Last Mission Email!

 Monday Jan 20, 2020

Well its official, this is the last weekly that I will ever write on the Mission. It's a little sad to see the end of my mission but I got to learn a lot over the course of these two years.

We pushed as hard as we could this last week to finish off the Transfer. There has been a lot of really good things going in Gilmer and I'm glad to have been a part of the great work here. We got to meet with Verna and Karen again this past week. They are both doing really good and they still have the desire to meet with us. I am hoping that Karen will be able to get time off of work so that she can come to church in the future. We also went tracting a little bit this week and met a couple interesting people. There was one person that mentioned some Anti to us which is always interesting to listen to. Usually it points out the fault of men in the Church more than anything but they still can't prove the Book of Mormon to be False. It's true and has brought Millions to Jesus Christ. Something I learned about studying the Book of Revelation is that those who keep the Commandments of God will be saved. I wanted to read all of the Standard works by the end of my Mission and I finally finished the New Testament which was good for me. I should be finishing Doctrine and Covenants again tonight as well.

I also had my last District Council this week which was pretty good. I absolutely love the District in this area because of how close everyone is. I'm glad to have served around them because of the Faith they all have in Jesus Christ to get the work done. My last training was based on being Consecrated in the Mission Field. I would say that being on a mission with Real Intent is very Important. We have to Study the Scripture with real intent as well as living the Gospel with real intent. There is nothing more important in my life than doing the work for the Lord. I have witnessed a lot of really cool miracles over the course of my mission and a lot of funny events that happened. From hunting Mice in our apartment in Paris to having kids running around in their Underwear at a Birthday Party you can say that a mission is like no other time in life. There was even a time where I was making a Facebook Profile and to get that approved I had to ask Sister Dalton if it was ok. There is a picture about the text I got back after that which still makes me laugh even today even though that was the first week I was out on my Mission.

I served in 5 different areas on my Mission which are Paris, Allen, Frisco, Stonewall and Gilmer. In each of my areas I learned a lot about how to be a more effective missionary. There has been a lot of things that I learned since I have been out here. I learned how to have Faith in Jesus Christ on my Mission and I was able to understand the power of the Atonement and how it changes peoples heart and mind about Jesus Christ. If I was given the opportunity to serve a Mission again I would totally jump on that opportunity. I didn't know the Gospel that much before my mission and I felt like the average Church attendee every single week. Just go to Church every Sunday and cross it off the list. I am glad that my perspective has changed since then and that this work does have a purpose. That is to bring people to a Remission of their sins through the Authority that Jesus Christ has brought to this church. I am hopeful for what lies ahead even though I don't want to leave the mission field. I plan to be a Disciple of Jesus Christ the rest of my life. I hope you all have a great week and I will talk to you all again soon! 

                                                                        This pic is from early on in the mission

The Good and the Bad....

 Monday Jan 13, 2020

Hey Everyone, I hope you all had a fantastic week. This week was pretty awesome and filled with good and bad. On Wednesday we had a pretty rough day with people not liking us but that is the point of the work right? We usually do our studies at Taco Bell in the Morning and some guy sat right by us. The Spirit left as soon as he sat down and we soon figured out why. We asked him how he was and he mentioned that he thought we were a Cult. A great start to a contention filled conversation. He told us that he didn't believe in anything we talked about because of the lack of Archeological Evidence for the Book of Mormon and that he has been down to South America before and hasn't found anything about the currency in the Book of Mormon. We talked about a lot of things but among those there was a point that he told us we were going down the wrong path. Out of the blue I asked if has ever searched the scriptures for himself and that if he did that he would find there are commandments that God wants us to follow. I then said that if he doesn't follow Gods Commandments that he would be going to Hell. The Conversation ended with him saying that he has a Brain and that God gave him that Brain to think. However he doesn't pray about anything so that is his problem. Something I learned on my mission is to not condemn people if they aren't on the same idea as you are. If that makes any sense.

Another interesting event happened on Wednesday Evening as well. We met a person named Zoe that seemed pretty promising and invited us to come back the next evening to meet with her and her Fiance. We went back and someone else answered the door. They said that she did not live there and they were not interested. As they closed the door we could hear them and others mocking us knowing that she did live there. When we went back to the car we felt prompted to go back and knock again. When we knocked on the door again someone else answered. They said that they were not interested and that she did not live there again. We asked if we can share a Message about Jesus Christ to them and he said he was already a Member of the Church of Christ. We asked if he can share some of his beliefs and he said that he didn't. Elder Riley then asked if he was telling the truth looking straight at him and he said that he was. I can't remember what I said but I asked if he can say the same thing in front of Jesus Christ at the Judgement Bar and he said that he could. We knew that they were lying but that will be on their part now. Kind of sad to see people openly lie in front of us but that will be held upon their own Judgement. We did at least get to meet with someone named Krista that evening who sounds promising.

Other than that we got to meet with Verna and her mom Karen this last week. They both are interested in learning more about the Book of Mormon and Verna has been to church twice already. I am excited to hear about how they progress in the Gospel in the next coming months. The area of Gilmer is really awesome and I am glad to see so many miracles happen since I have been here. One of the last things I can think of that happened this week is Interviews. Unfortunately it was my final Interview but before then our Zone Celebrated breaking the High Watermark in December where President Dalton gave us Bubbas. It was awesome and everyone enjoyed being there. In my final Interview I got some really good advice from President Dalton and got to learn about what he wants best for me. There was some tears shed as well during the process of it. I also got to learn when President Daltons hair started to turn gray and it started when he was a Missionary. However he has a brother that is going bald so he prefers Gray hair over that. I am going to miss this family a lot but I have been told to stay in touch with them whenever I can. Anyways that is all that happened this week and I hope to push hard and Strong this next week. I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you again soon.

Exchanges and Miracles

 Monday Jan 6, 2020

Hey Everyone, I hope you all had a great week. This week has went by pretty fast and I mean really fast. However there was a lot of cool things that happened this week to talk about. One of the first Miracles of the week happened on Monday night. We had all of our plans fall through that evening and we were sitting in our car by a couple trailer homes trying to figure out what to do. After about 5 minutes went by a Truck pulled into the neighborhood. This truck turned around and the person inside started talking to us. His name is Jacob and we got to tell him our purpose as missionaries and got to meet with him and his family. It turns out that he is a part of a Part Member Household and we had a really great conversation with them. They are open to meeting with us and I really hope that it goes somewhere. We also had another Exchange this week with the Zone Leaders even though we see them like once a day it feels like. I went out with Elder Jager and got to work in their area. It was a lot of fun. At one point of the exchange I had to use the Bathroom so we decided to pull off on the side of the Road. Right as I was about to use the Bathroom I had to jump onto the side of the car because a Car came flying down the road. Hopefully they didn't see my nametag after that. We also had a bunch of Cows follow us around at one persons house and had a couple really good contacts with Potential Investigators.

Later on in the week we got to go to Bubba's with the other Elders who were on exchanges. Bubba's has to be one of the best Burger Joints in Gilmer and I highly Recommend getting the Monster Burger. It has a lot of meat on it and is a little pricey but it's worth the money. We also received a referral from the Elders about a Lady who wanted to come to church on Sunday. Well she did come to church on Sunday and really enjoyed it. We got to meet with her that Evening with her Mom as well and it was a very good visit. After having to deal with a couple negative experiences at church they are willing to listen to the message we have to share. We also went knocking doors earlier on Sunday and met someone named Keith. He has an Uncle who is a member who was not able to answer some of his questions so we answered them for him. He respected us coming by and accepted a Book of Mormon. The craziest thing that he told us is that since he has lived there for the past 12 years a Missionary has never knocked on his door before. Keith told us he will sincerely read and pray about the Book of Mormon before we come back.

Other than that we met with Gary Bradshaw last night as well. We will have to push his Baptism back a couple weeks but I think its best to help him live the Word of Wisdom. It is kind of sad to see my Mission coming to an end but I want to push as hard as I can for these last couple of weeks. Anyways I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you again soon!

Christmas and lectures....

 Monday Dec 30, 2019

Hey Everyone, I hope that you all had a really good Christmas last week. There wasn't a whole lot that happened in the area this week due to the Holidays but there were still a couple things that did happen. On Christmas Eve we decided to go out and try to get in touch with a couple Members that we have never met before. We had one person say we can come back next year which was weird to hear until I realized there is only a couple days left of this year. We decided to go by a Former that night as well and at first he wasn't home so we decided to work around in the area. Right as we were about to leave he drove up onto his driveway and we talked with him for a little bit. He had a couple misconceptions about the Church from a previous visit so we cleared that up for him. We are hoping to be meeting with him again soon because he does sound pretty promising.

Christmas was alright this year, it felt basically the same as last year which included going to the Zone Leaders Apartment and opening up Presents. I remember doing that last year with my Zone Leaders in Allen, shout out once again to Elder Fox and Elder Richard's. We also went to a Members house for dinner but I guess they never got our text about us coming later on so that was kind of embarrassing. The Member gave us a lecture in a way by telling us to text back when people text us. I guess we just have to live by that now. Later in the week we met with Gary again and went over the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Law of Chastity. We extended a Baptismal date for January 18th with him so I am pretty excited for it. I am really hoping that he gets through it and makes that date because it may be my last Baptism on the Mission. Another really cool thing that happened this week is that we got a couple referrals. We texted one of them who was Hispanic who texted back saying they weren't interested. After having a conversation back and forth we learned that he isn't home a lot of time so we gave him a link to the Book of Mormon app. He is going to start reading from it and I am hoping we'll be meeting with him next year. Other than that we have been clearing up a few other misconceptions about the church and have people that want to learn more. I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you again next year. 

"Before you reach the Age of 30 make sure the woman you marry is a Fashionable woman."- Pres Dalton

 Monday Dec 23, 2019

Hey Everyone, I hope you all had a great week so far. This week was filled with a couple miracles and one really fun Christmas Party. This transfer has been pretty good for us so far and I've enjoyed every moment that I have had in the Mission. We went on Exchanges this week and I went with Elder Staker. We had a really good time working in the area and got to meet quite a bit of people. By the close of the night we went to a Gas Station and went to use the Bathroom. As we were about to leave one of the employees that was there asked us what books we were holding in our hands. We told her it was the Bible and the Book of Mormon and the importance of them. She asked for them and said that she plans on reading them while at work. It is always super cool when people come up to us and ask us what we do and are open to learning more about the Gospel. While we were doing our exchange Elder Riley and Elder Jager went out to meet with one of the people in our area. However they did not answer so they decided to compass 5 around them. Elder Riley felt inspired to knock a couple more houses and because of that they met someone who just got out of Prison that morning after being in there for 12 years. It is pretty amazing when people are found just in the right place and at the right time. 

This past week we also got to meet with Gary again. He is doing very well and sometimes asks why others can't give the church a chance. He is very committed to learning more about the church and wants to push hard at accomplishing his goals. According to his fellowshippers they say he is the most open at this time than he has ever been before. I am hoping and praying that as we meet with him again this upcoming week that we will be able to extend a Baptismal Date in January. It is definitely an exciting time to be serving in Gilmer and while the Holidays is making everyone busy I believe there are people prepared to receive the Gospel out here.

Other than that one of my favorite things to talk about this week is going to have to be the Christmas party. It was a Zone Conference and a Christmas Party combined into one. There was only a couple trainings but afterwards we got to have a really fun time. Now I just want to give you a little background on what happened last Sunday Evening. As I was getting ready to bed the Assistants called me and a couple other Missionaries and asked if we can be a part of a Skit for this Christmas Party. I was super excited for this Skit and we came up with a lot of ideas but the end result was awesome. At the Beginning of the Skit we had Elder Solaegui and Elder Reynolds wake up out of Bed getting ready for the Day realizing that it was late but still doing the best they could to get ready. It went on to where Elder Reynolds was sitting at the table with Elder Solaegui in the Background with a blanket over him making the food with his hands. They made a crazy Egg Nog Drink with extra Eggs, Ketchup, Toothpaste, Broccoli among other things. It was super funny because they mixed it all up and Elder Reynolds had to drink this with Elder Solaegui acting as his arms. The next scene came on and it was me sitting down acting as President Dalton waiting for an interview. After all the cheering went through and waiting patiently the Assistants finally came in and I got to talk with them about why they were late. After that Elder Gonzalez dressed up as Sister Dalton came in and we had a pretty heated Companionship Inventory. However after all the bad things I talked about the things I liked about my wife and yes that line in the Subject line is one of those. I only learned about that because President Dalton gave me that advice at my last interview. I wonder what other advice he will give me soon? At the end the Curtains closed and we came out singing I want to be a Missionary. This was by far one of my favorite moments on my Mission and I will never forget it. Afterwards we listened to people play Christmas Songs with Chimes, a couple singing performances and I got to take a Picture with President and Sister Dalton. At the close of the meeting I will admit that I cried after realizing it was my last Zone Conference on my Mission. These are some of my favorite meetings to attend on the Mission and I will never forget the Spirit that is in them. I honestly love attending these conferences more than I do regular Church Meetings. I hope that isn't a bad thing to say but I do truly feel that way. Even though they feel like another General Conference I prefer them over anything else I have ever experienced in my life.

Anyways I hope you all have a great Christmas and I will talk to you again soon!

                                                    Elder McMullan dressed as Pres Dalton 

Transfers, long car rides, Basset hounds and the Monster Burger!

 Monday Dec 16, 2019

Hey everyone, hope you are all having a great week. There has been quite a bit of events that happened this past week including Transfers. So I am staying in Gilmer for my final Transfer and Elder Riley is going to be my final Companion. He is from West Jordan, Utah and he has been out for 4 months now so I am Greenie Breaking again. Anyways we had a lot of fun going to and from Transfers. We started doing Riddles on the Car Ride to Frisco Texas. I was really hoping we would stop by Laynes but unfortunately we didn't get the chance to do that. Oh well, I will have to go by another time. The Car ride is always long going to transfers but the experience is a lot of fun. That is something I have realized as a missionary is that you can make Car rides super entertaining.

On Wednesday we went over to an older couples house who were tracked into last week. They have a ton of Basset Hounds over there and explained to us that they Show Dogs at events. When we asked them what they knew about the church they told us that they have both read the Book of Mormon before and have even done their own Family History. When we asked if they have been able to read from the Book of Mormon since last week the Wife told us she has read the entire first book of Nephi which is pretty amazing. They are open to meeting with us and I hope that they will keep more commitments up to the point of Baptism. We were also able to meet with Gary Bradshaw again this past week and he is really starting to understand the Gospel. We taught him with the Sallings again about the Plan of Salvation and it is making sense to him at this moment. Although he won't be able to be Baptized this year I am very hopeful that it will happen next month. I am so excited to be here for another transfer and to finish off my mission in Gilmer. 

One other thing I wanted to share is that there was one point this week where we were tracting out in the Country and of course when you are tracting out in the country you park you car somewhere. That is what we did and while we were knocking doors someone saw us and said that he was worried. We asked why he was worried and he said that his Father in law called the cops because he saw our Car parked and wasn't sure who it was. We didn't think much of it so we went out and knocked a couple more houses in the area. As we drove off we passed by a Cop car and thought we got away with it. However after driving down the road a little bit more we had another Cop car follow right behind us and then after about a Minute he pulled us over. He got out of his car and talked with us. It turned out to be a member so he understood what we were up to. I am excited to see what more events will unfold this next Transfer. Finally we went to Bubbas with the Zone Leaders on Saturday. I got the Monster Burger and I think the picture best describes this beast. Anyways I hope you all have a great day and I'll talk to you again soon!

Staying in Gilmer for last Transfer!

 Monday Dec 9, 2019

Hey Everyone, I hope you all had a great week. It has been a really good Transfer here in Gilmer and I found out last night that I will be staying here in Gilmer as my last area. I really love this area and I'm excited to see miracles for the next 6 weeks while I am here. As far as how this week went there wasn't a whole lot that really happened but I will go over those events in this email.

On Tuesday I went out on Exchanges with Elder Staker who is the man. He is an Astonishing Elder and I'm very glad to have worked with him for a Day. I am really glad that he will be staying here for another Transfer so I can try to beat him at Pinball if that is even Possible. While on Exchanges I got to do a Baptismal Interview for two of their Investigators which was awesome. They were Baptized and confirmed this last weekend and I am so proud of them. The Mission has been pushing hard for White Christmas this last Transfer and there has been a lot of success because of that. A lot of people are coming unto their Savior Jesus Christ and have tasted of the Fruit that Lehi speaks of in 1 Nephi 8.

We also had a really good lesson with Gary Bradshaw yesterday. The Zone Leaders were able to come with us as we met with Gary as well as the Sallings. We answered some of his questions and he says that he did want to commit to being Baptized. We extended a date for December 21 and he will be praying about it this upcoming week. I know that anyone who accepts the invitation to be Baptized will be blessed for the rest of their life. Other than that there has been quite a bit of knocking doors this past week as well as following the new mission plan. We have been getting in touch with a couple people that have potential and pushing hard to get people to commit to coming to church. I am very excited to see how this next Transfer goes in Gilmer. I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you again soon.