! Eeek! I was so nervous and once i started i was like oh my gosh i do not want to play this anymore haha i was sweating! TMI? man. but yeah. It was a great week. We just had transfers. I am now with Sister Tempany. She is from Weston's ward in Melbourne. So she gave me a note from him so that was pretty cool. For the past two transfers I have really struggle with loving my comps. Or I guess showing them that I love them. So i made a promise to myself that this transfer I would make sure not to regret anything. I really loved the quote you sent me from elder holland. that was seriously perfect for me. i dont have the picture with me but i'll send it to you when i get it. its a picture of the missionaries in our ward. there are now 8. and we took a picture with 2 of the APs who were leaving. it was such a great capture of the work hastening. one the APs got released today. he has been an AP for over 7 transfers. it was so sad/weird to see him "go". The work is hastening. There are so many new things in our mission. We are working harder and if we slow down we'll be left behind. There are three types of missionaries. The ones who make things happen, the ones who watch things happen and the ones who say, "what is happening?". I'm so grateful for this experience. I'm so sad that its almost halfway over. i miss it already. but i know that when i go home i'll be able to continue. things are going to happen this transfer. :) have a great week! sister mullen

3 February 2014 (Pictures)

My question to Sister Mullen was, "Why are you in the middle of the picture? Shouldn't that be Jasmine?"

Jasmine's new companion - Sister Allen

Really?  He's an AP?

Is she scared or excited?

First baptisms in Kamphaengphet!  Do you recognize the river?

3 February 2014

Sister Rachel Mullen I got the package yesterday!!! Thank you so much!!! I got it after church on a fast Sunday, so everyone LOVED it!!! All the members were like, you have the cutest mom! Haha thank you thank you. I will have the whitest teeth and the best smelling armpits in Thailand. So here is how January went down. 164 out of the goal for 200 baptisms. It's AMAZING. It is the record for Asia, and we learned that Taiwan has adopted our inviting technique. Also, crazy news... some companionships did WAY too awesome. There were 3 companionships that got 15, 9, and 7 people baptized in the month. We had great training on just keeping the faith. They said there is a lot of 'poison' going around that it is the missionaries fault if a recent convert goes less active. Or talking about an investigator and saying, why baptize them if they are just going to fall away. What we fail to remember is that to share the Gospel is a commandment. Even as tithing and the word of wisdom is a law, so is missionary work. Baptize them, give them the Holy Ghost, and give them a fighting chance at living life. These fast baptisms are not rushed. It doesn't take a long time to repent... the process is long... but in talking about that first decision to decide to stop doing something... takes a second. The way I see this work is changing everyday. It's amazing. We are working on trying to find new investigators. Trying to keep up the energy in an area that we've served in for 4 months... I feel like I have seen everyone at least twice. Everyone in this city. But then you find that ONE person you missed. That ONE person that just wasn't outside when you were there. Inviting is still major, it's always going to be. We should never give up on those people we have reached out to. I can't tell you how much courage it is going to take to re-invite and reshare my testimony with the friends I have already tried to talk to... but that's what God requires of us. Oh man, funny story. We were inviting, and sometimes you have to look at a person first and decide if they are crazy or not. I invited this guy and I thought he was all there. He looks at the picture, doesn't answer the question... He looks confused. I tell him again. Baptism. Do you want it? And then he literally just turns around. That's it. I was so confused and just weirded out. I'll act it out for you when I get back. aHHHHH The former investigator we are teaching came to church this last Sunday. First time in his 10+ years of investigating the church. And he came. This church is SO true. Sister Mullen #1

Sister Jasmine Mullen

27 January 2014

Sister Rachel Mullen

Sister Jasmine Mullen Hello! I had a wonderful week! We were lucky enough to have a sisters conference. It was the best. I was really having trouble and all I can say is the Lord knows us. SO WELL. The theme was about becoming eternally changed. We kinda have a theme in our mission of experiencing a mighty change. And it was really hard for me at first. The main thing I'm working on right now is my pride. Its just like no matter what I do, I can't seem to break this rut that I'm in. But then at sisters conference, some of the departing sisters bore their testimony and it was so good. The thing about the gospel is that we can change. People change and even though it doesnt happen in a week or even a month, we still have that ability. "To believe that deficiencies in our character are unchangeable is to reject the plan of salvation." We are not cast in stone. And from this week I have learned that if I listen promptly to what the spirit is telling me I will become better. I want to keep changing. That was pretty much my miracle this week! I feel rejuvenated. And I'm really happy because I was tired of feeling tired to share the gospel. I should never be tired to serve, I only get 18 months! I am also soooo grateful for answers to my prayers. I do things wrong everyday and I still say some pretty dumb things but I'm so grateful for the opportunity to learn and to be tired. I LOVE BEING TIRED! Its great. I actually almost fell asleep in a lesson the other day. It was an awesome lesson, I just was so exhausted. Lets pray that never happens again. So also the nickname I gave myself has gotten around. Lets hope President doesn't hear that I call myself sister ap. haha. Its a joke. Obviously. And yeah we're still working with the same people, everything is good. I love you and I miss you. Our ward is doing a PMG challenge. To read it in 3 months and we did a presentation on it, it was pretty good. The APs did most of it so obvs it was haha. I love you! have a good week! Sister Mullen #2