Greetings From Brno!!

July 18th, 2012

Hello, family! Greetings from Brno!

Yup, I'm staying in Brno and Elder Buhler is leaving for Slovakia for a transfer! I will be serving with a familiar face - Elder Gabrielsen! I am very excited to be serving with him - we got along so well in the MTC and I am just so excited to be working with him now! We have so much potential building up in our area and I am praying for it to just explode in the near future. The major change in this transfer is that Sisters are going to Slovakia, where there haven't been sisters in at least 8 or 9 years. Sister Izatt, who is serving there, has dual citizenship in the US and Finland, so she can stay there as long as she wants because of EU agreements with her Finnish visa, so there can be some consistency in their area instead of sisters being blinded out every transfer. Everyone is very excited though for them to be there - we pray that they will be met with success. But I am so grateful to be staying in Brno with all these wonderful people. Elder Gabrielsen is an amazing Elder and I feel so excited to be serving here with him.

It sounds and looks like your trip in Hawaii was sensational. I loved that you got to pay it forward in Mama's fish house - that's what it's all about. And how jealous I am of the seafood! If there's one thing that I miss here most, it's good seafood. The food is absolutely delicious, but that flavor of a good, fresh piece of fish is pretty much impossible to find. But I'm plenty happy enjoying my heavy czech dishes - knedliky yum yum!

I also loved the picture you sent of Amanda and Cameron - I hope everyone is doing well there at home! And how cool that the Whitings cooked koláče (koh-laah-chay)! Those are the biscuits she made - they are very delicious! You can buy them in most bakeries and stores here, since almost every store has its own little bakery section. Thanks for representing the Czech Republic!!!

I also loved seeing all my siblings! Love you Chris, Jenna, and Natalie!!!

Alright, so here go the answers....

1.  First and obvious...where are you going ...or staying?  Dad's money is on you staying in Brno as a zone leader with Starsi Buhler being transferred.  We'll see how close Tata's guess is!!  Fill us in on the details PLEASE!! - well, I explained above, still here in Brno with Elder Gabrielsen!

2.  Who else from your group got what changes...what were the surprises President Irwin referred to? - another way cool thing is that Elder Heath and Salas are zone leaders in Pardubice! Super exciting - our group is starting to really step into the main leadership roles of the mission. Every Elder in my group is either a District Leader or Zone Leader! So yeah, and the main surprise was the sisters going to Slovakia! Super exciting!

3.  How were your investigators progressing this week?  Any new news in that department? - this week we have actually been getting a lot of meetings, which is so refreshing! Teaching is really what keeps a missionary happy. A couple highlights, though - our investigator's friend, is doing well, he came to church again and we have a meeting with him tomorrow! We also reestablished contact with another investigator and had a good lesson with him yesterday to try to get him back on track for learning about the gospel and really trying to live according to it. So that's exciting! We also started teaching a new guy who's in his last year of medical school and is considering maxillofacial surgery as a specialty! He is way cool. The biggest news, however, is that we got a text last Wednesday from another investigator! We don't know what happened, but he texted saying he'll be gone for a week (so he'll be coming back in the next couple days) and wants to meet as soon as he returns. He said he's excited to meet - wow, It was a testimony builder to me that even if these people are out of sight of us, they are never out of the sight of our Heavenly Father and His angels. How grateful I am that we are not doing this work alone!

4.  We are ready to send another package any time you want...any requests? - Hmm, Elder Gabrielsen and I would love some of those Trader Joe protein bars - ThinkThin I think they were called? But yeah, some of those along with little trader Joe's snacks would be great! And of course pictures!

5.  How was your p day last week?  Was it cool? - Yeah, it was wonderful! We saw a crypt which was way old and way cool. I love Brno!

Ok, unfortunately that's all I have time for because we will be taking Elder Buhler to the train station in just a bit, but know that I love you all SOOOO much and know that I am here for a reason. This gospel is true and brings the greatest purpose and peace into our lives as it is applied. I know it's true!

S laskou,

Starsi Mullen

Starsi Gabrielsen and Mullen at the Internet Cafe