The temple, exchanges, and trainings..

Hello family and friends!

       This was one of the busiest, most miracle filled, diverse weeks of my mission! We trained in five district meetings, we spent Friday and Saturday on exchanges with other companionships, we found so many people who want the gospel in their lives, and we went to the Orlando Temple! 

         I love the temple - I thought about a quote that I read by one of the apostles - he said something like “In the temple, all feelings of doubt and inadequacy begin to fade away.” What a blessing! It’s reassuring to feel the Spirit letting you know that what you’ve done is enough, and then go out with a passion to keep doing God’s work!

   

     Also... here’s a complete MIRACLE from this week. We were walking around in an apartment complex, after talking to one of the people we visit with there, and were walking back to our car. A lady drove by and here’s basically our conversation...

“Hey are y’all Mormons?”

“Yes, we are!”

“Oh my goodness - it is so good to see you!” 

*us with confused/amazed/excited faces* 

       

  She recently moved across the country and was going through a hard time - we prayed with her, shared scriptures, and shared our testimonies as she wiped tears from her cheeks. After just that 10 minute conversation, my conviction that the Holy Ghost is a comforter deepened. It is real, so real! What a blessing to be able to share - I love this work. 

Love you all! Here are some pictures from the week. 

All of us missionaries at the temple!

It was fun to be there with five of my companions! I love them. 

ELDER MERRILL!

A tradeoff with Elder Josse! He’s an amazing soccer player, great at talking with people, and an amazing teacher. 

Elder Carter!!! He is so good - so good at getting missionaries excited and building up their faith. 

Elder McMullin

"Being Quick to Observe"

Hello everyone!

       This week was so good! We learned a lot this week. One of the number one things I learned is what it means to be “quick to observe.” That’s how Mormon, in the Book of Mormon, describes one of his sons who he trusts a lot. We’ve thought a lot about that phrase and here are my thoughts on what it means and how it can apply to you!are you excited? Well hey you should be. 

         Being quick to observe means being open minded, eyed, and eared. It’s having an awareness of those around us. It’s looking into somebody’s eyes and seeing if they’re filled with joy or sadness. It’s seeing who’s outgoing, excited, and talking, and who’s not including themselves or being included. It’s seeing who’s sitting alone. It’s having eyes to see, and ears to hear, as Christ says. 

          Our mission president talks to us about this a lot. We’ve seen that you can learn so much about a person just by being quick to observe. So there’s that :) 

         Here are some pictures from the week! Love you all!

Elder Jaksina and I in Gainesville. It was raining. A lot. 

After zone conference with Elder Willets, my previous companion! I love him so much - grateful for good friends made from faithful service and sacrifice! 

Elder Ballard in Ocala! He is so good - he won state in Tennis where he lives in Arizona. He’s super super good! An even better missionary, though. And he speaks and teaches in Spanish! He can do it all. 

A little tennis, a lot of work.

Hello everybody!

        This week has been one of the most diverse and enjoyable of my mission. Here are pictures to describe the week. 

A sub-par phone selfie post tennis. We play with the other elders in our ward and the sisters in another ward. One of the Sisters, Sister Sosa, played all through high school and she’s super good! It’s fun to see people use their talents, that’s one of my favorite parts of missionary work. 

Tradeoff with Elder Houskeeper! He had to go home for surgery but is now back out. He is so loving and caring - really personable and Christlike to everybody who we saw that day. And he’s from Oregon! Somebody who’s not from Utah, Arizona, or Idaho!

Tradeoff with Elder Burt in the Gainesville YSA. Where I was trained! Ahhhh this was such a fun day to be there in Gainesville. I LOVE Gainesville. 

We taught Maurya that day - when I was in the YSA we taught her for 6 months. She plays viola at UF and is really good. It was good to see her again and we had a great lesson on connecting to God through faith, and how that seeks the Spirit. 

I send so many pictures from tradeoffs that I decided to send one pre-picture. Fixing the tie before the picture is always a major key. This is from Price Creek, my last area, with Elder McBride, an old companion. It was so good to be back - a little piece of my heart will always be in Lake City. In church we were studying about the word “sacrifice” and from the word roots, it means “to make sacred.” We sacrificed a lot in Price Creek, and from the bottom of my heart I can say that that place is sacred to me. 

  Elder Forsyth as we drive back from church. Sunday afternoons after a focused day at church can be tiring, especially for a missionary who’s been out for two weeks. It made me look back and remember how exhausting missionary work is at first before we get used to it. He’s absolutely amazing though, such a dedicated missionary. I trained Elder Birch, so he’s my “son”, and Elder Birch is training Elder Forsyth, so he’s my “grandson”. 

Here’s the transfer board with our schedule for the next 6 weeks.

Love you all! We hope you have a great week and a good Father’s Day this Sunday!

Elder McMullin

Finding joy in the variety of the work!

Hello Everybody!

       This  past week was... busy! Started out with dropping all of the departing missionaries off at the airport, hugging the elders we’ve spent almost two years around, and shaking the sisters’ hands. There was a quick second where I almost cried - we love these missionaries! Faithful disciples of Christ. It was a little hard to see them go after being with them, hearing their testimonies, their faith, and miracles they’ve been a part of. They will be great people going forward! 

         So that was at 3:45AM  Tuesday morning. (We’d gone to bed at 11:30PM the night before.) We worked all day and then the most exciting part of the week for us! The new missionaries from the mission training center, eight sisters and three elders, get off the plane and we get to be at the airport when they arrive so we can drive them home. We were standing in the terminal waiting, and their flight had landed. People started filing down the long hallway. We were standing there with President and Sister Lee, and we can’t stand still, just waiting eagerly. A couple passes us and says, “Don’t worry, they’re coming.” Everybody notices the missionaries!

         So then there they come! Smiling, excited, full of energy, a little nervous, but just full of light. It filled the gap that had come from dropping the departing missionaries off that morning. The new elders and sisters are so good - so much faith to be sacrificing so much. The start of a mission is hard, but they were so joyful and ready to serve. Such examples to me. 

        

  Love you all!    - Elder McMullin

Here are some more pictures from the week:

From last Monday, with the departing missionaries at the beach their last day! 

Tuesday was Sister Lee’s birthday. We bought her a dozen roses, knocked on the front door, and I played “Happy Birthday” while Elder Masino sang. She did the mom thing where she put her hand over her mouth and teared up and said “That was so sweet!” even though we probably didn’t sound the best. It’s the love that counts! Anyway, President Lee got a hold of my viola and here he is with some good ol’ country fiddling. We might have to talk about now placement, but he was pretty good for never having picked up a viola before! 

Here’s an exchange with Elder Hansen. We had a great day and taught some amazing people. He’s a naturally caring and loving person - he is great example love of showing love in the way people need it. 

           Same, but more dramatic.