A Conglomerate of Lance's Letters

*Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  Hope you forgive me.

4-30-12
Nothing stands out too much, there is a baptism scheduled on Wednesday and later today we'll be bowling.  The one family, the Espinoza's, that were baptized when I first got here are now moving to Moscow, Idaho and so I'll be saying goodbye to them later today and getting the address so I can keep in contact with them.

4-24-12
It was a slow and enriching week. Slow because we hardly taught any lessons, also partly due to me being sick, and enriching because we had Zone Conference on Thursday and the temple this morning. We are allowed to go to the temple once every 3 months.

 

I live in a basement of some members. It has a kitchen, bathroom, small living room, and the bedroom with 2 beds. The color design is white and cream (I think that's the color they call it). Walls are white, white tiles in the kitchen and bathroom and the carpet is white and cream(?)ish colors. 

 

My companion is fine. I don't have much to say about him other than is core of his testimony is centered in the Book of Mormon.

 

4-16-12

My new missionary companion is good. He's originally from California and moved to Colorado before coming out. He wants to do something related to business and has been out on his mission for 12 months (serving in Vancouver and Yakima before here).

 

We might be having a baptism next week, his name is Sonny Caskey, he's 10 years old and we got parental permission for him to be baptized but things aren't solidified in terms of when and so I'll let you know as time moves on.

 

We have a Zone Conference this week, so that'll be cool and then we also have interviews and a trip to the temple later this month.

 

4-9-12

I got a new companion, his name is Elder DeLeon, he's been out for 12 months and he is from (orginally LA but recently from) Colorado. He's 25, went to college for 2 1/2 years before coming out, has served in Yakima and Vancouver before here and knows Spanish.

 

4-2-12

We got the information right after Priesthood session and I am going to be staying in this area. That makes it 7 1/2 months here. I will be getting a new companion, Elder (now I don't know the spelling but it sounds like) Da-le-own.  We had a baptism March 29. It was for Ammon Jessop, the grandchild of the member's we live with.

 

3-26-12

This past week we had a guest speaker in the mission, Bro. Larsen (he is a NFL player for the Bronco's, linebacker I think, and he is also Pres. Greer's nephew) and when he came he talked to us about discipline and how that comes from being a disciple. His main focus was "The "whats" (ex practicing, working out, studying) don't matter as long as you have a "why" (ex to help others, to learn, to meet new people) and as a NFL player is why is to win a championship and that is why he practices and so forth; He then challenged us to find, if we don't know already, our "why" for being a missionary. This question took a lot of time, but this last Sunday I had a realization on my "why". Right now, my "why" is "things will get better"; the reason I do the things that I do is because I know that things will eventually get better. This ties in with the Gospel and how things will get better, but it was a cool realization/introspection learning about my why.

We are going to have a baptism this Thursday!! His name is Ammon Jessop, 9 years old, and he is the grandson of the people we are living with. He's really cool and really bright for his age. The family he lives with though, is off the wall, but I'm not sure if it's just because everyone is so young or about all of the crazy sisters he has (1 older, 2 younger), and since I haven't been around either situation very much I'm not a very good judge. Oh, and as Alivia, youngest of the 2 younger sisters, would say "Ammon is getting apatized." (she made the mistake the first time, but then after that she kept saying it because she saw that everyone was laughing because she was saying it).

 

Besides those two events, things are going well and I'm looking forward to my second general conference on my mission. (I already have an idea on the subject of Elder Nelson's talk and I'll be looking to see if I can catch his phrase he said he was going to use).

 

 

 

 

 

Just Doing the Good Work

Introduction
My next transfers is on Feb 22. My companion is still Elder Reeve and he's doing well. He's convinced himself that he'll be able to make me gain weight and also gain more muscles (he makes me do the bench press and other things in the morning when we're exercising). I'm currently doing 3 sets of 8 repetitions of 65 lbs. I'm doing push-ups, sit-ups, dips, and then weights lifting in my arms. The work is going good. We're teaching a lot of part-member families.

Weather
The weather is sunny. A lot of sun and not a lot of rain. It's either sunny with no clouds, or more likely sunny with partial clouds. Also, we had snow for 2 days (and they cancelled church for a light dusting) and then cancelled a trip to the temple for 6 inches.

Okay, Kelso

Dee and Linda Jessop- these are the members we live with. They are also in charge of the Addiction Recovery Program for the stake. They are really nice (and also old so they tend, or Bro Jessop repeats stories sometimes). The way I've described Sister Jessop, is think of Christine, but more focused on family and the gospel (and not rubix cubes and rollerblading)

Eric and Glenna Olson- our Ward Mission leader and his wife, the Relief Society President. We go to their house at least once a week. and as Ward Mission Leader, he is our connection to the Ward Council and the Ward. They're both older and they are thinking about serving a mission, but Bro. Olson needs to shave his beard to do it (so I tease him about it almost every time we see him).

Graff's - Bishop and his family. 4 sons and 1 daughter. The oldest about to go to BYU, so that was a quick in because they were asking me about BYU and what that was like. They are a really cool family and they love us (the missionaries) so, they're a great blessing in helping the missionary work in Kelso

Felicia and Robert - a family that we found by tracting into. Felicia is the member and Robert is not. Felicia was a convert and she signed up for the navy and that is when she met Robert. She has 3 daughters and the oldest is 6, then 5, and 1 1/2. We started teaching them, more at Felicia's suggestion, because she wanted to come back to church and have the other kids recieve baby blessings, but Robert, when we started talking about baptisms for the dead and genealogy work, was instantly excited. So, the Spirit of Elijah was the key for him.

Stephenson's - a family the bishop refered us to. It turns out the day we showed up they had just had the Jehovah Witnesses over and they realized they had had members of other faiths over more than they had people of their faith. They have two kids, Hunter and Will 10 and 6 and they are so fun. The day after we taught them the 3 things of the Atonement. They kept telling their parents for the next week about what the 3 things were that Jesus did for them.

Apelu's - a family from the island of Chuke (find that if you can :) ) and they are interesting just because of the way their culture is. They have family visit all the time and they are really good and they enjoy church, but there is a language barrier because of some not knowing english very well.

Eric - a single father we tracted into. Has one daughter, 6 yr old and they have been to church and are loving it.

Daniel and Alysha - a couple we found on the bridge in our area

Josh and Katie - a family that Josh was about to get baptized the week I showed up in Kelso

Victoriano's - a family that has 7 kids oldest having jsut finished 1/2 a year of college.

The Missionaries
Okay, other elders these are the other missionaries in the area besides me

Elder Reeve - my companion from Logan. been out 16 months. came out with Elder Fowlke

Elder Peck - LV 2 missionary. going home in 1 1/2. From Utah. also served in Walla Walla when I was in Milton-Freewater

Elder Atchison - LV 2 missionary. going home in 7 weeks. From California. Trained Elder Fowlke

Elder Joslin - LV 1 missionary. From Utah. been out 13 months. Is half Japenese a district leader

Elder Anderson - LV 1 missionary. I don't know how long he's been out or much about him except he's good at basketball

Elder Tom - LV 3 missionary. My district leader. Spanish elder. Is from ???. Likes baseball. served in Walla Walla when I was in Milton-Freewater

Elder Gray - LV 3 missionary. Spanish Elder. Been out 4 months. Is from Orem. the star football player his last year. also good at basketball

Elder Crowther - Cathlamet misisonary. I don't know much about him. I only see him a couple of times a week (he lives 25 miles away from Longview)

Elder Peterson - Cathlamet missionary. I don't know much about him. I only see him a couple of times a week (he lives 25 miles away from Longview). been out 5 1/2 months

Elder Fenn - Woodland missionary. Zone leader. I don't know much about him. I see him about 2-3 times every 6 weeks.

Elder Bates - Woodland missionary. Zone leader. I don't know much about him. I see him about 2-3 times every 6 weeks.

Time to play catch-up! (...Tiffany's bad)

Nov. 15^th

Yesterday (14^th) there was a half-mission conference and not only did I get to see 7 of my MTC District (Elders Dees, Metz, Thomas, Packham, Moon, Periera, and Gwynn (which doesn't count as much because he's already in my zone)), but just seeing them was amazing. Oh, did I mention that 3 of my MTC District are training new missionaries this transfer?! Elders Kendrick, Packham, and Thomas are training a new missionary, that is something that doesn't happen often, but it is the goal with the new training program (which is to train in new missionaries in such a way so that by the end of the 12 weeks they could train a new missionary). But, even more cool than that was to meet and listen to Elder Christensen of the 1st Quorum of the 70! Man, that was amazing. He had such amazing insight about prayer and so many ways that we could improve that it probably got everyone pumped and feeling the spirit of missionary work again. Then after the conference we got the November Ensigns and so then I got to look at the talks given at General Conference and feel the spirit of those messages. It was a very good Monday.

Oh, by the way there's a street in Longview with the name "Jimmer Place." How cool is that?

Nov. 8^th

Yeah, it's been good here and guess what happened this Sunday? We were heading for church and I looked at the sky and guess what I saw? I saw the sun, and I mean I looked straight at it as if it was the moon because that was how foggy it was, it didn't even hurt me to look at the sun for a few seconds. Now, that was a strange experience.

So, first off this area can be described in two words; wet and hills. It's either fog, or rain, or heavy rain, or light rain, or mist, but there is a lot of moisture and then there are a lot of hills, or ups and downs and I guess that is true in an area like this.

About the people, they seem to be a little meaner than they were in Milton-Freewater, not that they aren't nice, just that they don't seem to be as nice and cordial out here.

I will be here (Kelso) for Thanksgiving (unless I get emergency transfer) and the transfer ends Nov 30, so there is a chance that I might leave and be in a new area for Christmas. And I do not know where I will be sent to next, that's part of the revelation that President Greer has. Also, transfers are six weeks; this is the 4th week, so you can start keeping track of when I might be leaving.

Nov. 1^st

Elder Baca. A head shorter than me, wears glasses, dark hair, from Mesa AZ, and he doesn't know what he wants to do in school. There's nothing that annoys me really, we don't have a lot in common (except being skinny), his favorite colors are red and gold, he plays guitar, and he’s writing a funny story about Kelsoites and Longviewites.

Oct. 25^th

So my new area is "Longview," technically Kelso and Castle Rock. First off, I'll say that Kelso is to Longview as Orem is to Provo (aka they border each other) the only difference is that apparently they have a fierce rivalry between the two. Castle Rock is a small "town" (I use that word loosely in this context) and it has over 10 churches (they have a sign of all the churches in the town coming in and out of the town.

There are actual mountains here! (In Milton-Freewater they claimed they had "mountains" called the blue mountains, but they were glorified hills). This area has mountains, and trees and rain. Oh, I forgot to mention that earlier. This area is known for two things 1) being the "black hole of all happiness" (not my words) and 2) raining constantly (I first thought the two were connected but I'll explain those common misconceptions)

First, it is known for being depressing because it is almost always overcast, so you don't see the sun that often and I guess after a while that could be depressing. The second error was that it does "rain" almost always, but this rain is not like rain back home. It kind of squirts small amounts (almost that you can't feel it) and it does that and then it sometimes gets worse where it's has a lot of these tiny droplets, but there hasn't been anything yet so bad that it reminds me of some of the bad storms back in Provo.

Mount St. Helen's is in my area so that's nearby and there's a certain spot that you can see that and Mt Hood and some other mountain nearby all from one spot (but it has to be on a clear day).

(He’s around 55 miles to Mt. St. Helens that someone said.)

Oct. 18^th

I'm getting transferred to Kelso-Castle Rock ward over in the Longview stake so this is my last Tuesday here in Milton-Freewater.

Oct 4^th

Yeah, the temp's been steadily going down, and Elder Fowlke, who is from Wyoming, has been enjoying the weather.

[About the new Provo Temple] I know!!!!! When I heard that it was awesome!! I felt the Spirit and it was amazing to hear that. You have to keep me updated on how that is going along because I want to visit the temple there when I get back

Most of the missionaries are good people and I'm getting along with most of them. The work seems to be slowing down, but we have some really promising people that we are working on teaching. Milton-Freewater depends on where we go. In most areas people are "you're doing a good work spreading the word, but I'm not interested (or I have my own church)" but in this one area we visited people were a lot more hostile, I guess would be the word.

September 26th, Scripture Experience

It was personal study and I was reading the Book of Mormon in Mosiah and I came to chapter 10 and I read verses 11-18 which says:

"Now, the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength. Yet they were a strong people, as to the strength of men.
They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people, believing in the tradition of their fathers, which is this—Believing that they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem because of the iniquities of their fathers, and that they were wronged in the wilderness by their brethren, and they were also wronged while crossing the sea;
And again, that they were wronged while in the land of their first inheritance, after they had crossed the sea, and all this because that Nephi was more faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord—therefore he was favored of the Lord, for the Lord heard his prayers and answered them, and he took the lead of their journey in the wilderness.
And his brethren were wroth with him because they understood not the dealings of the Lord; they were also wroth with him upon the waters because they hardened their hearts against the Lord. And again, they were wroth with him when they had arrived in the promised land, because they said that he had taken the ruling of the people out of their hands; and they sought to kill him.
And again, they were wroth with him because he departed into the wilderness as the Lord had commanded him, and took the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, for they said that he robbed them.
And thus they have taught their children that they should hate them, and that they should murder them, and that they should rob and plunder them, and do all they could to destroy them; therefore they have an eternal hatred towards the children of Nephi.
For this very cause has king Laman, by his cunning, and lying craftiness, and his fair promises, deceived me, that I have brought this my people up into this land, that they may destroy them; yea, and we have suffered these many years in the land."

When I finished reading that I just stopped and I felt/got the thought that there was something in those verses that I was supposed to learn and figure out so I spend the rest of my time (this was already 3/4 of the way through) thinking about what I was supposed to take out of those verses and guess what? In district meeting about an hour later we talk about those verses. There are no such things as coincidences with God! Just thought I'd share that.

Play: Lance and the Strangeness of a Q&A Session

By: Lance Mullen
Slight Revisions by: Tiffany Lloyd

Lance is talking with Tiffany and JD in some kind of room.

Tiffany: So I want you to write to me about something exciting or fun that happened to you.

Lance: Well, it's hard to think of something to write about, that's such a broad topic that I need something specific so I can spend my time about that otherwise it's like me writing about everything.

JD: Well, what's the weather like over there?

Lance: There's no mountains so the sun is already up at 6:30 in the morning and it has been hot but it hasn't reached triple digits and that's odd for this area but it's cooling down now and it's getting dark at 7ish so it's hard to find people to visit when it's so dark out.

Dad: Well, what's your car like does it have a nice transmission?

Lance: When did you get here? Anyways, I only get to drive the car when Elder Fowlke is gone on exchanges and you know that I'm not good with car terminology. I think it's a 2011 Corrolla and it was brand new just before we got here so there aren't problems with it and I think it works pretty well but it's still hard to get used to driving for one day and then go another 6 weeks sitting in the passenger seat.

Mom: Are you eating healthy and staying safe?

Lance: I guess this is some type of family gathering or something. Well, I'm eating a lot healthier than when I was at home. I don't even get to eat ramen or macaroni very often because the member's feed us so much and give us a ton of food. That and my companion loves food from other countries and so we go to Chinese, Mongolian, Mexican restaurants and so it's a new experience for me to see and eat all of these new foods.

Jordan: Are you adjusting well from a nerd to a servant of the Lord?

Lance: Jordan? What are you doing here? Is this some type of open invitation question and answer segment or something? And don't forget that you're a nerd too, just saying. And it wasn't as hard of a transition as I thought it would be. The part I was most scared about was getting up at 6:30 every morning because of my sleeping habits back a home but everything has been going smooth for me and the time has been flying by and things like teaching and testifying to people are easier for me.

Kohor: You are a specter from the gods.

Lance: Kohor?! Who let you in? (*proceeds to beat Kohor through the door and locks the door behind him*) This place really needs to improve the security.

TJ: Well, maybe it's all this talk of food that's drawing everyone here. What are you liking most about being in Milton-Freewater?

Lance: Well, this place has really nice, members and nonmembers, and I think that's both good and bad because that means that people are willing to listen to our message and to what we say and not kick us off their lawns but it's bad because some people are apathetic (I think that's the word) and they are happy with their lives and what their doing and some people are encouraging us even though they don't want anything to do with us, now that's something that I wasn't expecting.

JD: What is something that you look forward to the most?

Lance: Hmm... Two things, one spiritual and one more temporal. The spiritual thing I look forward to is the change that I see in the investigators and how they change to a better person and are happier in every aspect in their lives. The temporal thing that I look forward to is letters. I know that sounds kind of lame but I like hearing from everyone back at home about how life is and for me it's reassuring to know that everything is okay and a letter really helps.

Danny: You need better security in here. The door wasn't even locked when I came in.

Lance: What? Okay, whoever is in charge over here needs to make some improvements, if not there's going to be people showing up that not everyone knows and who knows what will happen then.

Bishop Steward: Hey everyone! I'm Elder Mullen's bishop back in Provo. How is your ward?

Lance: Well, it's a nice ward, the members that show up are really funny and are great people. A less desirable feature to our ward is we have a lot of less active and so we never are without work from the Bishop in helping out members and teaching less active members.

Edler Lythgoe: Hey! (something in Russian that no one in the room understands) I'm Elder Mullen's roommate from his freshman year at BYU. So what are the people and the area like in Milton-Freewater?

Lance: (looks at Elder Lythgoe) How did you get over here from Russia? (shrugs it off) Anyway, like I said earlier when you weren't here the people are all really nice and the place is mostly farm land and there are a lot of wineries too (unfortunately). The missionary work is going well and we are able to get a lot of referrals for the Spanish Elders that live in Walla Walla and they are all pretty nice.

Bro. Christensen: Nice to meet everyone! I'm one Elder Mullen's teachers from the MTC. Speaking of other Elders what is you zone and district like?

Lance: In our district there's Elder Fowlke and I, two sister missionaries and two senior missionaries. Our zone has three districts and they are all Elders, two Spanish and 6 English.

Lance: Well, not that I don't want more people to pop up out of nowhere but I got to get going but we'll do this again some other time.

Kohor: Do not disappoint me.

Lance: I give up. (leaves the room)

Just a reminder:
Elder Lance Mullen
8656 West Gage Blvd. Suite 205
Kennewick, WA 99336

or email him through Tiffany at tiffanyalloyd@gmail.com