Goodbye Gainesville

Hello Everybody!

        This was a great week! We talked to a lot of great people about the Gospel, learned a lot, served God’s children, the usual. I’m coming to realize that most of our weeks as missionaries are basically the same - because everything we do is focused on serving others by strengthening their faith in Christ and inviting them to come closer to God through change. There are lots of specifics, but that really sums up our days, weeks, months, and the whole two years. So, we did that again this week! 

         But... one of the neatest experiences, inside of that, was on Tuesday. We went to visit one of the people we are teaching, Curtis. He is an older man and has come to church twice. He lives by himself in a very humble neighborhood with lots of violence. His trailer is small, very little furniture, and always smells heavily of smoke. His heater won’t turn off, and he doesn’t have money to fix it, so it’s always super hot in there. Most of the lights have broken and he doesn’t have money to change them. But his trailer is one of my favorite places, if not my favorite place, in Gainesville because of our love for him and the time we’ve spent there teaching him the gospel. It’s a special place to me. 

         He invited us inside and he offered us dinner. Elder Birch and I had chosen to skip dinner before so we would have more time to talk to people, so we hadn’t eaten. We said we would love to, if he had enough. He made us boiled neck-bones and pinto beans. It was so kind of him! And it was delicious. We ate with him and had a lesson on the Book of Mormon a spirit of peace, unity, and love was there. Love brings the Spirit! I know that it does. 

  Later this week, I’m being transferred to Price Creek, a country area by Lake City, to train a new missionary. I am excited for it! So, my address is changing and I will send it next week. 

This is one of the district in our zone. I love them! A lot of the missionaries are leaving Gainesville  on Wednesday to go to other areas, and I will miss them a lot.

This is us and Rachel, who photobombed this photo. We did service for her mom and her family - they needed help moving things from the house of her recently passed grandpa. They are from Tennessee and all have super southern accents and lingo. It was funny to hear. 

Love you all!

Elder McMullin

"Spiritual band-aids and pain medication"

   Hi all,

     This week I learned that the gospel is true again, for the millionth time. It’s incredible to see how it helps people with everything in their lives. We have a man we are teaching, Curtis, who expressed to us that he has a lot of guilt and shame for previous mistakes. He feels like he is separated from God. 

          I feel to blessed to be able to testify from my heart that because of Jesus Christ, we don’t have to be separated from God.

      I was thinking about what life would be like without a Christ. For example, we would have been talking with Curtis the other day, and how sad if would have been if he had expressed his grief, and we could only say “Well sorry, but you will have to live that for the rest of your life! We can give you some little spiritual band-aids and pain medication, but it will be temporary.” 

     No! I’m grateful for Christ as the Healer of our souls. So even people who are torn up inside by sin, and hurt with grief and pain, can be healed. 

Love you all! Stay strong with any New Years goals and I hope you have a great week! 

Elder McMullin

Here are some pics from the week:

A wonderful snapshot of how a good deal of our time is spent - while going in reverse, one of our mission rules is for the other missionary to be outside of the car. So this is a view of what that looks like, since it happens about 10 times a day. :)

Florida being beautiful. 

Dinner! We decided that it took too much time to come home for dinner, so we enjoyed hot dogs with bread instead, and baked beans. It was honestly really good, filling, and we enjoyed every second of it. 

A New Year Begins...

Hello everyone!

        I’m sorry for not having written a post in a while - repentance is real, and I will be better now! Well, for the next few weeks at least. We’ll see after that. 

       What’s exciting about this week that y’all would care about?  Curtis - you should care about Curtis, and I’m excited about him! Curtis is an older fellow who lives in a beat up trailer. He lives with a few friends who don’t have anywhere else to stay, so he’s kind enough to let them in. He’s had a hard life and has gotten a little beat up. He smokes two packs of cigarettes a day and has been feeling pretty down lately.

         We have taught him for several weeks now but he hasn’t been keeping the commitments God has given him, through us, to pray, read, and come to church. But, breakthrough, Curtis came to church on Sunday! A member offered to give him a ride, and he came to all three hours of church. He felt loved and needed, expressed how much he learned and enjoyed it, and said “Yeah, y’all already know that I’m gonna be back here next week.” I love Curtis - he has such a good heart and a desire to serve. I’m excited to watch as he keeps repenting and growing closer to Christ.

         It’s a new year! New Year's resolutions I’m sure are forthcoming with many of you and your families. I was thinking about starting a new year this morning, and how grateful I am for repentance, or the ability to get up over and over and over again in the process of progression toward perfection. How many times have you set New Years resolutions and then failed something within a few weeks, days, or even hours? I thank God for the ability we have to change because of Christ, what a joyful thing!

This weeks poem, to start off the new year, is about repentance and growth.

The ache of broken hearts,

Waiting for a new day.

That pain the dearly smarts,

Won’t seem to go away.

A hole that can’t be filled,

A gap that can’t be crossed.

Why can’t we just rebuild?

Why must we feel so lost?

Well simply we must try,

To look up up in the dark.

Something will catch our eye,

Two hands with nail-scarred marks.

It’s Jesus Christ our King,

The one who beckons us.

Now to his hands we cling,

Our lives to him we trust.

We went with the Young Single Adult Branch missionaries to IHOP for pancake breakfast this morning. It was fun to share time with them, but more fun to eat pancakes. Just kidding, I love these wonderful missionaries more than pancakes. :)

My trainer, Braden Day, visited Gainesville and we were able to talk for about 5 minutes in-between appointments. It was fun to see him - I love him and I’m grateful for everything he taught me as a young missionary, and for the example he sets for me now!

Love you all - happy new year and have a good week!

Elder McMullin