Ahoj...zase!

Heya, Rodino! Thanks for your wonderful email!!! I love hearing about little fun experiences at home, like you love hearing about the little experiences here in Czech. I loved what you wrote about the temple - that sounds like a very sweet experience you got to share with those people we love so much from our ward. What a blessing our ward is! The love and support I felt from Granite Bay 2^nd Ward is something that continues to stay with me. I got a letter from Brother Smith this week, which reminded me of all those good times in Priest's quorum. Dad, if you could, be sure to greet the priesthood of GB2 for me. Tell them that I am so grateful for their worthiness and power and willingness to serve and do what's right. They're truly amazing, and I count it an unspeakable blessing to have grown up in such an environment.

Things are going great here in Olomouc! Last week was both awesome and a little disappointing - we had 14 member lessons on plan, and unfortunately 9 of them fell through...yeah, kind of a bummer...but the 5 we had were awesome! We just picked up a new investigator last Wednesday. She is way cool. We were contacting on the upper town square (Horni Namesti), and Starsi Ingalls was going to do calls while I contacted solo (what a blessing of the gift of tongues! I've gotten to the point now in the language that I have no qualms about contacting people alone. It's truly a blessing!). So just as he was about to go, he told me to go contact this girl walking across the namesti. I said GREAT and starting going right away, and didn't hear his second comment of "wait, she looks a little too young, maybe you shouldn't contact her..." because I was already walking over. I stopped her and started talking, and it was so cool. She is 18 (not too young...thank goodness haha...) and studies English, and is Vietnamese. She lives and studies here in Olomouc, so also speaks flawless Czech. She is so smart! We talked for a little while just below this giant statue on the namesti and exchanged contact info to meet later on. We had a lesson later in the week which was so cool. She identifies herself with a branch of Buddhism, but is just SO open to try new things and to learn. She is awesome. During the lesson we had with her, we talked and testified of God, since she doesn't believe in God right now (she believes in a higher power or force, but not that it is a being like God), then Starsi Ingalls asked her "If God existed, and if you could ask Him, the creator of everything, any one question you wanted, what would be your question?" She thought about it for a good while, and said it was a really good question. After pondering for a bit, she replied with this - "I guess I would ask him why we are here, like what the point is of being here." Wow. How cool is that? We instantly bore testimony that God has answers to her questions, as does the Book of Mormon. We read with her Alma 34:32, about this life being the time to prepare to meet God. She told us "It seems too simple." We replied "Does it have to be complicated?" The gears were definitely turning in her head - I could see it. She told us that she had never thought about it that way before, and she was really interested. We challenged her to pray to know if God is there and to read from the Vietnamese Book of Mormon we gave her. It was so cool. We have another meeting this Wednesday, which I am way excited for. I can testify that the Book of Mormon, combined with prayer, really does provide answers to the questions of the soul.

Another way fun thing that happened this week was that we welcomed a Senior Missionary couple to Olomouc! That's right - there are now 6 missionaries in Olomouc! Their names are the Erbovi (the Erb's - little Czech thing, names change their endings depending on the situation - for instance, to said "the Mullen family" you say "Mullenovi", and to say "Sister Mullen" you say "Sestra Mullenova" - kinda random fun fact about Czech haha), and they're awesome! They are from Pleasant Grove, and have already served 2 missions before together (one in Utah, one in Sweden). On Saturday, Starsi Ingalls and I greeted them, along with President and Sister Irwin and Hans, a Church Educational System department head for Europe (the Erbovi are the official CES couple now for the Czech/Slovak mission). It was way fun to talk with them and to get to know them. They are so prepared to be here from all I can tell, and have been studying Czech for 4 months already, which is awesome! We already have a plan to teach a couple lessons with them this week, which will be a blast. 

Church yesterday was awesome - I got the opportunity to finally meet the Branch Presidents wife. She is just so nice! She speaks English perfectly, having lived in the states for a bit, and she gave me a really cool compliment - that I am such an enthusiastic missionary and speak Czech really well. That felt really good. There are times when I definitely feel like I do NOT speak Czech well, haha, such as after a failed contact or something, but then there are other times when I am just in awe of the power of the gift of tongues that I and my fellow missionaries have received here. I am speaking Czech - how crazy is that?!?!? Haha.

We are also continuing to  work with our investigators. One of them is still so cool, and we're going to extend the baptismal commitment this week. We challenged him last lesson to pray to know if Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw, and he said he would. I think the major roadblock with him is going to get him to feel the truthfulness of the Gospel. He is so smart, and I think he just needs to get what we've been teaching out of his head and into his heart. We pray that will happen. Another investigator is doing well - we had to postpone his baptismal date because he's not coming to church because of work, and he was sick last week. But he said he'd come this Sunday, so we'll see what happens. We also have been teaching his nephew, who is way cool. He is 22 years old. He's from Slovakia, and has a wife and a couple kids back home. But he is so cool and such an awesome, humble guy. Last meeting, both of them accepted a baptismal date for October 22 - now we just need to start getting them to church every Sunday! It is way fun to teach them, though.

So I talked with Starsi Egger last night, and apparently the Praha District has their conference in Praha on the 24/25 of this month, so our investigator is actually getting baptized on the week after, October 1. I am really excited for him, and even though I won't be there in person, my thoughts and spirit will definitely be with him as he makes that first covenant with our Father in Heaven. I am so happy for him!

Also, we had an awesome conference/training in Brno last Thursday! It was so much fun and a total inspiration. It was a blast for me to be able to see some more of my MTC brothers who I haven't been able to see because they were in a different zone. So it was a blast for me to reconnect with Starsi Medonich, Gabrielsen, and Smith. Also, we had some amazing trainings on what the real focus of missionary work is. We watched a movie which was really inspirational called "the Quest for a Go-Getter". It's a fictional story of Billy Peck, and really inspired me to work even harder to bring people unto Christ. If you get the chance, try to find and watch it. It's definitely worth your time. We also talked a lot about what our real goal is for the people we teach. President Irwin put it this way, taking some material from Elder Oaks - (I'm paraphrasing) "Our goal as missionaries isn't only to inspire others to live better lives. That is a wonderful thing to do, but that is what every person in this world can do. As missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we offer something more. We are opening the doors of the Celestial Kingdom to God's children, and that comes only to obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ - Faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." Wow. WOW. It was a spiritually eye opening thought - with every contact, my goal is to open the gates of the highest kingdom of Heaven to that person. It's humbling for me, and it takes a lotta love, which I am trying to develop more and more each day. It's a tender mercy - the love I feel here. Each person we are teaching, each person I contact, whether they want to listen or not, each member of this small but strong branch of Zion - I love them. I love them so much.

So all is well here. As far as packages go, I am definitely still good on Vanilla - the 2 bottles you sent will probably last me a while. Thanks for the Pens, too! I got the package last Thursday at the conference, and I was on my LAST pen! So good timing haha! Not quite sure what I'd like...hmmmmm...ooh, one random idea - could you send a box of the really good Betty Crocker brownie mix? You can't get it here, and the mixes they do have are nasty. Czechs don't like sugar as much as us haha. So yeah, that's one thing that I'd like. Also, if you could, I'd really like some return address labels with the new mission home address if you could. It can kind of be a pain writing it all out every time. I'm not sure if that'll be entirely possible because of the symbols (haceks, carkas, krouzeks, etc), but maybe you can look into it. So yeah...and pictures! I love pictures of home and of you guys and of Landon and such and such. 

Know that I love you and pray for you often. The work I am doing here is truly a privilege to do and a blessing for me and for each person with whom I can share the glorious message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Until Next week,

S laskou,

Starsi Mullen

Hello, Hello, Hello!!!

Hello Hello Hello, family!

So here I am, writing you from a little internet cafe in Olomouc. This town is absolutely beautiful. I love it. It's a very pedestrian town, and there are so many people out walking around to talk to! It's way fun. Anyways, so much to tell you about this week! But first, to answer some questions I can tell you're dying to know haha:

Transfers here work this way - we get a call from either the APs or President Irwin 2 days before transfers telling us where we're going, who we'll be with, etc. Then, on Transfer day, we wake up and get to our new city as soon as possible. We just go straight there, no big meeting or conference in between. Just get there and start working. Keep the work moving forward!!!

Starsi Ingalls and I get along great. We have a lot of fun together walking around the city and joking around in between contacts or appointments. We made no-bakes last night and enjoyed those for a "midnight" (more like 9:30 haha) snack and for breakfast. Got to use the vanilla too - yum! I love my new town - the branch is very similar in size to Plzen, with an average of 20-30 members a week. But what I love is how concerned the Branch President is about missionary work. He has a correlation meeting with us every Sunday to talk about what our investigators need and how he can help. He is way cool.

There are two companionships here in Olomouc - us and the zone leaders for the Olomouc Zone. Starsi Ingalls is the district leader, and the other companionship (Starsi Rhodes and Peterson) are the Zone Leaders. They're awesome. I'm definitely the baby here in Olomouc - all of them have 3 or less transfers left on their missions. But they're so cool and we all get along great. (BTW, Starsi Rhodes was Starsi Medonich's trainer in Ostrava - little fun fact haha)

Yes, the ties here are awesome! While Starsi Rhodes and Ingalls played tennis this morning, Starsi Peterson and I went to get haircuts and I bought my first Olomouc tie! It's way cool - it's blue and kind of goldish, way nice, and when you tie it, it has a different colored knot than the rest of the tie. Super cool - gotta love ties - our only piece of clothing we can change haha.

I loved the part when you talked about watching a slideshow in the family room of my first batch of photos. Wish I coulda been there to REALLY explain all of them (even my epic descriptions on paper don't do the pictures justice). I guess that'll just have to wait until after the mission, though. But what a fun time that will be! Tell everyone there that I love them so much and think of them often (but not too often haha). 

K, so now for a couple stories from this week! It was awesome!

We had a lesson last week with one of our investigators with baptismal dates who we are teaching right now. He is from Slovakia, and is so cool. He is like 34 or something, and is just this big, awesome guy. When he speaks, he reminds me of a Slovakian Godfather, and Starsi Ingalls and I joke that he is the leader for the Slovak Mafia in Olomouc haha (it doesn't really exist, don't worry Marmee haha). Anyway, apparently he watched the Restoration film in Slovak a week before I came, and the next meeting he came and said he wanted to get baptized as soon as possible. He is just so cool. So we're working with him - he has a problem with coming to church, because he works on Sundays. But we're hoping the Lord will provide a way for him to come. The mission rule is that investigators have to come to Sacrament meeting at LEAST 3 times before they can get baptized. He hasn't come yet, so we're going to have to postpone his date (was on the 24 of this month), but we're still working with him. We're also working with a couple of his family members who work and live with them, one in particular being a 21 year old guy who is just so cool and nice. He came and played soccer with us for sports night last Saturday, and we're hoping that he'll follow the desire of his uncle and accept a baptismal date soon.

We've also continued to work with our other investigator, who is just a funny man. We found a definite concern with the gospel last week, though, when we introduced the word of wisdom - apparently he smokes 80 cigarettes a day. Yeah - 80 a day. So that'll definitely be a challenge for him to quit, but with God, all things are possible, right? So we've continued teaching him - he has definite faith in Christ, and tells us all the time how grateful he is "za tu moudrost" that he gets from the Holy Ghost. He also loves telling us, when we talk about the Holy Ghost, "Hodně pracuju Duchem Svátým". Yesterday, we almost just laughed in the lesson because of how much he was saying it. When he talked, he kind of mumbles a little and it just makes us smile. He has such good desires, though, and we continue to prepare him for baptism.

K, so now for my FAVORITE story of the week:

So last Wednesday, I had the coolest contact of my mission. So it was in the late morning and Starsi Ingalls and I were just heading out to go do some contacting, and we weren't having a lot of success. So Starsi Ingalls suggested that we take a couple unusual routes to Dolni Namesti, the lower town square. So there we were, winding through the streets, and we talked to a couple people - nothing. So we kept going, and talked to these two young laska girls (laska girl is a nickname we give girls we contact who we can tell gave us their number for a reason other than that they're dying to hear about the restored gospel haha), and were just kinda bummed. We decided that we would head back toward the apartment for lunch and try more after eating. As we were walking, I was still stopping as many people as I could to try to talk to them. Nothing.

Nothing, that is, until ........

I saw him standing next to a big statue in the middle of Dolni Namesti. There wasn't a big light over his head saying "CONTACT ME!", but I was talking to everyone else, so I ran over with Starsi Ingalls and introduced ourselves. We got into conversation and came to find out that just the night before, his girlfriend had tried to commit suicide. He was with his friends when he got what sounded like a goodbye text from her, so he ran over to her apartment and found her having just eaten a bunch of pills and rat poison. He called the ambulance and got there in time to save her. But he told us he just doesn't know what to do or think. His girlfriend had become a Nihilist, which he said basically means she had no belief in any higher power and no hope to live for. She had family and financial problems, and is in a really hard spot right now. But as we talked with him, he told us that he believes in God because there has to be something there to give us hope. He was so overwhelmed. He called a psychologist to try to get some counseling, but they told him the earliest appointment he could set up would be in a month. He was just overwhelmed.

We testified to him from the bottom of our hearts that the Kniha Mormonova (luckily I had one on me - thank you Holy Ghost for not letting me leave my bag at home!) can help and give hope, happiness, and purpose for him and his girlfriend. We gave him the KM with Alma 34 bookmarked, and exchanged contact info to meet up and talk later on. We talked for a good 25 minutes.

After he left, Starsi Ingalls and I just walked back to our apartment in awe. We both knew we were truly led by the Spirit to him. Everything from taking back roads, to talking to everyone, even on the way back to lunch when it's tempting to just hurry back and eat, put us in his path. We have already had one lesson with him, and he is just so cool. He is 26 and speaks perfect English and Czech. He is also a PhD candidate right now in Political Science, wants to teach because he thinks helping others is more important than money, and wants to stay in Olomouc. He is just SO cool! We saw him again riding his bike on our way here to the internet cafe, and he stopped and talked for a bit. He's visited his girlfriend in the hospital, and she seems to at least be ok physically. We have another meeting set up with him tomorrow.

You know, earlier in the week I was actually a little bummed. I had just left Plzen, and just felt like I needed to be there to look after all our investigators and members there. I was wondering why I was sent here to Olomouc - then we met this young man. I am DEFINITELY here for a reason. I know that, and consider myself blessed and lucky to be serving here in Olomouc.

I love you all, and think of you daily. It's weird to think that, even across the world, life goes on in Granite Bay. It feels so far away, but when I read your emails and letters (thank you thank you thank you for those!!!), I get a glimpse of what's going on. I like that.

But the work moves on in Olomouc! I know that this is the Lord's work, and that the message that I have the privilege to share is the message that can change hearts and lives for the better. It is the doctrine upon which eternity is based. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve these good people, and in so doing, serve my Lord and my God.

Until next week - 

S laskou,

Starsi Mullen

Greetings From Olomouc!!

Ahoj, rodino!!!

So here I am, typing you my first email from area 2 - Olomouc! I'm super excited to be here, and feel it a privilege to serve in this beautiful city. I am serving with Starsi Ingalls, who is awesome and a super stud missionary. K, but for now, I'm going to start with my last week in Plzen and then I'll tell you more about my amazing new area!

K, so last week in Plzen was fantastic. First, I want to tell you the biggest and probably coolest story of the week.

Remember in my first email when I talked about two investigators we met, and then how we totally lost contact with them? Well, that was a way bummer, and we thought they were just ignoring us. But last Monday, after I sent my email off to you, we went to a park with the other elders to climb this giant spider web thing (picture will follow in due time, almost have another one all filled up haha) and guess who we saw in the tram? One of those investigators! She came up to us and said hi and was super happy and excited to see us. She said that they got a new phone, and that’s why we couldn’t get a hold of them. But she went to the park with us, climbed the giant spider web, and then we invited her to our Game Night program on Thursday - she said that she couldn't remember the new phone number, but would text us. (that made me kinda nervous, because usually people don't text back...) But we trusted that she would. Tuesday came and went. Wednesday too. No news. I was kinda heartbroken again. But then, at around 3 on Thursday, she sent us a text - "5:45 at the tram stop, right?" - in Czech of course - I was ecstatic. She came to the game night, read from the KM for the spiritual thought, played UNO, sang a hymn with us, got to know some other young people in the Church  - it was sweet. Then, Thursday night I found out I would be leaving Plzen, which I was kinda sad about. I had just come to love those people so much, and kinda selfishly didn't want to leave haha. But anyway, Starsi Egger found out he is training yet again, which is cool - so he's staying in Plzen Lochotin with another Greenie. And in our mission facts, guess what I saw? The name of our investigator under the "investigators with Baptismal dates" section in Plzen. Oh mylanta, I am smiling so big right now. I pray she will continue, and am so excited for her, even from across the country.

K, so on Friday we had my last lesson with our other investigator we have been teaching, which was way cool - he has been taught everything except tithing and has accepted it all - he is so cool, and I am way excited for him. He is excited too, which is even better. I also got to say goodbye to our young adult friend in the ward, which was kinda sad. She was sad when she found out I was leaving, and wrote such a touching entry in my mission journal. Tell SIster Abinante thank you again for that gift!

I will definitely miss Plzen. It will always be a city close to my heart, and will probably call myself a Plzenak haha.

But now for OLOMOUC! I am so psyched to be here with Starsi Ingalls. Unlike Lochotin, which we basically had to build from the ground up, Olomouc south already has an awesome foundation, thanks to Starsi Ingalls and his companions. We have 3 investigators with baptismal dates, and 2 of them came to Church yesterday, which is way awesome. Olomouc is a way historical city and has so many amazing Kostely and statues/monuments. Plus, they have the famous Olomouc ties, which I'm excited to buy haha. Anyway, I took a train ride on Saturday from Plzen to Praha and Praha to Olomouc. I got in at about 2 and was greeted by my new district. They're awesome. There are 4 missionaries here in Olomouc, Me and Starsi Ingalls and Starsi Peterson and Rhodes. All of them have about a year and a half in the country, so I definitely have a lot to learn from each of them about missionary work and about Czech! It's so exciting to be here though (yes, I know I've probably typed that like 50 times before, and probably yet will haha).

We drove to our new apartment, which is right in the middle of the city - way nice. We can walk most places and it only takes like 5 minutes walking to get to the church building. What a contrast to the 30 minute walk/tram ride from Lochotin in Plzen! So that's definitely nice. Our apartment is bigger, too, which is awesome.

Starsi Ingalls is from Minessota (butchered that one...) and is an awesome elder who is way on top of things. He has an amazing relationship with the branch and branch president already, and is the Elder's Quorum President. Also, kinda crazy, he was Elder Egger's follow-up trainer, too here in Olomouc. So I'm kind of walking in my trainers footsteps here...literally haha. He loves tennis and plays guitar, and is just such a confident missionary. I definitely have a lot to learn from him, and am way excited to serve with him this transfer (and maybe beyond). This will be his third transfer in Olomouc, and I count it a privilege to be here.

So yesterday we had church, which was cool. We have a huge primary program and a decent relief society/priesthood group (there were about 30 people at church yesterday) - and nearly no YM/YW/YSA. Kinda sad. But we do have a young adult who is 19 and is way cool. She was baptized only last transfer and is an awesome addition to the branch. I'm way excited to get to know her better.

Also, I have to tell you about the one of the families in our branch. The husband is just such a cool member. He is someone who has the right attitude of missionary work. I talked with him for a little while before church, and told him I had heard so much good about him from Starsi Egger, and that he was awesome about teaching with us. He told me that the Prophet said that members have to do their part in helping the work move forward, and so he is happy to do whatever he can to help us out. Starsi Ingalls said he is the kind of person who you can call an hour before you have a lesson (if one is set up last minute) and he'll be there - perhaps 5 minutes late, but he'll ALWAYS be there. How cool is that. If every member had that kind of attitude, the church here would be growing like mad. He is way awesome, and I'm excited to get to know and serve with him more. We are having a family home evening/RCLA lesson with members in the branch tonight, and I am just so excited. His wife is a hoot - she reminds me of Sister Rose. I love it. They also have these two little twin boys, who are little firecrackers - every time they see the elders, they shout at the top of their lungs "Bratri!!!" and run and tackle us. They're a hoot.

I've met 2 of our investigators so far. Both are in their 40s or 50s - and one was a referral from another investigator. Please pray for them. We had a lesson with one of them last night, and he is an interesting person with an amazing heart. He was homeless, and said one day he just decided to stop drinking and turn his life around. He has an apartment now, and is getting by. In our lesson, we read the baptismal covenant in Mosiah 18 with him, where it talks about mourning with those that mourn, etc. We read all the way through the verse that talks about the people clapping their hands for joy and saying "this is the desire of our hearts" - and without saying anything, he just said that this is the desire of his heart too. He REALLY wants to get baptized. It's way cool, and caught me off guard. Even Starsi Ingalls, who only has 3 transfers left on his mission, has never heard somebody be so excited for baptism. He might have a problem with smoking though, so pray for him. We're excited to continue teaching him, though.

I'm glad you got my SD card and enjoyed it. I'll send the next one as soon as it's full.

Anyway, the people here are wonderful and have great spirits, and I'm way excited to be serving here. My heart will ever be with Plzen - and now my heart will ever be with Olomouc. That's one thing about being a missionary that I love - Love. I feel like it's just endless here. I love every person I meet (their whole package, Marmee!) - every member,  every investigator, every contact. It gives me a taste of the love that our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ must have for us. It's endless. The more I give, the more I receive. It's a miracle and a blessing.

I am looking forward to another wonderful transfer here in Olomouc. What a wonderful message I have to share!

S laskou,

Starsi Mullen