Dear family and friends,
I'm so sorry I forgot to tell you last week! So, our
transfer schedule is really funky now, so on transfer weeks Tuesday is our
P-day. Sorry I never emailed you yesterday. This week was incredible! I had a few
experiences I will never forget, but for sure one in particular. It was really good. I still have no results on
my MRI, but hopefully by the end of the day I will.
The first experience of a lifetime I had was on
Wednesday. For the first time in 12 years,
the executive missionary council decided they needed to have a worldwide
missionary broadcast. During the broadcast they went over a few things. For the most part it was the teachings in
Preach My Gospel and other basic doctrines. The theme of this broadcast was
"Teach repentance and baptize converts." A lot of times, especially
in the Mesa mission, we focus a TON on reactivating members and strengthening
them. That aspect of missionary work is very important and much easier at times
than finding people to teach and to bring into the church. The executive
missionary council, which includes Elders Neil L. Anderson, David A. Bednar,
and Dallin H. Oaks, and other general authorities, has seen this and talked
about the importance of convert baptisms. Elder Bednar lead a training on the
role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. This is one of my favorite subjects to
learn about and I felt like I had studied it fairly in depth, but after
watching this 20 minute training from an Apostle, I realized I'd just scratched
the surface. He knows so much about it!
Probably the biggest realization I had was that all the time we talk about
purity and the importance of worthiness. We talk about how we do that so we can
have the Spirit with us as we go and preach, because missionaries don't convert
people, the Spirit does. One of the
Elders in the clip talked about how we are pure so that we can become a conduit
of the spirit and that as we become that conduit we are able to bring the
spirit into the hearts of all those we work with. Elder Bednar corrected a
single word in his response. Actually, a single letter. It doesn't matter how
hard we try, but we cannot force the Spirit to be implanted into someone's
heart. We can't put it into their heart, we can, however, bring it unto their
heart. It's up them as to whether or not they will let it enter into their
hearts.
Another thing happened on Wednesday that I'd never done
before! It was a definite first. I got an MRI! I apologize if this turns into a
bit of a rant. They wanted to do this MRI with and without contrast. They gave
me ear plugs and other things to support my head so it couldn't move, put a
mask over my face, and sent me into the machine without contrast. Holy cow! No
wonder they ask about 30 times whether or not you're claustrophobic.
Fortunately for me I'm not at all, but wow! I can see why someone who is claustrophobic
would hate it. You're in this tiny space, surrounded by walls, your face is
about six inches from the top of the machine, and you can't move. Even if I
wanted out of it, it would have taken quite a bit of effort for me to get out.
And then on top of that, it's crazy loud! It probably was the same volume as an
outdoor concert. It was insane. First they ran it without contrast. Then they
pulled me out to inject me with dye. They poked my right arm, injected it and
it hurt. Like, insanely badly. If you've ever been injected with Litocain, it
was like that except five times stronger. It was incredible how badly it
burned. Then she said,” Oh, I think I missed your vein. I'll have to do the
other side.” So she goes around to the other side, injects me, and I had the
same experience. She said she thought she'd gotten it into the vein, so I
figured she probably did, and they ran me through again. They did all the
imaging, took me out and told me that the dye wasn't showing up. Wow... She did
miss. It was awful! She told me I'd have to come in another day to get another
one depending on what the doctors say. There's a very, very slight chance of
that happening according to the doctors, so I'm not too worried about having to
go in again, but we'll see what happens.
Friday afternoon I had another first time experience.
Elder Murray and I were driving down Broadway when all of a sudden there was a
construction zone ahead. It required me to merge to the left. Well, there was a
guy on a motorcycle going at least 70 mph (illegal). That's giving him some leeway, it was really
probably like 80 mph (more illegal). I
saw him coming up behind me, so I merged a little quicker to get ahead of him
with enough space for him to slow down, like 200 feet or so, because I didn't
want to sideswipe him or anything (legal). So I hit my blinker, merged (legal),
and stopped at the red light (legal). Next thing I know I'm being verbally
assaulted (illegal) by a 65 year old man on a Harley Davidson, pulled up into
the same lane as me (illegal), screaming his lungs out that I nearly ran him
over and that I didn't use my blinker and calling me all kinds of profanities
(illegal). I mean, he called me some things that I've never even heard before.
And other things he called me that I didn't even know could be used in a
derogatory way. Haha! Well, of course I avoided the situation by staring
blankly at him, hitting my blinker, and turning right on the red (legal). The
chase was on. This guy was following us. He eventually pulled ahead of us,
slowed down to about10 mph (illegal! Minimum speed limit is 25!), and was
pointing for me to follow him onto a side road (illegal, he has no authority to
pull someone over). I decided that was a stupid idea, so I just kept driving
(legal). I heard his engine rev up again and Elder Murray said if he kept
following us he would call the cops on him for harassment (legal). I looked in
my mirror and thought he was going to follow us, but he turned around (with an
illegal u turn) and went back to his planned route. It was quite the
experience! I've never had anything like that happen before! At least not with
a guy on a motorcycle. It was exciting to say the least! Maybe he was just
having a bad day or something, I don't know.
Saturday morning was an experience I truly will never
forget. Elder Neil L. Anderson of the quorum of the twelve apostles, along with
Elder L. Whitney Clayton, President of the quorum of the seventy came to Mesa
and spoke to our mission. It was an incredible meeting. It was brief, only 2
hours, but great. Elder Anderson has got to be the most chill Apostle of all
time. When President Russell M. Nelson came earlier in my mission he was pretty
relaxed and funny, but nothing like Elder Anderson. It was great! I really felt
like I could connect with him. He's kind of just a normal guy. He talks
normally, he looks normal, he is very kind. He just was kind of average. That is,
until he taught and he bore testimony. His testimony was incredibly powerful.
Elder Clayton also spoke to us about the broadcast that we had on Wednesday
where they took part in the broadcast. He lead a discussion with our mission on
everything we learned there. As missionaries kept standing and talking you
could kind of see the looks on Elder’s Anderson and Clayton's faces brighten. One
after another response was just fantastic and I loved every bit of it! They
were very impressed with how much we got out of that broadcast and we're
pleased that it was received well. Elder Clayton bore his testimony as well
which was extremely powerful. I loved every minute of that meeting. It was
truly awesome. I know that Elder Anderson as well as the rest of the Twelve and
the First Presidency truly are God's chosen Apostles on the earth today. I've
seen many of them in person, shaken their hands, and listened and studied their
words in depth. There is no doubt in my
mind that they truly are servants of God, doing His working, under His
direction. I sustain them and love them.
Not much else happened this week I don't think. Oh! I
almost forgot! My new companion is Elder Edwards from London. He's awesome! A
fun fact about Elder Edwards, his first name is Harry, just Harry, not Harrison
or anything, and his middle name, you ready for this? Your mind will be blown…James.
His name is Harry James Edwards and is from London! He's totally Harry Potter!
Anyway, I'm super excited to be his companion. We will get along great I'm
sure! Hopefully he's ready to learn some patience! Or maybe I'll be healed!
We'll see what happens. Hopefully I get
some results today, if not then tomorrow for sure!
Have a great week everyone!
Love,
Elder Mullins
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