1-10-09

Hello family! First I'll tell you about my week so that I make sure you get that before I run out of time. On tuesday we decided to go tracting and we were looking for a spot and we drove by 33rd street and then I shouted "Miracle on 34th Street!" and turned down 34th. The first 2 doors we knocked on became new investigators haha! Pretty crazy. Well, the first door is interesting. Her name is Teresa and she has 2 kids, Dale and Angel. She got in a car wreck a couple years ago and has lost a lot of the use of the right side of her body. She also lost her job because of it. As we talked with her, we asked if there was anything we could do to help. She replied, "Well, yes actually." I was a little stunned but continued to listen. She went on to explain that some of the disability funding she was getting to supplement her income was taken away, as well as some other sources of income. She told us that she was going to be kicked out of her house on Sunday because she could no longer afford the house they were renting. She had rented a storage unit and planned to move everything in there and live in a pop-up camper until they could get things figured out. However, since she was told on such short notice, she had no way to get all her stuff moved by herself. Long story short, Elder Wright and I spent 8 hours over the next 2 days helping her pack up her house and move it all to the storage unit. We know where she has set up her camper, but it's outside of our area so we turned her over to some other missionaries until she moves back into ours. She was so grateful for the help and she seemed as though she was ready and willing to hear the gospel. I'm excited to see where she goes. The next part of my week is no less miraculous. We went up to Blue River (the branch we cover that is an hour drive away) on friday night. Instead of staying with members up there, they put us up in a hotel. Pretty weird experience to be in a hotel on your mission haha. Anyway, while we were up there the branch members had a lot of people lined up for us. We taught an 8-year-old all the lessons so she could be baptized. We taught a lot of lessons to less-actives and challenged them to come back to church, and we even taught a few active members. Well, one of the members that was gone from the branch on vacation called one of our drivers. (We had members drive us everywhere because the branch spans a distance of 70 miles. Did I mention we took a bus to Blue River?) The man told us of someone he wanted us to go visit. His name is Jason and he is a non-member who is married to a less-active and they have 4 kids that come to church every sunday. We met with Jason and discovered that he and his wife are having a lot of marital problems. She moved out of the house. Well, when we met with Jason we talked with him about how the gospel blesses families. He said that he felt like God was humbling him so he'd be willing to listen. He was extremely open and receptive and we ended up teaching him two lessons, both of which he accepted and felt they were true. I couldn't believe how inspired the whole event was. Church on sunday was good. It was awesome to be around President and Sister Macdonald on a personal level. On the drive back, he let us ask him any questions he wanted. I was asking question after question and my little greenie companion just sat quietly haha. President Macdonald is a pretty funny guy. He says that he doesn't drive if he doesn't have to and so he made me drive back from Blue River. He made me drive his brand-new Chevy Traverse. They seriously just got it a couple weeks ago. I was pretty nervous, but I got us back in one piece. Speaking of new cars, we get a new one on wednesday. I'm pretty excited haha. Well, I'm running low on time. Please tell Erin and James that I'm very happy and excited for them. I hope you all have a safe trip. Oh, let me answer your questions really quick. I see Elder Parkin every Monday and Wednesday. He is a regular missionary that has to do office work, but also has to be a District Leader. He has a lot on his plate right now haha. Our apartment is the bottom floor of their house. It's connected. Our apartment is simply some rooms off of the main living room in the downstairs of their house. I love you all. Have a great week! Love, Elder Mullenax