November 9, 2011
Heya! Greetings from........Olomouc! Yes - I get to stay! I am so excited to be able to stay here in this city for at least another 9 weeks. It is going to be a great transfer. Starsi Ingalls is going to be a zone leader in Pardubice and my new companion here is Elder Buhler. I am way excited to serve with him. He's as tall, if not a little taller, than I am and is an awesome, hard-working elder. We just picked him up this morning, along with Elder Rhodes' new companion, Elder Page. Both of them came from Prague and I'm super excited for our district this transfer. Starsi Rhodes was joking that we'll be contacting machines - he said "who doesn't want to talk to 2 tall, dark and handsome american boys who speak czech?" haha, I thought that was funny. But yeah - Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my birthday all in Olomouc - boy, am I excited!!!
I'm so sad to hear about Bernie...if you can, give my puppy a hug or belly rub from me. When it's time, it's time. But let her know that I love her. Give her a few extra goldfish if she'll eat them. maybe popcorn. Thanks for taking good care of her.
So This week was great! Despite a lot of change in the mission, we are all looking forward to continuing the work. Just in the last week, two of our investigators have accepted baptismal dates, along with 3 other people from the other elders' area. Way exciting! It feels so good that we are really helping to grow the church here in Olomouc. One of our investigators accepted a date last night at Elder Ingalls' last lesson with him - it was a cool moment where the commitment just clicked with him. So he is going to get baptized on January 7, 2012. Please pray for him to get to church - that's really the only forseeable huge obstacle with him. Getting to church. I'm super excited for him, though. He is an awesome guy.
We also had an awesome lesson with one of our other investigators - she said that when she is around us she always feels so good. We extended the baptismal invitation and she said that right now she just doesn't know. Not no, not yes. We prayed about it and felt that the 7th of January would be a good date for her, and she said that she thinks its too early. I think she just doesn't quite trust herself. She thinks that she is too young to make such a big decision, because she said that her beliefs and religion is something that will stay with her for the rest of her life and beyond. And she's right. I'm so happy she recognizes the real life change baptism is, and now just pray that as we continue to meet she will feel the Holy Ghost confirming that this is the right path.
We've also been continuing to work with another investigator - he came to church again for all 3 hours and enjoyed it - he said that he feels a spiritual strength from it. We also had a lesson with him yesterday and he said that when we talk, he gets a feeling that what we are saying is more than just a story or pretty words, but it is really true. How cool is that? So we will continue to work with him and try to help him accept baptism also.
ALSO, the sister from the branch who had not been back for so long came to church again last Sunday and stayed for all 3 hours! It was so cool for us to see her renew her covenants again and enjoy the spirit of church. At our meeting yesterday, she told us that church was "zajemave", which at first I was scared about (sometimes that word, interesting, can have a bad connotation). But we came to discover that in fact she loved it - she said it was interesting because she said that the sacrament meeting testimonies and especially the relief society lessons were exactly what she needed to hear. She said that she felt like church was directly addressed to her. It was a way cool moment. She explained that it is very hard for her to forgive herself sometimes, and Satan was working really hard to pull her down and think that she wasn't worth anything, like I explained in a past email. But she said that now she feels like she is overcoming these feelings. It is such a testimony to me that church is so important for all people and if they come prepared, they can really feel the spirit testify to them of truth.
So a good week! I will be emailing again on Monday for P-day. Life goes on. We're working hard, doing what we can to help others come unto Christ. It's the best.
S laskou,
Starsi Mullen
(PS, how fun that Alicia and Amanda came with the kids! Wish I coulda been there to play, but I know where I am is a good place. Tell them I say hi and have a gingerbread "mistake" for me!)
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