Fantastic Week!

Dear family and friends,

This week was fantastic! We did all sorts of things! We had zone conference which was great. It is a six hour long meeting where President Jenkins and his wife and the Assistants give us a bunch of trainings.  Sometimes other missionaries will give us trainings too. It was a fantastic meeting. It was a little bit long, but that's alright. I totally stayed awake the entire time, so don't worry.  I learned quite a few things there. I don't have my notes from it, so I couldn't tell you exactly what I learned, but I definitely did have a few 'ah ha' moments. The thing about moments like that is those things you learn just become a part of your knowledge. It feels like you've always known it--kind of like reading. Can you remember what exactly it was like to not be able to read?  No, of course not, because that knowledge is so engrained within you that you literally can't even imagine life without that knowledge. It's the same kind of idea I feel like when I learn spiritual truths. It's just really great! It's interesting reading through my journal at the beginning of my mission because I would put things in there that I learned at that time and I'm shocked at how little I knew before I left. I'm still learning more and more every single day. It's kind of crazy!

After zone conference we didn't get to our area until about 5:15 because it was down in the valley which is about an hour and a half drive. Plus traffic was pretty bad because rush hour was just starting.  We got back to our area with four hours to go out and work. It was one of the most successful days of my entire mission, regardless of the fact that it was only four hours long. It would be considered extremely successful if we had gone out for an entire day and accomplished what we did. We went and taught a lesson to Trevor. He's so solid! We hadn't been able to teach him in quite a while, so that was good to be able to do. Unfortunately, we didn't have a member there, so it didn't count as a member present lesson, but whatev's. It was still a really good lesson nonetheless. From there we went to teach Rowie! Rowie hasn't wanted to accept a baptismal date for quite some time. When we went over there though, she sat down with us and said, "Elders, there's something I want to tell you. I've been praying about it and going over it in my mind and I want to be baptized. Could I be baptized on Halloween?" Of course we politely said yes, trying our very hardest to contain our excitement. It was such an awesome lesson! That was such a miracle to have that happen. After teaching Rowie it was about 7:30, and we ran to the church to grab our dinner. We had an 8 o'clock, so we were planning on just grabbing it and eating as quickly as we could. When we got there, Sister Evans, our relief society president, introduced us to a lady named Crystal and her son Reese. Crystal grew up Southern Baptist, but she was interested in meeting with us. We taught her and her son a few basic principles of the gospel, invited her to read the Book of Mormon, and then set up a return appointment. BOOM! Two new investigators right there! We didn't have time to eat dinner, so we threw it into the back of our jeep and then headed over to Patricia’s. When we got there she had a few of her grandchildren over at her house. We had taught them before and they'd come to church a few times, so when we taught those three again, guess what happened? Three MORE investigators! It was seriously so incredible! We had members at Rowie and Patricia's lessons, so they were counted in our key indicators! So in a single evening we got one person on date for baptism, five new investigators, and two member present lessons. It was so incredible to see that happen!

Unfortunately Rowie texted us a couple of days ago and told us she didn't want to be baptized that early anymore and that she felt like she still needed to know more, so we told her that was fine. She still wants to meet with us though, so that's a good thing! She'll be baptized either next transfer or the transfer after that. I'm almost positive on that one!

We also had dinner with Trevor and his dad Mark. Mark is a member of the Church, but hasn't been in 20 years due to some disagreements with certain doctrines. That's fine though because he's a great guy and we've been able to build quite a good relationship with him. I think he might come to church this Sunday to hear me and Elder Jencks speak. It will be Elder Jencks' last talk as a missionary, so Trevor will for sure be there and Mark might be. It's going to be incredible if he does go! I'm excited to see what happens there.  Dinner was great. We had a wonderful time eating with them. Those two are some of the nicest guys I have ever met. Mark must really like us, because he even let us share a message at the end of dinner. Keep in mind over the past twenty years no missionary, home teacher, bishop, elders quorum president, or pretty much any member of the church has been able to get past his security door. He has never really accepted visits.  But, because we have developed a great relationship with his son and also fairly recently with him, he is letting us in. The miracles that I have been able to witness as a missionary are unreal sometimes.

Anyway, that's a bit about my week. Those are a few of the highlights. I wish I had time to tell you about everything, but unfortunately my fingers can only type so fast. We met some really really ...interesting?... people this week. Like, really interesting. I mean wow... interesting. Haha! For example, we met a guy that was telling us about how he was moving to Flagstaff next month.  They already have a house lined up and everything.  It's a $300,000 house, so a little pricey, but he said it's really, really, big and will be awesome to live in. I kid you not, three minutes later he told us, "Yah, we just declared bankruptcy, so we're out of debt now!" How they got the loan for that house, I don't know... All I know is that there is no way that guy even has a high school diploma. I can't imagine he works right now. I'm sure if he does work he doesn't make more than $12 an hour. They live in a pretty trashy house that doesn't look like it costs hardly anything and it's being repossessed. Or whatever that word is. So, yah! That guy obviously understands money really well... We also met another guy that told us that if you took a scoop of dirt, put it in an ice tray, sprinkled salt water all over it, chilled it to just above freezing point, then hooked magnets and copper electrodes to is in certain places, that it would produce 12 volts of energy. I asked how long it would last and he told us it was unlimited. It would never run out of energy. Well, he just created perpetual energy, which doesn't exist... haha, anyway! People are strange sometimes!

I had a wonderful time. Elder Jencks and I are doing really well. He goes home in a couple of weeks. He's not trunky at all, surprisingly, so that's good! I'm excited about the work and it's just started to catch fire here in Globe. I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Mullins

Evidently, Elder's Jencks and Mullins made up a new rap song