Homecoming Photos

After my homecoming talk we had lunch at my house. Many family members and friends came. We got a few pictures I want to include in my book. It was a wonderful way to conclude my mission experience. It was such a blessing to serve the people in Mesa, Arizona. These are unforgettable memories I will always cherish.

Grandpa and Grandma Curtis

Jayden's mission friends

My family

Derek, Kellie, Logan, and Taylor

Wallace and Corinne

Jonathon, Jason, Beth, Lisa, Chris

The Bairds

Kenyon, Dee, and Kellie

My Homecoming Talk

Bishop opened the meeting by saying: 

"I was thinking about Jayden a few years ago when he was preparing for his mission.  I asked him what your biggest fear was about serving a mission, and he said being able to complete a 24-month mission.  I had not heard that from any young man before.  I told him to take that to the Lord and the Lord would bless him.  Jayden has not had an easy mission and had to fight through struggles.  Maybe it would have been easy for him to come home early, but I know it was important for him to server the Lord the entire time he was called.  When I say we say we are proud of him those are not hollow words.  We are pleased with his service and his faith."

Jayden's talk:

Good morning, almost afternoon.  As bishop said I served in the Arizona Mesa mission, which was an amazing experience.  It was a little warm.  There are a lot of people that come from colder places to Arizona; places like Michigan, Canada, and Minnesota.  I once saw this cartoon of an old couple coming down an elevator.  The door opened, and it was Hell.  Satan was there.  They asked, “Is this Arizona?”, and he said, “Nope. It’s one floor down.”  It’s pretty warm in Arizona; 115 degrees is not uncommon.  I loved Arizona. I loved serving the people there and I loved all the things I was able to learn as a missionary there. 

I have decided to speak on the doctrine of Christ, which is what missionary service is centered around.  The Missionary purpose says, “my purpose is to help others come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end”. 

There is a scripture in Alma chapter 32 where Alma teaches us.  “And now as I said concerning faith.  Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things, therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”  So faith is not necessarily having a knowledge of something.  Having faith is something you don’t have to have a physical tangible evidence of necessarily, but it is something that we have hope for and it’s important that we have faith in Jesus Christ.  Faith is a principal of action.  James teaches us faith without works is dead.  So we need to exercise our faith.  We need to increase our faith. To do that it’s just like exercising a muscle.  My dad has been coming to the gym with me recently, and yesterday I do not know how many time he said, “I am so sore!”   He has been lifting weights and when you lift weights it does get sore sometimes.  When we build our faith we need resistance.  When we have resistance and we work against that resistance it exercises us.  Sometimes it is kind of sore and painful but it’s how we get stronger faith.  Having faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement his something that is so essential.  As missionaries we taught people to have faith in the atonement.  It is necessary, as Paul teaches us, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  There is a quote in Brad Wilcox’s book “The Continuous Atonement” that I really liked. It stood out to me.  It says the word atonement is often broken up so it reads ‘at one ment’ but there is another word found amongst the letters that also could and must be emphasized.  ‘ME’.  Not only did Christ do it all for me but he also anxiously waits for me to accept it, to internalize it, and to make it count.  I really enjoyed that quote.  Linguistically I do not think ‘me’ really has anything to do with the word but it is something to be noticed and emphasized in that quotation.  There is a scripture.  Probably one of my most favorite scriptures of all time is in Alma.  Alma prophesied of the Christ and of the atonement.  “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and sicknesses of his people.  And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that His bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.  Now the spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that me may take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.”

This scripture describes the atonement so perfectly to me.  It describes how we can rely on the atonement for everything.  It redeems us from sin.  It strengthens us.  It heals us.  There is a man that I taught on my mission.  I will call him John.  John had a wonderful, wonderful experience and conversion.  He really needed to rely on his faith and the atonement to overcome some things.  Me and my companion were in Apache Junction and we received a referral for a man named John so we decided to go over and knock on his door and find out a little bit more about him and see if he is actually interested.  So we went over and we knocked on his door.  When we knocked on the door John answered it and said “Oh Elders, I have been expecting you.  Come on in.”  Oh okay… so we went in and he told us he had referred himself on Mormon.org because his Catholic grandmother said that she really liked the Mormons and thought that he should join the Mormon church right before she passed away.  As we began to teach John there were a lot of issues that came up with him not being able to be worthy to be baptized at the time.  He struggled with homosexual tendencies, with several addictions, especially with pornography and as we taught John it became evident that we needed to help him increase his faith in the atonement.  As he did that he would be able to overcome these things.  As John continued to study the scriptures and everything it was kind of incredible because we gave him a Book of Mormon.  When we came back he had a notebook all filled out with all kinds of cross references, scriptures and notes, on everything that he had read.  He had read a significant amount of the Book of Mormon.   He was just kind of focusing on how he could change.  As he continued to progress he started meeting with the bishop and going to counseling and the 12 step addition recovery program that the church puts on.  Eventually John was able to overcome all of his struggles and all of those past transgressions, and he was baptized.  So having faith in Jesus Christ was something so important for him.

That brings me to my next point which is repentance, the second part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  There is a scripture that says, “behold I God have suffered these things for all that they might not suffer if they would repent”, and so as we repent we are able to let go of that suffering that we experience as we sin.  The atonement not only redeems us from sin but strengthens us to overcome those sins and helps us to be healed from those sins the scarring effects those sins have on us.  There’s another scripture I enjoy also in Alma that reads, “yea I remembered all my sins and iniquities for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea I saw that I had rebelled against my God, that I had not kept his holy commandments.  And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.  Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.  And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.  And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!”   In these verses Alma was able to feel that healing effect that the atonement had on him as he was forgiven of those sins which he had committed.  That’s something that is so incredible to me that we are able to pray and to repent and when we do it with sincerity we are able to be forgiven.  We are able to be healed and that’s the greatest gift of all.  Lehi taught, “Wherefore all mankind are in a lost and a fallen state, and ever would be except they should rely on this their redeemer.”   We rely on our redeemer Jesus Christ and when repent we are able to be forgiven and we are able to return and live with God.  We are able to be clean.  There is an amazing promise in Moroni that says, “but as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness with real intent they were forgiven”.   It does not really matter how long we are falling short or how often we fall short.  We all are imperfect beings, and as we continue to seek forgiveness, have real intent and truly seek to become better we are able to be forgiven.  As we repent it leads us to action.  The biggest action we as missionaries usually saw people take was to be baptized.  There was a man named Jimmy that I taught.  His wife was an inactive member and he had two sons that were non-members.  We went over and taught Jimmy.  Jimmy had been meeting with missionaries for 15 or 16 years by the time I got there.  He told us right off the bat when we got there, he said, “Elders if you ask me to be baptized I will kick you out of my house.  I will not welcome you back and I will stop going to church till the next set of missionaries come.”  And so we were like, okay we will not ask you to be baptized then.  We began teaching Jimmy and we really focused on his boys Zane and Talon.  He gave them permission to be baptized if they felt they were ready for it.  As we taught Zane and Talon Jimmy sat in as well as his wife.  We would teach them discussions and different topics.  They became totally active.  They came to church every single week I was there.  In March they were looking for people to drive the youth to general conference in Salt Lake City.  Jimmy had recently been called as the assistant scout master.  He volunteered to drive some of the youth to conference.  So when they got there the young women had prepared all these notebooks for everyone with a tab with each of the apostle’s name on so they could take notes.  There were additional pages in the back for other general authorities.  They told them to ask three questions of the soul; questions that truly mattered to them.  Jimmy’s first question was, “Is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints God’s kingdom on the earth today?”  That’s a pretty good question for him to be asking.  He went to general conference with that question in mind.   When he got back to Arizona he had to catch up with work so we could not follow up with him.  Then the next week he had to keep catching up on work so we could not follow up with him, but that next Sunday he was asked to speak on his conference experience.  It was kind of odd to have a non-member giving a talk in sacrament meeting but it was amazing because as Jimmy got up there I remember watching general conference and Elder Perry was giving a talk.  Me and my companion were saying, ”This is what Jimmy needs! This is his concern!  He had never expressed his concern to us, but this is exactly what he needs to hear.”  When Jimmy got up to give his talk he said, “Well in General conference I asked the question whether the church is true or not, and in Elder Perry’s talk (me and my companion were like yes! this is exactly what he needed!) he told us about what he had learned in Elder Perry’s talk and he proceeded to say,  “I will be baptized on May 9^th”.   So me and my companion we were just blown away.  We had no idea he had made that decision.  It was something that was incredible.  Jimmy along with his two boys were baptized by Jimmy’s father-in-law on May 9^th.  It was the most incredible experience I think I had as far as baptisms go on my mission.  It was incredible to see that change of heart Jimmy had and that testimony that he had gained.  Then the next day they were confirmed members of the church.  In 2^nd Nephi it says, “behold, again I say unto you receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things which ye should do”.  That leads me to another story about an amazing young woman who was baptized named Francine.  Elder Karlinsey taught her too.  He is in the back there.  Elder Karlinsey and I got to go to her baptism.  I taught Francine in my very first area early on in my mission.  Her parents would not let her be baptized.  They would let her come to church every week. They would let her come to mutual.  They would let her hang out with members of the church and everything.  They just would not let her get baptized.  Francine loved the gospel. She had so much faith, and even though she could not be baptized she kept coming to church every single week.  Eventually she and her family moved away to Phoenix.  Well if we fast forward almost 2 years…Elder Karlinsey and I got a message from her that she was going to be baptized, but she lived in Phoenix which was two missions over.  So we called our mission president, well Elder Karlinsey called our mission president and asked if we could go to this baptism.  Our mission president said, “yes if a member drives you, and if a member won’t drive you, I will”.   So we got permission to leave two missions over to go to this baptism.  Seeing Francine as she and progressed, as she continued to attend church, and continued to meet with the missionaries, seeing how much her testimony had flourished was an amazing experience.  It was something that was so faith building for me.  Elder Carlinsy had the opportunity to baptize her and I had the opportunity to confirm her and give her the Holy Ghost.   I feel like Francine followed the spirit so well even before she received the gift, and she was only under the influence of the power of the Holy Ghost.  She knew that the gospel was true. She knew that the book of Mormon was true and it was the word of God.   Seeing her experience as she reached conversion was indescribable joy… is what I felt.  The last point of the gospel of Jesus Christ--I am running out of time so I will rush through this-- There is a scripture that’s actually this year’s youth theme, I believe.  If it is not this year’s, it was last year’s.  Its 2^nd Nephi Chapter 31 Verse 20 and it talks about enduring to the end.  “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.”

As a missionary I saw some converts get baptized and almost immediately fall away, and I saw others truly endure and continue to endure to the end.  There was a lady I baptized in my second area named Carol.  Carol seemed really solid.  She passed per baptismal interview, and she was ready to be baptized.  We baptized her and she showed up to her confirmation, and then she came about one a month, and eventually stopped coming altogether.  To see that happen really was something that took a toll on me.  It was something really frustrating and discouraging to see such a solid convert immediately fall away.  Seeing her example of not enduring to the end and just giving up was really, really heart breaking for me.  However, there was another convert I know.  I did not get to baptize him but he had been baptized for about two years when I got to the area.  His name was Sunny Lorenz.  Sunny was very solid in the gospel.  He had a very strong testimony.  He knew his scriptures like crazy.  He had been Baptist before and very into his bible.  He was able to be endowed while I was in the area.  Seeing his conversion was very inspiring to see that people can endure to the end, and that as people endure to the end they are happy and they can receive eternal life.  I know that as I served my mission I was able to help many people come unto Christ and that Jesus Christ truly is the Savior and Redeemer of the world.  I know that he loves each of us, that our heavenly father loves each of us, and that because of Christ’s atonement we can all be perfected, and we can all receive forgiveness of our sins.  I am thankful for the opportunity I had to serve a full time mission and complete the two years. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

The Time is Here

Dear family and friends,

This week was pretty good. I went on a couple of exchanges and we taught a few lessons. It's hard to believe that this is the last email I'll be writing to everyone. Next time I talk to my family it'll be in person at the airport. Crazy! It is absolutely insane that I have a mere 8 days left.   Only 5 of those days I'll be out proselyting the entire day. It's unreal. Anyway, this week I went in an exchange with Elders Chatfield and Jordan in their area while Elder Mann went with Elder Ojala to ours. That actually went fairly well. We went and visited this guy named Norvall who just moved in a few days before and is solid! His wife isn't a member, but she has been to church several times, has taken all the missionary lessons except one, and asked us when she could be baptized. It was awesome! Haha! I wish our area would have people like that move into the ward. It would be nice. We also had a lesson with a kid named Hunter. He's probably 20 or so, and is the only member in his family. He's a recent convert and is talking to his family about the gospel. Apparently they had the sister missionaries that cover his family over for dinner the same night we taught Hunter. He says he thinks that the rest of his family will get baptized within the next year or so. He loves the church so much!

The next day Elder Ojala and I got back together and we did a few things in preparation for me to go home. That was pretty good! Not much that was too exciting though. I did get my flight plans, so that was crazy. I'll be landing at Salt Lake International at 10:20. Elder Karlinsey and I have the exact same flight home, so it'll be fun to be with him on the way home! We'll be reunited with our families simultaneously! I don't know what the current plans for that day are, but I'm going to need some new garments and new clothes. I've gone up an entire shirt size and two pant sizes... So hopefully we can go clothes shopping mom and dad!

Now for a basic overview of the past two years. My mission has meant the world to me. It has been the hardest two years of my entire life.

I served in five areas with 8 companions. Four of those companions I was with for 4 1/2 months. My first area was in downtown Mesa in the Cornerstone ward. I got my trainer, Elder Parker who I actually went to lunch with this week! We did some good work there. We taught Francine at least twice a week and often three times. She loved the church, but her parents wouldn't let her be baptized. Finally, 20 months later they allowed it and Francine got baptized this June! It was amazing to go to her baptism with the Elder that replaced me in that area, Elder Karlinsey. I made a lot of friends in that area amongst the missionaries. There were a lot of funny experiences in that apartment with Elders Foulger and Anderson! We had our pet scorpion, Dwayne!  That thing was a lot of fun! Haha! Oh man, stories that people would hardly believe took place in #1197 of the Moorings!

Transfer news came and told it me I would be heading to the Meridian Ward in Apache Junction with Elder Bakaitis! Good ol' AJ! Land of homelessness, conspiracy theorists, meth heads, "bicyclists", cigarette smokers, and drag queens! I don't know that I've ever been in a place with such strange people! The "People of Walmart" video on YouTube, could literally have been filmed in its entirety in the Apache Junction Walmart. It was an amazing experience to be out there though. The people are hilarious to watch, although many of their lives are quite sad. This area is where I truly learned to have compassion for others. "And of some have compassion, making a difference." - Jude 1:22. I can't tell you how many people I met that I thought were lost causes from the beginning. As I served and loved those people that were struggling through life with their poverty and drug addictions I learned to feel a love I hadn't felt before. Elder Sweeten was my second companion in the Meridian Ward. He taught me how to have even more compassion. He was probably my favorite companion.

He was exactly who I needed at the time I was out there. I've never met a man so loving and charitable! Together we had 8 baptisms in the three transfers we were together! It was an amazing time out there full of success! Exactly what I needed at that time! Six months later transfer news came and I was told I'd be going to one of the furthest points of the mission, Globe, AZ!

Getting to the Apache zone was amazing. This was probably my favorite area and zone! No sisters allowed! We could do whatever we wanted, and we did! Haha! There are 12 Elders in the zone, so we called ourselves the quorum of the twelve Apaches. My companion was Elder Jencks who ties with Elder Sweeten for favorite companion award. He definitely is pretty nerdy, but he's a person who likes to have fun. We worked hard there! Probably harder than I've worked at any other point on my mission. We got there with a blank area book. We had one investigator to work with who wasn't really progressing. We found at least 10 investigators every month! It was amazing. Globe was a hard area because while we found lots of people, it took a long time for them to progress. We did baptize Destiny and Patricia while I was there, but I found out that several others we worked with were baptized in the following transfers. Elder Jencks and I were companions for three transfers and they flew by! It was fantastic!  Elder Jencks went home to Colorado and I got Elder Welch from Farmington, Utah! He actually lives in the stake bordering mine. It was fun to be with someone who had a lot of mutual friends. We had a great time together the first three weeks of our companionship, but then the hardest trial of my mission began. I got really sick. I began to get severe chronic headaches that would last for hours on end, subside for a few hours, and then come right back. We're talking 20 hours of headache every single day of the week. I got transferred at the end of that transfer with Elder Welch to Elder Murray in the Crescent, Hampton, and Patterson wards!

Elder Murray was one of the most patient companions I have had my entire mission. My headaches got worse than ever before right when I became his companion and I was sleeping a lot. This was his last transfer too, so I really felt bad. This is when all the medical testing began. I got a CT Scan, an MRI, an MRA, an EEG, went to the psychologist to make sure it was depression causing the headaches, had blood tests run for liver, kidney, thyroid, protein levels, and about 12 other things.  I tried several medications, went to a neurologist, and talked to dozens of other medical professionals only to learn that there was nothing visibly wrong. I finally went to a chiropractor about a month and a half ago and was told my back was completely messed up and that that was a possibility.  I am a medical mystery. I'm lucky the mission department allowed me to stay on my mission to the end. Elder Murray taught me more about compassion and empathy in those six weeks than I think I had learned about it my whole mission. That guy was amazing. He always was checking on me and making sure I was okay and feeling as well as I could feel.

I got Elder Edwards after that and I was still sick. We had a lot of good laughs together. I've never had a companion that I could play off of so well. And he could play off of me! It was a lot of fun. We honestly were probably one of the funniest companionships this mission has ever had. We had President Jenkins in stitches multiple times and Sister Jenkins rolling her eyes over and over again! It was an amazing time together! We would go around at the Easter pageant saying hi to people and other missionaries and we had made it a goal to make as many people as possible laugh. The apartment we were in was hilarious too!  We had Elders Shirley and Renel who were just hilarious to tease.  Elder Shirley was a total germaphobe which was a lot of fun to use to our advantage. We would do things like take videos of us sneezing on his pillow with his iPad so that when he saw it he would freak out and wash all of his bedding. And then there was Elder Renel, from France…  Holy smokes... He was an easy target. You could tell him anything and he would believe it. Hahaha! I mean anything! We once even convinced him that his girlfriend is ugly. She's beautiful by the way, just for the record. But seriously! We talked about it for an hour and eventually he said, and I quote! "Yah, I guess she is kind of ugly."  Hahaha oh man! I should probably feel bad about it, but I don't. He just was a lot of fun! That was a good apartment!

Transfer news came once again and I was going to be with Elder Ojala in the Red Mountain and Preston wards.  I have never been in such a dead area. We've been through all the lists twice now and have almost nothing going on. Finally a few weeks ago we picked up 7 new investigators, which was amazing! We've had a lot of fun together these last three transfers. We have a baptism his Saturday which is going to be amazing. I'll be able to say I've baptized someone in every area I've served in. I'm so glad that I've been able to serve in the areas I have. The wards here are amazing and the people are very nice. I'm sad to be leaving them. Not much has really happened here that's been all that exciting. We've had a few successes, but success in this area definitely isn't defined by the numbers. It's defined by your diligence. It's hard to remain diligent in an area like this, but I can honestly say that I've done my best.

I've given it my all.

My mission experience has been absolutely amazing. It's been a looooooooong two years, but I can hardly believe it's come to an end. I've learned so many things on my mission, both temporal and spiritual. I know how to be organized and how to clean without being told. I have learned how to be a self-starter. I've learned how to talk to people and have refined my wit, so now I can actually appear to be funny to people. I know how to braid a bull whip, use a lathe, do laminate flooring, paint walls, put together cabinets, replace a car bumper, make a knife, make earrings, and how to exercise and diet correctly. I've been able to learn patience in suffering, and perseverance in times of trial. My testimony has been strengthened one hundred fold! I know that Jesus is the Living Christ. I know he atoned for my sins. I know that through his atonement, I can be redeemed, strengthened, and healed. I know the Lord speaks to man through prophets in these latter days. "Surely the Lord God doeth nothing save it be through his servants the prophets." My testimony has been strengthened into a conversion. I am converted to Christ and His gospel. My mission is coming to a close, and I have to say bye to Mesa. I have grown to love this place. I've put my blood, a lot of sweat, and my tears into my mission. But this isn't the end of my missionary work. David O. McKay said every member a missionary! Nephi said, and I've recited nearly every day of my mission, "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have ever lasting life." The Lord said to Nephi, and I certainly hope he would say to me, "Blessed art thou, Elder Mullins, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou has not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will and to keep my commandments. And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works." I share the departing words of Timothy. He said it better than I ever could. "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

Love,

Elder Mullins

The following pictures are at the beginning of my mission and the end.  I've grown spiritually and physically.  The first one is of Elders Anderson, Foulgers, me, and Elder Parker.  

Elder Parker was my first companion

 The second one is of me, Elder Parker, and Elder Karlinsey at the end of my mission.