Quite Disoriented Having Cold Weather This Time of Year

Maloelelei! (Once again...need to work on my spelling in Tongan)

 

Things are finally starting to go faster this transfer. I think this week actually went pretty fast. We FINALLY got in contact with an investigator who's been waiting for her husband to get the Melchizedek priesthood so he can baptize and confirm her, and thankfully she still wants to get baptized and we went over the Baptismal Interview Questions with her and she is so solid! It's so exciting, she's just been hard to get a hold of.

 

We also have another investigator, Maree, she's been taught on and off by missionaries for almost a year. She comes to church every week, no problem. Then Saturday, the sister's investigator's baptism got moved to 6:00 pm, so Maree could go. There was a little miscommunication between my comp and the memeber, the member thought she said "Grandview" instead of "Glenview" ....but there isn't even a chapel on Grandview. Anyway, they show up like 2 minutes before the actual baptism happened (I hate how Satan works sometimes) But Maree was able to see it, and then afterwards, we were talking to her about how she felt watching the baptism and she said she felt really calm and that it should have been her and that she should have done it a long time ago, so we set her for next Saturday! Yayy! We got a call later that night that she really wants her nan to be there, and she has to work this upcomping weekend, so it's been moved back another week, but she kept saying, "I'm still going to get baptized. I still want to do this." and that was so exciting that she was already calling and telling people. The only problem is her partner. We reminded her that someone has to move out or get married. She thought they'd be fine since they're not even sleepign in the same bed, so that'll be our obstacle, but I have complete faith it'll work out. Her partner, Anzac, is on home detention til November, but before the baptism, he was telling Maree that her and their 9 yr old daughter should get baptized, and he'll get baptized when he's ready. He's been the one holding her back because he doesn't want to get married. But I can see how much she really wanted it after seeing the baptism, so I know it's going to happen! Ahh. It felt so good and was a reminder that I'm definitely her doing the Lord's work and we are just acting in His place. Love it.

 

Lots of patience to learn training, but it's helping me grow so much. Learning to strengthen my relationship with Heavenly Father when I don't really have anyone else to talk to. Oh, I realized I probably never talk about some of the chats I have online, we had a cool one this week with a Jewish girl who is interested in getting baptized, but she hasn't even been to church yet. She has some good member friends,but said she'd get baptized after she learns a little more. Yay! Love it when we have good chats. Sometimes we get random people getting into deep doctrine, it just makes my head hurt and I don't even know how to explain it. But it's always refreshing to have a good chat. Hope everyone's doing okay, love yous!

 

Ofa Atu,

   Sister Mullen

Cows...

So Dad corrected me b/c "Ni Hao" is mandarin, and they speak Cantonese in Hong Kong, where my comp is from, so I asked her how to say Hello in Cantonese and she told me one way, but said it was really proper and no one said it that way, so everyone just says, "Hello." So there you go.

 

Kind of a long week! We had a fireside Tuesday night with Elder Hamula, our area president. It was really good, fun to see all my friends from past wards since all three Hamilton stakes were there. I got to see Sis. Fatu and her daughter, I baptized their husband/dad while I was there, such an exciting journey with him. MIracles all over the place. Anyway, he wasn't there b/c they're ward said it was a youth fireside. Lame. But they said he was getting the Melchizedek Priesthood this weekend at Stake Conference! Yay! Nothing better than hearing that my converts are still progressing! Especially since it's with/for his family and I'm almost certain they'll get sealed in a year. Oh, I miss the Fatus & their crazy kids!

 

So Wednesday we had Zone Conference this week with Elder Hamula as well and it was so good! Kinda funny, I felt quite stressed and overwhelmed after the morning half of the conference, felt a little bit better by the end, but that night I was stressed again, and when I told that to an elder, he said "What? That's the complete opposite of what's suppose to happen after Zone Conference." Yeah, yeah. We've just got a lot going on, or maybe not a lot going on, and I felt like there was SO much I needed to work on after Zone Conference, but either way, loved it. He talked a lot deciding ahead of time to act on the answers to our prayers God gives us and that's when Heavenly Father will answer us, about having enough faith, especially in ourselves as missionaries and doing the Lord's work and the power we have. That's something I definitely underestimate...the power and spirit I have as a missionary. It was a great conference I just want to hear more from Elder Hamula! I actually was also "randomly" chosen to have an interview with him. I had no idea what I could/should ask him, but it was still good to meet with him. He asked me why I came out, and how I've seen myself grow since I've been out and it was just good to vocalize that and to realize how much I have changed and grown. I guess that's part of the reason I felt stressed at the end of the night was because I felt like I didn't take good enougha dvantage of the opportunity I had to meet with a general authority since that'll probably never happen again.

 

We also had a New Zealand-wide video conference yesterday. Elder Bednar said he cheers for the All Blacks. Loved it. Elder Bednar talked about the importance of continuously strengthening our testimony and ongoing conversion so that we don't fall away.

 

We're in the process of having some miracles right now. Had a lesson with a part-member family. The husband is an RM, the wife has been "investigatring" the church for 8 years, been through 13 sets of missionaries, and we had an amazing lesson with her last week. She said she almsot didn't come b/c she was tired, but her grandma told her that bad things happen before good things are about to happen and she was right! We were just asking questions and getting to know her, and then she told us her concern, she's afraid to tell her family she wants to be baptized, and she said, "I guess I need to tell my family I want to be baptized." and then she said she's never said, "I want to be baptized" in front of her husband or in front of missionaries. Yay! We stopped by last night and her family was there and she hadn't told them yet, praying that things worked out and that she did tell them.

 

There's another part member family in the Tongan ward. The wife was set for baptism weeks ago, but then decided she wanted to wait for her husband to get the Melchizedek priesthood so he could give her the Holy Ghost as well. And he did get it. We've stopped by twice and only met the mother in law and haven't been able to get a hold of Josie, apparently she's planning on getting baptized this Saturday...praying to get in contact with her.

 

Love you! Hope you have a good week!

 

Ofa atu,

     Sister Mullen

 

PS attached a picture of all the cows we saw across the street from the Temple. Never seen so many that close. That's New Zealand.

Transfer...results? (running out of titles)

Ni Hao! (is that how you spell it in english?)

 

I'll give you one guess where my companion's from...Hong Kong! She's pretty quiet, but it'll be fun to see her grow and cool to see how much I'll grow. I can already see how I'm being pushed out of my bubble even more because, well, somethings I just have to do if they're going to get done. And my goodness, it has been a long week. I almost feel like I'm the new missionary again. I've been so exhuasted every night. I'm still at the Visitors' Centre, got shifted to another area though, Temple View. We cover 8 wards. Actual Temple View itself is 97% LDS (from what I hear). 2 of the wards have boundaries that go a little bit out of Temple View (you won't really understand what I'm talking about until you see a map probably) and those are the two wards where most of the work is. We also cover a Tongan ward, yes! Haha, Ready for more islanders in my life. We showed up for Relief Society in the Tongan ward, and the Ward Mission Leader and another girl told us about non-members that were at church that day and I'm just excited to work with them! One girl in the ward actually served her mission with a girl I worked with at BYU. Small world. I got up in one ward to bear...bare...(I never know how to spell it) my testimony, and one member came up to me afterwards and said that he served part of his mission in Texas & then through in "it was El Paso..." I thought he was kidding and that maybe he heard I was from EP, but he really did serve in EP, the Albuquerqe, NM mission. He said everyone there thought he was Mexican (he's Samoan). Said he lived off Dyer and spent time at Fort Bliss. Such a small world. PS 7 hours of Church yesterday...Sundays are going to be long!

 

I was way sad to not be companions with Sister Tovale anymore, we had a lot of fun together. One transfer isn't long enough. I was also with Sister Magre for 2 days (she's from France) and I PRAY that I'll be able to serve with her sometime, she was way too funny! Even if she said my rainboots were funny looking and asked if they were real and if I wore them in public, hahaha. I think that's why last week was so long, I had 3 companions, and I've never been double shifted into an area except my first area, but I didn't know what was going on, and the area books aren't what they should be, so it's always fun putting the pieces together.

 

Not gonna lie, I was having a little stress attack when we were at transfers. So they had the trainers waiting outside the chapel to meet their trainees (I still didn't know who my companion would be at that point), and then we meet them, pretty have time to say "Hi" and then walk into the chapel. And I was starting to feel quite overwhelmed with the responsibility and the stress that was coming my way, but I was really able to feel Heavenly Father's love for me and that He called me to do this and knows exactly what's going on and that He's not going to leave me alone. I am so incredibly thankful for the experiences I've had on my mission where I've been able to feel Heavenly Father's love for me so strong and that He knows me personally and is aware of everything that I'm dealing with and experiencing and I am just so thankful to know that I'll never be alone. As hard as it is sometimes, I love being a missionary and I love seeing others apply the Atonement in their lives and witnessing amazing miracles! The Church is true! Love you! Can't want to talk to y'all! (everyone tells me I don't sound like I'm from Texas...I need to start saying "y'all" more I guess.)

 

Ofa Atu (a little bit of Chinese and Tongan for you in this e-mail),

    Sister Mullen

 

PS Attached a pic of the trainers...only because I'm the only palagi (I think that's how you spell it) sister and feel like I stick out like a sore thumb :) Can't wait to up to Auckland some day.

Pictures

 Sister Mullen and Justin Bieber, I don't think he took a Book of Mormon from her though.

At Chilo's baptism. Looking so classy!

Transfer Time!

Kia Ora!

 

     It's already transfers again, craziness!! Found out last week that I'm actually training---even more craziness! Who decided I'm old enough and mature enough to train? I'm kind of freaking out because you never ever forget your trainer, good or bad, and I just hope we get along, haha. Unfortunately I didn't get to find out who and were I'm going yes (I know sisters in the past have) so I have to wait til Wednesday to find out. Definitely have mixed feelings, but I'm excited and hope it'll be good! I keep telling Sister Tovale, "I can't do this when I'm training" whenever I do...umm, well just all sorts of the weird things I do that make me me...but then I remember how that's how I make missionary work fun, so yeah, I'll still do those things, like singing in the car or making all sorts of weird noises.

 

We had 2 sisters finish their missions today and it was just weird. Saturday, I was tearing up a little bit, but today it just didn't feel real. It just made me realize how sad it'll be when it's all over, but at the same time, I'm no where near going home, so of course I don't feel ready to be done. But it's crazy how fast time flies!

 

Our exciting news for the week is that we had a baptism! Finally! This girl wa set for 14 April, but got moved back b/c that's when they were showing General Conference, and then got moved back again because the baptizer wasn't available that weekend. Anywho, her mum is a less active and is coming back to church since her daughter wanted to be baptized. Her name is Chilo, she's 10 years old and so cute. Love the girl. We had probably 50 people at the baptism, it was so fun. Unfortunately only like 2 families from the ward were there. They didn't announce it and not many people know their family, it was all friends and family at the baptism and both her dad and step-dad were there, both non-members, and it seemed like they have a really good experience. We talked to the dad and he said he's never been to a baptism before and was really glad he came. Hopefully they'll soften up soon.

 

Other than that, not a whole lot is happening right now. We have this 15 year old boy who changes his mind every day about getting baptized or not. One day he's so pumped and excited, next day, "I don't know..." Last week he didn't come to church because he didn't have any shoes, he only had his running shoes that he din't want to wear, so we had an elder in our district who wore his size and had an extra pair of shoes, so we took em to our investigator and he was complaining because they don't go with the skinny pants he would wear to church, oh my goodness. I was getting quite frustrated with him and his 15 year oldness.

 

Umm...I love New Zealand, I love being a missionary even though it's quite hard sometimes, but there really is nothing like it. Just funny to think about the concerns I had about coming on a mission and now I'm thinking, "Duh, of course I needed to do this and be here." Love you! Hope you have a fabulous week!

 

Love,

     Sister Mullen

Happy Anzac Day!

It's me again! Where to start...it was an interesting week, heaps of random, intersting stories, so I'll share just a few:

 

-met a 2 year old named "Third Nephi"

-Got introduced to the wonderful world of taro leaves! I don't know what it's really called, luaou or something like that. It's a samoan thing, it's just taro leaves and coconut cream or something, anyways, so good. Sister Tovale was so excited to eat with this Samoan family because she knew they'd make it.

-Back track to last week: I have felt so bad since I sent my email saying "ew" about all the sister missionaries wearing button-up shirts, I love sister missionaries that wear button-up shirts, I even have several...I'm just glad we don't have to wear them all the time anymore. We have PMG videos to watch during comp study, one district is obviously quite old b/c the sisters are always wearing button-up shirts and the other district they're way more trendy, ha.

-Referring to the picture: we went shopping last week, it was a dept store. I heard them announce Justin Bieber's new fragrance and that they have a lifesize cut out upstairs, & obviously I really wanted to go see it, but hadn't decided yet to go or not. Anywho, lost track of the other sisters ,so we went upstairs to look and look who was right by the escalator! How could I NOT get a picture? The only thing is, I'm pretty sure it's larger than life size--I dont' think he's taller than me. Sister Tovale even wanted a picture with him too.

-Long story short: we stopped by one house because we knew a former investigator lives there, there was a 7 year old boy out front and had a very entertaining conversation with him. He knew we were associated w/ temple lights, so he asked if it was Christmas, but he didn't know what month Christmas was in, so when I tried to explain that it's only April and Christmas is in December, he asked, "Is that 10 years away? 9 years? 7?" So then he was telling us where he lives and how to get there (30 min away) I was telling him that sounded like it was 2 years away. Then as we were getting to leave, he kind of screamed, "Can you just pray!!" He had asked us a couple times earlier to come in and pray, and apparently he really wanted it. We were in tears laughing at that point.

 

As for our spiritual experience of the week: we had an appointment with Sofele, but turns out he wasn't home, but his cousin, Viliami, who is a former investigator was, he's been to church a couple times, but not for the past several weeks. Anywho, we were talking with him on the doorstep, and then he randomly said, "Can you all come over next week so we can have bible study?" And then told us how he's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying. Then we invited him to come to church, and he said he would get a ride (which means he probably wouldn't come) and then we invited him to be baptized this Saturday, and he didn't say yes immediately, but he agreed to work towards that point, and then he was all of a sudden way keen to come to church and said, "Yeah, can yous find me a ride? And can you come stop by in the morning to make sure I'm awake? If I'm not, make one of my cousins wake me up!" And it was just really cool to see him soften up in the 30 minutes we were talking to him. Then we went over the baptismal interview questions and it turns out that he's been repenting and that he's ready. Unfortunately, when we showed up Sunday morning, he left a note for us saying he couldn't come b/c he didn't have any shoes, but we're gonna keep working with him and hope things go well!

 

We've been struggling to find new investigators and to have investigators keep their appointments, and working on getting the members to warm up to us! But something I feel I've been noticing in the past couple of weeks in my scripture study is to just keep working hard, stay positive, be patient, and the blessings will come. I felt that's a message I got out of General Conference, also from reading my patriarchal blessing in the temple a couple weeks ago, and we also had interviews with our Mission President last week and he reminded me of that...and I think the message has finally stuck. It obviously takes a couple times to stick in my head, and it also helps coming from my mission president.

 

This morning I studied about mercy and justice and I was just overwhelmed realizing how much mercy the Lord has shown me in my life because it's even mercy when He hears and answers our prayers, and I know that he has done so much more for me in my life, and I am just overwhelmed with gratitude for the Atonement and how much my undrestanding has grown as a missionary. My feelings this morning were "How can you not want to keep the commandments and share the gospel when you undrestand how much the Savior has done for us and how much mercy we receive from the Lord." I love the gospel!

 

As always, my letters are long and random. Hope you all have a good week! Love you!

 

Love,

     Sister Mullen

 

PS FINALLY got my VC name tag. I'm finally legit. Only took 3 orders and almost 4 months to get it.