Dear
family and friends!!!
This
week has been awesome! It's been one of the fullest and most busy weeks of my
entire mission so that's incredible! That's what missionary work is all about…keeping
busy! There's definitely not been a single dim moment in this whole week. Tuesday
morning we went to Mesa with a couple Elders because they needed to be
somewhere and they didn't have a car. That took up a good chunk of our morning.
We did our studies until noon and then a member took us out to lunch at a place
called Streets of New York. It's like a New York style Italian place. It was
pretty much the best pasta I've ever had! I really enjoyed that place. We
shared a message about the Holy Ghost and how to live worthy of having his
presence at all times. It was a powerful lesson for sure. After lunch we went
and met some investigators that moved into our ward who were meeting with a
couple other missionaries. Her name is Syri, (Suh-Ree) and she has two
daughters, Kolin and Kori. Her 11 year old daughter is insanely tall! When we asked how old she was I was totally
expecting her to tell us like 16, but nope! She's 11... It was kind of scary,
because she's about three inches taller than me. That puts her at about
5'11". It was pretty much nuts! After that we went to meet with Jim again.
He called us up and asked us to come over and visit with him. I don't know
what's up with him because he keeps forgetting things that he's said or
mentioned and talking about them again. He did that a few times throughout our
lesson. He wished me a happy birthday probably
about three times, so yah... I don't know what's going on there. We went to
Brother Pearson's from there. Brother Pearson is a returning member who just
moved from Magna, Utah. He's sweet! He's the one we visited with the dogs last
week. It's kind of sad because his parents who have been married for over 50
years now are getting a divorce. He was pretty devastated, so pray for him.
He's got it pretty rough right now. His wife is still in Utah trying to get her
degree finished up. She hopes to have it done by end of July, so as soon as she
finishes that, he'll be in a lot better shape, I'm sure. That evening we were
in the church building planning what we were going to do with our ward mission
leader that evening since we normally go out Tuesday evenings for a couple of
hours. All the sudden a homeless man came into the church, looked at all of us,
told us to teach him and that he needed God. His name is Anthony. He's spent 27
years of his life in prison. He's trying to shape his life up. He struggles
with a few things in the Word of Wisdom, so we are hoping to help him overcome
those. He was pretty emotional Tuesday night and it was quite
difficult to teach him since he wouldn't let us talk. He just talked, and talked, and talked at us,
so yah... But we set something up to come meet with him the next day.
Wednesday
was kind of a repeat of Tuesday, lots and lots of teaching... It's
awesome! At 1:00 we went over to Alisha's and visited with her for a
bit. She's finally starting to gain some traction. Her boys started day care
that day, which was awesome! So now she's able to go out and find a job. She's almost
got one lined up too, so we're excited for her! At 2:00 we met with
Matt. He's doing well. Unfortunately he didn't get the job he was applying for
at the mines, but that's alright. It was going to be a seven days a week job
with 12 hours shifts, so it might not have been the greatest thing for
him. At 3:00 we went to the church to meet with Anthony. He was a lot
easier to talk to that time. I was actually half expecting him not to be there.
I've taught maybe three or four homeless people and usually they only last for
that initial contact and maybe another lesson, but he was on time and solid!
Anthony knows the bible like you wouldn't believe and he LOVES parables and
analogies. We asked him how he's been taking life recently and responded with a
question. "Have you ever tried to push a rope?" He went on to explain
that he's been trying to push a rope when the only thing a rope is good for is
pulling. I thought that it was a pretty good analogy. We talked about the Plan
of Salvation with him and he accepted it really well. I don't remember what
else we did that evening, but we did have mutual which was awesome! There were
so many boys there, it was incredible! I love being able to see the results of
the work we do, because sometimes it feels like we're just kind of spinning our
tires.
Thursday
we had a zone training meeting. It went pretty well. I don't enjoy meetings all
that much, but that's okay. I can't honestly say I learned much there, but it
was a good meeting. Those giving trainings did well. After that we went to IHOP
for lunch! It was pretty good. Their omelets there are HUGE! I had no clue! I
ordered one and when they brought it out I was shocked at how intensely giant
it really was. It was kind of crazy. After that we needed to go into Mesa to
take care of a few things and grab some supplies, so we did that. I saw a
couple of Sisters I came out with at the mission office, so it was fun to be
able to talk to them and catch up. I haven't ever served around either of them
and hadn't seen them in probably four or five months, so it was fun! We had a
lesson with Anthony in the afternoon and that went well. We talked about the
Word of Wisdom and how we could help him get clean. It's kind of hard when he
wants to quit but doesn't have much will power behind it. Addictions are awful.
All I can say is that from what I've experienced on my mission, you should avoid
all addictions and all costs. Whether it be tobacco, alcohol, prescription
drugs, illegal drugs, pornography, technology, soda, sugar, video games,
texting, whatever it is. Avoid it at all costs! That is one of the biggest
things that I see people struggle with is addictions. Addiction is what pulls
you away from success. The most successful people aren't enslaved by their
addictions. And of course there will be exceptions, but trust me, it is best
not to try to become the exception. It doesn't work. Later in the evening Elder
Sweeten took Anthony to an ARP meeting that the church puts on and I went on a
split with Brother Gordon to go teach Carl and Matt. Our lesson with Carl was
AWESOME! That guy is progressing so well! It's so cool to see him progress the
way he is. With Matt we talked about family history a little bit and about
temple work. I showed him my family tree and told him some stories about some
of my ancestors. He really wants to do family history work now, so we just need
to get the guy a computer to use so that he can start doing it. We told him
about the family history library in Mesa, so maybe he'll go there and figure
out how to do it.
Friday
was a service day. We didn't change out of our service clothes at all the
entire day, so that was fun! The Ayala's are moving, but it's still within the
ward boundaries! WOOT! We helped them move the washer and drier over to their
new house since they already had everything else over there. We spent about an
hour there, and then went to the Hodges to help them move. They unfortunately
moved out of the mission, but not by much. We got permission from President
Jenkins to leave the mission to help them unload the moving truck, so that was
nice. They didn't have a whole lot of help. We helped them move for about three
hours and then went straight to the church to teach Anthony again. I think he
felt a little more comfortable around us when we were in our service clothes,
so that was good for him to recognize that we're normal people too. He wants to
get away from his addictions and get rid of them, but he's looking for the easy
way out it seems. We had a lesson on the Atonement with him, so that was good.
He enjoyed that. That evening we went to Stan's for a while. He had ordered
some watches for us all on Monday and they came Friday, so he invited us over
so we could get them and we could have a lesson. I'll send a picture of the
watch. I really like the price tag on it! Haha! We only paid about $48 for
them, so don't worry. Stan didn't drop tons of money on us. He got them for our
birthdays and wanted the three of us to all have matching watches to remember
each other by.
Sunday
came. We love Sundays. Church was
AWESOME! We got to sacrament meeting and BAM!!! Another new investigator showed
up! We also got a referral from some
missionaries, so there are two more potentials that we can contact. It's
awesome to see the success in the ward. Anthony came to church and Stan did.
They both stayed all three hours. Brother Kunz came for the second week in a
row, so that was awesome to see him there! He's the guy with only one arm. The
Hodges came one last time, so it was sad to say bye to them, but we still have
their number. They told me and Elder Sweeten that we were more than welcome to
stay with them if we ever came to visit Mesa. I'll definitely be keeping their number. They
are such an awesome family and I never thought I'd see Jimmy especially, but
also the boys, be baptized. A family that has had a boundary exception for the
past little bit also came today, so that was good. They have a son that's 12
who is a non-member, so maybe that's another young man we can add to the ward.
The whole day was just phenomenal.
This
has been one of the fastest and most fun weeks of my entire mission. It's crazy
how fast it went by! I love teaching people! It is awesome to be able to be a
missionary. I've never taught so many lessons in my life. It was incredible! I
didn't even tell you about a tenth of the things Elder Sweeten and I
accomplished this week. It was pretty fun! I hope you all have a wonderful
week!
Love,
Elder
Mullins
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| My watch |
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| Our Zone Back-Elders Dickeron, Earl, Ulrich, A. Anderson Row 2: Elders Beus, Wright, Mann Row 3: Sis. Clancy, Elders Johnson, Gillett, Robinson, Holzer, Allred, Mullins, Reekie, Sis. White Bottom: Elders Nasilai, Sweeten, and Stratton
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