March 1, 2013

Hey there! So glad to hear all is going well. It is neuvěřitelný (unbelievable) that it is already March. February flew by in just another wonderful blink of an eye. It's incredible - I am loving my time that I have here as assistant and am looking forward to these upcoming weeks. This week we will have almost entirely in our area, which will be wonderful. Then the next 2 weeks after are specialized trainings and some other events, then it's transfer week. Crazy. 

Well I'm glad that my nephew is a baby genius. He sounds like he is a learning machine. How cute he is in all the photos you send! And man, is he getting big! I still show people the picture of us all together in New York when I introduce my family and I look at that little cute pudgy baby in those photos and then look at the most recent ones - my, how he's grown. To think that I'll be able to have a full conversation with that little guy - wow! I'm glad to hear Jenna's doing well and will pray that all will go smoothly with the delivery.

I'm also glad to hear Aunt Sue is doing fine and I hope that her hips won't hurt so much after she's all healed. Isn't family just the best?! That's what I realize more and more here on my mission, that true and lasting happiness is found in families and in the gospel. I love you, Aunt Sue and Uncle Steve!

Make sure to tell Darren hello and give him a big hug from me (I know you'll do a great big hug, Marmee haha!). How fun that he'll be joining us all at BYU in the fall - so many good times ahead of us.

So now I'll take some time to answer your questions of the week:

1.  Any sense on how many missionaries are coming in the next transfer? - Next transfer is a huge group! I know that there will be 6 sisters (4 Czech and 2 Slovak - yes, Slovak sisters!), and I'm pretty sure there will be 5 or so Elders. So yes, a big group like ours! It'll be exciting to have a large, fresh, faith-filled group of the Lord's missionaries arrive!
2.  Who besides Elder Coleman is scheduled to experience "The Big Transfer"? - Next transfer Elders Coleman, Engstrom, Plaizier, Stockdale, and Meredith will all have the big transfer. I'm excited for them to begin the next phase of their life after serving this phase so, so well. I remember starting my mission with Elder Stockdale, and of course so loved my 2 transfers with Elder Coleman. They will most definitely be missed here but will do so much good at home as well.
3.  Any needs or wants? - Nope, I'm quite content. Thanks, though!
4.  What have you learned from your study of the Atonement? - We studied how to simplify the doctrine so simply that an 8-year-old could understand it. It was very enlightening for me as I focused on the simplicity of the Atonement. There are so many complexities and so many unknowns about how it happened, but the beautiful simplicity is in WHY it happened and the effects of the fact that it DID happen. Just like electricity, I don't understand it perfectly, but I can use it's power. It's through the Atonement that Christ experienced and overcame the 2 barriers between us and eternal life with Heavenly Father - death and the consequences of sin. He paid the penalty that the law requires in our behalf so we don't have to, yet didn't remove our own personal responsibility. We must have faith in him to accept his sacrifice and repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure until the end of our lives. What relief that brings - complete freedom from the burden of guilt from mistakes. I love in Alma when it talks about his conversion story in Alma ch. 36, how he could still remember his mistakes (so he could learn from them), but could "remember [his] pains no more." I love that aspect of the Atonement - that we don't need to let the pains burden us all the rest of our lives. What a wonderful hope the Atonement gives us!
5. Share with us your favorite spiritual experience of the week... - Let's see - one of my favorite was with an investigator. We taught him 2 times this week and they were incredible lessons. He has such strong faith in Jesus Christ already and a great knowledge of the scriptures. He told us that he knows that Joseph Smith was truly called as a prophet and that if he continues to feel that what we teach is true he will definitely be baptized again. He understands the importance of priesthood authority and what it means to be baptized by someone holding that authority. In our lesson on the restoration of the priesthood authority I did something I don't usually do and showed him my Priesthood Line of Authority that you made for me, Tata. You know, the little laminated one? The spirit was really strong when we testified of the importance of that authority. He definitely has some trials ahead, but he knows what the spirit feels like and wants to follow its promptings. Please pray for him, as he will be returning to his home country for a couple months at the end of next week. It'll be hard for him to stay strong without contact with us for so long, but he promised to read the entire Book of Mormon. So please pray for him! 

Another quick experience - this week we had an exchange with the Zone Leaders in Brno and Elder Gleue came here to Praha with me! We had a couple lessons fall through so we went finding and found some amazing people! The most memorable was a young student. He is Czech but speaks English with the most convincing English accent I've ever heard. He is really bright and his expectations for meeting is to learn more about our church and what makes us different. He understands the spirit really well and we had a fantastic first lesson with him on Thursday. Also please pray for him to stay solid.

There have been many other miracles I don't have time to write about in detail  I love being here and hope this just gives you an idea of how much the Lord is blessing us all in this work.
6.  Bring us up to date on your investigators. - Well, kind of included this one in the above question.

I love you all so much. A lady the office elders were teaching got baptized this morning and it was a beautiful service. Afterward, on our way back to the office, we took a long way around and talked to an amazing young man. He has had a hard life so far but has done an amazing job of overcoming them; he said that he knows that he has learned a lot from the challenges, but doesn't exactly understand why they happened to him. We promised him that the gospel of Jesus Christ has answers he's looking for and we are going to his house to visit him next week on Wednesday. I know that the Lord leads us to those who are looking and who need it and are ready for it.

Love you bunches and look forward to hearing from you all in a blink of an eye!

S laskou,

Starsi Mullen

 Joseph with a friend at a District Conference.

 

OK, so here's a fun thing from the last weeks - Elder Gabrielsen and I had gone through the center looking for something to put in my future home like you suggested for my birthday. We were walking through and found an art gallery with some great original oil paintings of parts of Praha. The artist of those paintings just happened to be the one running the gallery and at the suggestion from Elder Burton who was with us I asked if he could, let's say, customize it a little for me. So he did! He added two missionaries to the street scene. Pretty cool, huh? His name is Armen and studied art in the art academy in Olomouc. So happy birthday to me! What would you like me to do with it? Should I send it home in bubble wrap or keep it and try to take it home by hand? Hope you approve and like it!