PART 2!! THE 'REST OF THE STORY'!!

Hello, family! So sorry about the cliff-hanger last week haha - čás letí! But, like I said, it has an awesome ending and the story still continues. I'll finish the story at the end of the email.

Thank you so much for sharing that story of Tyler's. It really touched me. You are the man, Tyler! I sure do miss you and your family. How are you doing? Is school going well? I'm so honored to receive the Tyler W. Abinante award, even from half a world away! Keep being awesome - you're the winner of the Joseph M. Mullen award in my books.

Now for some answers:

1. Were you able to visit with one of your contacts?  Not much new from last week - I will try harder to get a hold of them this coming week, however. They are so special and I really want to see them again (and again and again! haha). 

2. The Concert sounds so cool...Is it the Prague Philharmonic and where will it be held?  The concert will be in St. Nicholas Church in the old town square on April 28 at 5:00. It should be really fun - I'm buying the tickets today!

3. What were your favorite contacting moments of the week?  My favorite contacting moments...probably the singing display we had last week. We have a big district, so singing displays are fun to do and we have plenty of manpower to do them right. We're working on other ideas that will be fun to do as a district, too, which I'm looking forward to. Another cool moment was at lunch 2 days ago - this man leaned over to us from the next table and told us he heard our choir on TV (MoTab) and wants a CD. We invited him to church that Sunday on the spot and he said he'd be happy to come! He was such a nice man and hope that we see him again tomorrow at church!

4. Are you doing any driving yet?   Yup! I drove for the first time since starting the mission last week - I thought it would be a lot scarier than it actually was. I got us to our appointment and back safely - Just like riding a bike!

5. What did you teach at District Conference?   This last week I taught about the importance of the Holy Ghost in conversion, and I think it was received very well. District meetings are focused on the 8 fundamentals of Preach My Gospel, so this week I'll be teaching about  revelation through prayer. It's an awesome topic and I'm excited to teach about it! 

6. How do you handle General Conference there?  Do you get to see all sessions?  General conference will be shown a week after it is given here in Prague, I'm pretty sure, just like it is in Olomouc. I reread the entire October conference and am excited to hear what our modern day prophets have to say to us!

Landon just sounds so, so cute! I had a sweet dream the other night with him in it - I was standing on the porch of a house and saw him with Chris and Jenna across the street kinda wobbly walking around. He stopped and looked at me across the street and I opened up my arms and called out "Landon! Come here, buddy!" He got a big grin across his face and ran across the street and gave me a big, big hug. It was such a sweet dream. Can't wait to meet that little guy one day!

I'm excited for the easter package! And yeah, not much weight put on (I think I'm 165 or something). Still your lanky guy!

The baptism sounds so, so sweet. That's what missionary work is all about. The light that is in peoples' countenances is amazing to see as they accept the restored gospel. You can literally see it!

OK, so now for part 2! (I cut and pasted the part from last week so you have the whole story):

"So now for the miracle of the week. One of our investigators is having miracles in her life happen right now leading her to the gospel. After the conference, we had a lesson with her on Monday before FHE, which was amazing. We were talking about the restoration and at one point in the lesson, she just asked us - "guys, how does somebody join this church?" We explained baptism and confirmation to her again, and she said OK. We set a date with her right then, and the spirit was so, so strong. We talked about the blessings of the gospel and she left saying she felt good about it all. Tuesday evening, I get a call from her - she said that she talked with her family about baptism, and they were very concerned. She said that she didn't know what to do. She said that she started reading the Book of Mormon and felt good about it but didn't know if she could handle continuing right now while she was getting such opposition from her parents. She agreed, however, to a meeting on Wednesday so we could talk about it face to face. We set up for two sisters from the ward to be there and ..." ... had the most amazing lesson. They were so good with her, as both of their families were against the church also when they got baptized. We asked her if she had prayed about if she should continue and she said that she did that morning and felt that she should continue. We testified of the power that comes into our lives as we follow the promptings of the spirit and she totally agreed. 

So after closing the lesson with an amazing kneeling prayer, off she went. Later that night we texted her to see how she was doing. My stomach was just turning because we went to bed without a text in reply. I prayed so hard for her that she would make it through this trial of her faith - I remember having a peaceful feeling that all would be alright. That next morning we woke up to this text "Ahoj, all is dobrý :) I would be happy to continue with you guys". We were just beaming. We set up for a lesson the next day and it was amazing. 

We taught her more about the restoration and invited her to pray to know the Book of Mormon (which she is now reading every day) is true. She said that she didn't need to again, because in our first lesson she got an answer that it was true when she prayed. We taught about church and how we keep the Sabbath day holy and she loved it - she was really touched by the doctrine of the sacrament, that after her  baptism she can renew her covenant and feel totally clean every week. She came to sports day the next day (last Saturday) and seemed to have a really good time. We sat down at one point and she shared an experience with me she had that morning.  She told me that I was so lucky to have had this in my life from birth, and that she just wishes that she knew about this sooner. 

So then, Sunday comes! We had told her to come like 10 minutes early, and there she was at 8:40 - 20 minutes early. She was all smiles and said that she woke up just so excited to come to church - it was awesome. The spirit was so strong at church and she liked it. After church we were trying to find her to say bye before we left and we found her in the back of the RS room, chatting away with 3 relief society sisters in the branch. She loves everyone and everyone loves her. It's so cool to see. We set up 3 meetings this week which all went well - we taught the plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the word of wisdom, and all of them went amazingly. In lessons, it's her who is testifying as much as we are about how much the gospel is helping her life. It's so amazing. 

On Thursday we found out that she, without any arrangement on our part, was going to a birthday party of one relief society sister with 7 other sisters from the branch. I heard it went very well. Oh mylanta, words can't even express how awesome it feels! She has been so prepared by the Lord and our Heavenly Father for this message. When we taught the Word of Wisdom yesterday, she told us how she stopped smoking last September and quit drinking coffee 4 months ago because she didn't feel healthy and felt like she didn't need chemicals to be happy. As we read the Word of Wisdom pamphlet with her, she would just stop as she read sometimes and say "that is so true". She committed to live by it with no hesitation. She's coming to sports day again tonight and to church tomorrow. I am just so excited for her. Seeing her grow in her faith has grown my own faith. It helps me realize the true blessings that come into our lives when we allow the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ to touch our hearts. 

So with that, I am unfortunately once again out of time. At least there's not such a big cliff-hanger this time! I love this gospel so, so much. Miracles happen, family! You never know who the Lord is preparing to hear and accept this message. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and that the gospel contained within it has the power to bring happiness, purpose, and light into each of our lives. I love you all and pray for you every day.

S láskou,

Starší Mullen

Truly a Week of Miracles

March 17th, 2012

Hi, family! This week was absolutely wonderful - truly a week of miracles. I'm so excited to tell you about it!

Yes, Elder Medonich is in my District! I love having him here - he's a blast to be around.

That's great about Merideth - I'm gonna have a lot of promised dances when I get back I think, haha, and I'm gonna be absolutely terrible! But that's ok - my dancing shoes can wait for a while. Is Merideth still planning on doing a study abroad here? Just curious!

How exciting about your new calling, Marmee! You will be such a blessing in the lives of those girls. I sure do love you!

And that is so exciting to hear that we will be having a baptism this week in Granite Bay! Elder Oaks taught us that the doctrinal basis of missionary work is found in John 3:5, and it is absolutely wonderful to hear that he is making that step to come closer to our Heavenly Father. How grateful I am for the miracles we have seen throughout our lives and in the lives of others - "God has not ceased to be a God of miracles!"

So now for some answers for my favorite family!!

1.  What will be your new responsibilities as District Leader? There is only one district in Prague, and it is humongous. We have 10 proselyting missionaries and 2 senior couples in the district, totaling up to 14 people. As district leader, I do all the things explained in the white handbook - present a weekly district meeting training, call-in reports, conduct exchanges with companionships in the district, organize district activities, etc. I'm super excited - I talked with President Irwin and he has approved for our district to go to a classical concert on April 28th! They'll be playing Franck, Mozart, Bach, and Dvořak (Duh-vo-*the crazy sound in czech that you thought sounded like a sneeze over the phone at Christmas time*-ahk). I'm very excited for our district to really shine this transfer. We have a lot of special, hard-working missionaries, which I'm stoked for.

2.  Were you able to see your contact who had been out of town?  We did and had a meeting set up, but the dad got sick and then travelled to Germany for work and I haven't been able to get a hold of him since. I'm going to keep trying, though - they are an amazing family!

3.  Were you able to see any of your friends from your past areas at the conference?  One of our investigators couldn't come to the conference, but we did have 2 other investigators there!  We continue to pray for our investigators with all our hearts that they will be able to continue to accept the gospel as they would wish it. I did get to see members from Olomouc - oh, it was so good to see them! I called them my Olomoucká rodina. It was so, so good to see all of them - almost every faithful member there was at the conference. Absolutely wonderful.

4.  Any pictures?  See the previous emails - sorry I'm so lame!

5.  Tell us about your new companion...Starší Gleue (Glow-ye) is awesome! He is from Salt Lake City but studied at West Point for 2 years before he came on his mission. He's 22 years old and has been in the country for 4 months, so this is his 3rd transfer. One thing I love about Elder Gleue is he has initiative - he will just go for something and get it solved and done. He likes to have fun and joke around, but knows when it's time to be serious and focus. We have in the past couple days totally cleaned and transformed our apartment and we're doing great teaching and doing missionary work together. It'll be an awesome transfer with him.

6.  What did you enjoy most about the District Conference?  What I was most impressed with Elder Christofferson is the calm spirit of assurity he left with us. During his training, we asked him if the promised and foretold success in the Czech Republic would come because of what we are doing or just on the Lord's time. He left us an apostolic blessing that "the day will be hastened by our faithfulness and diligence". The Czech Republic will one day be a thriving powerhouse in Zion - we already have the loaves and fishes gathered. Now we are just working faithfully and diligently until they begin to multiply and fill the country. 

So now for the miracle of the week. One of our investigators is having miracles in her life happen right now leading her to the gospel. After the conference, we had a lesson with her on Monday before FHE, which was amazing. We were talking about the restoration and at one point in the lesson, she just asked us - "guys, how does somebody join this church?" We explained baptism and confirmation to her again, and she said OK. We set a date with her right then for April, and the spirit was so, so strong. We talked about the blessings of the gospel and she left saying she felt good about it all. Tuesday evening, I get a call from her - she said that she talked with her family about baptism, and they feel they can't support her. She said that she didn't know what to do. She said that she started reading the Book of Mormon and felt good about it but didn't know if she could handle continuing right now while she was getting opposition from her parents. She agreed, however, to a meeting on Wednesday so we could talk about it face to face. We set up for members to be there and ...

Sorry, out of time!!! Sports day went long...I'll finish the story next week - it has an awesome ending!!!!

Love you,

Elder Mullen

K, so here are some pics - I'm so sorry, there is just like no time to get all the descriptions written and sent! Just too busy being a missionary I guess haha. But here are at least some to whet your palette (an amuse bouche, if you will haha)

Me and a recent convert chinese member here. His conversion story is amazing. His family owns a little chinese restaurant, which is where we took this pic. It's rare to get him smiling like this - whenever we go to take pictures, he always gets serious haha. He's awesome, though, and is working towards serving a mission.

Elder Gleue rocking the night-vision goggles we found in the primary room. Not as good as the ones in the army, I think haha.

Me and Elder Ditě (Dee-tye) - he was set apart the day of the conference by President Irwin and stayed with us and the Assistents for his companions for the rest of the day. He is an amazing guy and will be an awesome missionary in Canada (English Speaking). He's from Jihlava.

Elders Dietrich, Ingalls, Mullen, and Stradling in the elevator coming back from a fun sports day with members and investigators.

I love this picture. And, even more, I love the Czech Republic. It is such a beautiful land and I feel so honored to be able to serve here.

This is me and the recent convert from Olomouc. He is such an awesome guy and it was way fun to catch up with him at the conference. He's a priest now!

Me at Kutná Hora (Koot-nuh Hor-uh) with all the skulls. Creepy! (but really cool!)

Me and Starší Meiling in front of one of the crypts at the bone church.

Being very GQ on the pathway to St. Barbora's cathedral in Kutna Hora. It was gorgeous and very european haha!

A Special Visitor...A Special Witness

March 17, 2012

How cool is this? We were waiting at the airport and after snapping a pic of President Irwin, Elder Causse and Elder Christofferson and their wives, Elder Christofferson said "Now we've got to get one with the missionaries!" So we all obliged and snapped this picture. So cool!

Ahoj, moje rodino!

March 10, 2012

Ahoj, moje rodino!

This was and will be an awesome week, so here it goes!

First of all, what a week you had, too! It sounds like your keeping busy in doing good things. How cool you read about the Czech Republic! The Vojkůvkovi live in Brno, so I don't know them, but I've heard a lot about them. Like I said, the saints here are so strong. I love each one of them!

It sounds like you're staying busy, too, Mr. Christer and fam! I still remember when you came for the recruiting thing when I was at BYU - I felt so official strutting around the Marriott Building with my bro haha. I hope you have a wonderful trip - sure do love you all!

The crescents sound delicious - but I sure do love Czech food! They know how to cook here. Just one more thing to love!

To answer your question we have a mission area doctor in Germany who takes care of serious things, and Sister Irwin is kind of our first contact with health things. She's wonderful!

Now for the questions!

1 -What, if any, will be your involvement with the visiting authorities?  So this question prompts the first cool story of the week! Elder Christofferson, President Irwin, and Elder Caussé all arrived with their wives yesterday evening by plane from Frankfurt, where they had just had a mission president's conference. I had an awesome opportunity last night to travel to the airport with the Assistants to pick them up - so here's the deal, the new assistant for next transfer is already here in Prague - his name is Elder Nichol and is coming here from Slovakia. He's an awesome elder and is really funny, so he is being trained right now by Elders Meiling and Shumway. Elder Dietrich played piano at the baptism of an investigator last night, so he couldn't come, so I went with the 3 APs so we could drive 2 cars to pick them up. We got there and were waiting for them at the gate and all of us had butterflies. They came around the corner and we all warmly greeted them. It just struck me how I could feel he was a man of God. It was just such a wonderful experience to have that little extra interaction with them. The only other meetings that we as missionaries will be attending will be the general session tomorrow from 11-1 and the missionary training conference from 2:30-4:30. I'm so excited to be spiritually filled. 

2 - Anything else you would like for Easter?  Not that I can think of...maybe some clues hahaha...but yeah, just the CD, not much else I can think of. 

3 - Were you able to talk to your contact?  We actually couldn't go over on Tuesday because he got pretty sick - so we'll try for next week!

We are starting to teach more, which is wonderful! One of our investigators is doing well - we've taught him all the basic doctrines and are moving on to the commandments - but he's excited for baptism. We showed him the baptismal font in out last lesson and he liked it a lot. He should be coming to the conference tomorrow, too, which is awesome. 

So now for the highlight of my week! K, so last week we went finding as a district to the center of Prague and, after talking to a lot of people, ended up getting only one phone number for a girl. It was great to talk with her and we told her about FHE (The curtisovi make dinner and we have a spiritual thought every monday evening for YSA aged people). She said that she'd maybe come - so on Monday, our lesson before FHE fell through, so I called and reminded her about FHE - after explaining it and what we'd do there (basically sing, pray, eat, learn, sing, pray), she decided to come. She is so cool - she's about 29 and speaks English wonderfully and we had a wonderful time with her at FHE. She asked some golden questions about why we were in the church and what we've felt it's added to our lives. That opened the door for us to testify of the truthfulness of the gospel and how much we truly are grateful for it. She said that at first she was really nervous but ended up really liking it - so we set up to meet with her last night. So then last night, an awesome investigator of Sisters Bean and Dolinar got baptized and our investigator came to the baptism! (unfortunately I couldn't make the baptism because we picked up everybody from the airport). But I got back right at the end and we had a lesson with her and S_____, a member studying here from San Diego. Oh my, it was one of the most spiritual lessons of my mission. We talked about the spirit and God and she told us that she felt very confused - she said that she felt something like a swelling inside of her and pointed to her heart and said that she doesn't know what it is. We testified of the spirit and read in the book of mormon with her - at least 4 times in the lesson she told us "I feel it now". She told us that she started feeling it every once in a while about 10 months ago while she was living in Canada, and she was confused by it and went to a therapist. She told us that when she described it to the therapist, they thought (and she thought) she was crazy. We testified to her that she was NOT crazy and that the feelings of the spirit tell us when we do something that is right. S____ was so good and testified that a couple months before she met the missionaries she felt the same thing. Our investigator just looked at us in unbelief as we described how we felt the spirit and said that that is exactly how she feels and that we were the first people who understood her and what she was talking about. We also testified of prayer and the power we can receive from it. She said her first kneeling prayer with us at the end of the lesson and it was so beautiful and sincere. We asked her what one question she had was and she said "co je pravda?" (what is truth?). It was just such an amazing experience to share those feelings of the spirit so strong with her. She is coming with us to the Conference tomorrow, and we are so excited. Please, please pray for her to act upon these feelings of the spirit. I am so excited to continue to meet and get to know and teach her about these things that bring me, all of you, and millions of others indescribable happiness.

I love you all and pray for you often. This work is true - the feelings of the spirit are real - I can feel it now typing my testimony. How grateful I am for my Savior Jesus Christ. I love this work and I love all of you.

S láskou,

Starší Mullen

Šťastný vikend vám všichni přeji!

March 3, 2012

Šťastný vikend vám všichni přeji! This week has been pretty good - (I'm getting better at typing in Czech too haha - one of the side effects of the office) and I'm excited to be able to tell you about it! Yes, I'm holding up good. How could I be doing bad when I'm a missionary of the Lord.

Oh my, Landon is so cute! Christers and Jenna sent me some pics and videos of him that I can watch on the office computers. That is so sweet that he folds his arms. It's a very interesting culture here. First of all, religion is kind of not the biggest thing here, but we established that a long time ago haha. Most kids never even think of religion because the parents haven't really either. The overriding problem I see with many of the younger generation isn't atheism - it's apathy. We've tried contacting kids around late high-school age and so many of them are just so indifferent to it all. We ask them what the purpose of life is sometimes and the overriding answers: work, have a family, be healthy. We usually grab onto the goal of having a family and try to get them to contemplate the idea of an eternal family, but it's just so hard for people to grasp on the street. I sometimes just wish I could implant the truth about eternity into their heads to give them a vision of what we're talking about, but technology isn't that advanced yet (maybe that'll be a new feature of the iPhone 5 haha). So we're working on finding the elect who will catch a glimpse of eternity, be curious, accept it and defy the stereotype. 

Some answers for the week:

  1.  Were you able to go the baptism with your recent convert and his friend?  The baptism was apparently postponed because of some understanding issues. Kind of a bummer - but I hope that she'll continue to learn and prepare for a later date!

2.  Did you get your software package yet?  Yes, I did! I'm gonna try installing it today - thank you so much, and thank Josh for me. Tell him that it will be put to good use and we'll be sure to only let it enhance the work here, not detract - I actually have our first assignment that I'll use it for already! They want to buy ad space in the tramvaj in Brno for institute, so I'm going to make an ad for that. 

3. Were you able to connect with your other contacts?  Yes! I actually just talked with him and we're going back next Tuesday! I'm excited to see them and talk with them again, and we're going to invite them to the Elder Christofferson conference. Exciting stuff!

4.  We heard Elder Christofferson is coming?  Will you have any special responsibilities with regards to his visit or the meetings?  We don't know how your internet access is but if possible his special witness testimony is posted on you tube and prob lds.org and is very well done.  It talks about gaining his testimony.  Very cool!!   Yes, he is coming! I'm so excited to hear from him. I know that he is truly a man called of God as a special witness of Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. 

5.  We are putting together your Easter box.  Any special requests...candy or otherwise?  Would you like some more boxes of sees?  How bout girlscout cookies?  They are out now...what flavors do you want?   Ooh, I'd love some Girl Scout cookies! My favorites are thin mints, samoas, and tagalongs (although I think they stopped making the samoas...sad...) But yeah, I'd love some! Another thing I'd love, if you can, is a CD with all of Cori's songs that focus on the gospel or the Savior (including the ones from her unplugged sea trek CD) - I'd love to have a CD of hers that has just all of those songs that remind me of home but still focus me on the work I'm doing to pop in at nights or in the morning. I love listening to her music! Love you, Aunt Cori!

So now for a couple stories from this week - Last saturday we went to the bone church in Kutná Hora, which was UNBELIEVABLE!!! I'll send some pics. 

We started meeting with a new referral this week, and he is just so awesome! He was a referral from a member in the branch that he invited to FHE after we met with Milan and we invited him to invite someone to the Elder Christofferson conference. But he is an awesome guy - we had 2 meetings with him this week. He came to the first meeting apologizing for not having read too much in the Book of Mormon - he only read through 2 Nefi chapter 5. We were REALLY disappointed haha. He's really bright and has an awesome desire to learn. The second lesson came as a surprise. We were sitting in the office when we got a phone call saying he was at the building. So we went across the street and talked with him - he wanted to talk because he said he thought about what we taught him a lot and he doesn't want to get baptized right now for a couple reasons, but feels like he gets a lot and will get a lot out of meeting with us, so he's going to keep meeting. We told him a bit more about baptism (we had only really introduced it and invited him in the first lesson), and told him that that is our goal as he learns  - for him to apply it into action. He accepted it really well and we told him that we were going to continue inviting him to baptism not because we're trying to force him, but because we want to invite him to partake of something that we know from experience is just so good. He told us that he feels very good around us and we had a nice kneeling prayer at the end. We have another meeting with him on Monday, which I'm excited for. He's awesome - member referrals are where it is at!!! Keep being awesome member missionaries.

 I just count my blessings every day. Any day that I have that I think is hard, I just wake up the next morning and count my blessings and marvel at how lucky I am. I love you all so much and am infinitely grateful for your support and for the power of the gospel in our lives.

Hope you have a wonderful day and week (and sweet dreams if this wakes you up as you sleep haha). I love you all so much,

S láskou, 

Starší Mullen