Don't Forget Your Crown

Hello, Amazing and Wonderful Family and Friends!!! This week has flown by, but still has made some wonderful impacts on me this week! To start off I want to talk about some really amazing miracles that have happened this week. Over the last couple of weeks, my companions and I have had the absolutely amazing opportunity to be able to teach Emaboo, who recently immigrated from The Democratic Republic of the Congo only a year ago. He originally came from an Instagram ad that my team and I developed and he requested a Bible Study with the missionaries, it was absolutely amazing to meet with Him and we were even able to share more about our Church and our beliefs. We continued meeting with Emaboo and eventually, we asked Him to pray about if the things that we were teaching Him were true and if He should start coming to church. That night we got an essay of a text explaining that he had prayed and now knows that the Church of Jesus Christ is the true and restored Church and wants to bring his friends to his baptism!!! It was an absolutely amazing miracle and we are so excited to keep working with a true valiant spirit of the Lord. We were also able to meet another cool guy named Lemar who is from the South, super loud and outgoing, and is practically my new best friend. Lemar is looking for a restart in life and believes God and Jesus Christ are the only ones that can give him that change. Finally, we were also able to meet with Eugene. Eugene has had a very rough life, with many terrible crimes and even suicide attempts dotting his past. We explained to him in a short lesson after Church that God loves him and that he has three new friends that can help him get his life back on track. The coolest part about all of these people that we are teaching is that they all came from Ads that my companions and I developed together. I know that if you offer yourself as an instrument for the Lord's hands, many wonderful and beautiful things will happen, maybe even leading to bringing other souls unto Christ.

 

Also, this week I had the amazing opportunity to clean the Temple again!!! This was especially cool because I was able to clean the twelve oxen and even the font itself while discussing deep doctrine questions with the head temple custodian. It was an absolutely amazing experience, in which I felt so much peace as well as unity with my spiritual brothers and sisters that were also cleaning the temple with me. I would highly encourage everyone to pray for the continued opening of the temples so that we may once again be able to do these beautiful and sacred saving ordinances which bring so much peace and joy into all of our lives.

 

Another really cool thing that happened this week pertains to my position as Advertising Committee Chair. This week has been a downright killer week for Ads we were able to reach roughly 48,000 people this week through Facebook and 23,000 people on Instagram, start a new messaging conversation with 62 new people, and as the crowning jewel, we were able to give 54 referrals for people interested in the Gospel across the whole mission!!! However, while we were celebrating our success had a couple of thoughts come to our mind about how we still need to do more and continue to accelerate the work. We approached our mission President with these question and he responded that he had felt the same thing to and that he believed that we need to travel the entire mission, visiting nearly every companionship and ward to try and create an Ad and Social Media post Library that can be recycled even after we have been released as missionaries. It’s a daunting idea and task especially with winter coming in only a couple of weeks, but we are super excited to further the work, make amazing memories, and even meet new people that we can bring unto our Savior Jesus Christ. We are still working on the details but hope to be traveling in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned!

 

Finally, I want to share something, that I learned in Zone Conference that I think is applicable to everyone, especially at this time. With Covid-19 still rampaging the world after nearly seven months of quarantine and physical distancing, civil unrest ripping apart the country we know and love, and with winter and darkness coming in just a few weeks, it can very depressing if not crushing. The major theme of our Zone Conference was mental health and how we as divine sons and daughters of God can use our spiritual knowledge and testimonies to contracts the lies and mists that cloud our minds when we are feeling not our usual perky selves. The depression and anxiety rates of  North and South Dakota double when winter hits, but are expected to triple with the already present stress and anxiety. President Howell said that the thing that has helped him the most through the long and excruciating winter of North Dakota is vitamins, and light. Physically our bodies need vitamins to grow and develop, as well as to keep our immune and hormonal systems at a steady and healthy rate, but why light? As mentioned earlier we are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us very deeply, when hard times come our souls yearn to go back to our heavenly home and to be a part of a wonderful and amazing eternal family. In Doctrine and Covenants section 101, verses 15-18 " And all they who have given their loves for my name shall be crowned. Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God. Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered. They that remain and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion". Brothers and Sisters remember the crown that will sit on your head in the next life, turn to the light of our Savior Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father for comfort and fulfillment through these hard times. Brothers and Sisters straighten your crown and put your trust in the Lord.

 

You are all so amazing and I feel God's love for you each and every day!!! Remember to put your trust in the lord and remember that crown that you wear upon your head right now!!! Love you all so much and hope you have another amazing week in this wonderful time of life!!!

 

Sincerely yours,

Elder McMullin :-)

 

Photo Gallery!!!!!

1) Look at this Beautiful Squirrel!!!!

2) Bismarck Zone Conference with our Crowns!!!

ASL Uprising, Party Throwing, And Temple Cleaning. A lot Of "ings" This Week :)

What's up Fam and Friends, hard to believe another week has flown by, but I guess that happens when you’re having fun!!! So much has happened this week, but as always I think it is important to put the Lord first and share my spiritual message first. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been interacting with so many Deaf people, not only in Bismarck but also in other areas all over the mission that I sometimes feel like I'm not an English speaking Missionary. After talking briefly with President Howell as well as Sister Olson (NDBM Missionary Support Head) we made the decision that I am going to be receiving new specialized missionary tags that will clip on to my current tag (like the flag tags that the Sisters at temple square wear) and say that I am an ASL Friendly Missionary and I am happy to talk to them. So shoutout to all my friends in Highschool who told me it was the wrong decision to quite Sign Language Senior year because I thought it wouldn't help me in the future. With that I President Howell made an announcement to all Zone and District Leaders that if they ever find a Deaf friend that is interested in the Gospel then they need to set up a meeting with me translating, so exciting but yet also so stressful. Within hours of that announcement, I was asked to translate a meeting for some Elders in Bemidji with a sweet Deaf friend who was going through a very hard time right now. Her name was Nadia and she believed that she was cursed by the Devil because of some witchcraft that she did when she was in her twenties, and because of that, she could never rest or really even eat. She found the missionaries through one of our Peace in Jesus Christ ads and immediately got in contact with the Elders and asked for exercise. The elders were unsure how to approach the situation and asked if I could translate for them and get to know Nadia's situation. Nadia and I signed back and forth for nearly an hour talking all about our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ and His infinite and all reaching atonement. We also talked about the Book of Mormon and the beautiful truths and principles that work for hand and hand with the bible as another testament of Jesus Christ. I felt the spirit so strongly in that lesson and felt huge amounts of God’s love for her, I also felt prompted to ask if she would like a blessing of comfort in which I would translate the blessing so she could understand. Nadia agreed and it was absolutely amazing! There were many times when I wouldn't know how to sign something and then suddenly my hands would move and make a sign that was unfamiliar to me but knew that it was correct. Brothers and Sisters, Friends, and Families, the Lord, and our Heavenly Father loves you so much! He loves us so much that he gives us the Priesthood so that we can help others and bring peace and comfort to all those that need it. He also helps us that when we don't know what to say or do but have a sincere heart and faith that everything will be okay, mighty miracles can occur and impressions can be made.

 

Following those amazing couple of days, Elders Murray, Post, and I had some humorously hard days. I won't go into all the details, but we didn't have a car, had all of our camera equipment taken away, and are now getting into advertising Facebook fights with small churches flagging all of our ads and slandering our pages because we are a "false church that is not rooted in Christianity, but rather the vain illusions of Satan". Gotta love Mission Life!!! Finally, after a specially hard day of being in nearly 8 hours of Zoom meetings and trying to repair our slandered reputation we decided we needed to treat ourselves. We had a new Facebook training meeting that night with the District Leader so we decided we were going to turn this meeting into a party, so I cooked ribs, make homemade smash fries, heat up some hot pockets, and make Fiiz inspired drink mixes while Elder Murray serenaded us with his Ukulele impressions of Hymns and primary songs and Elder Post worked on the ambiance of the dining room. Needless to say, we recognized that a situation is only as bad as you decide to make it, because although we were super frustrated with all that we had going on, by making this meeting a fun even we were able to feel the spirit super strongly and build valuable relationships with our District Leader.

 

The last thing I want to talk about is the absolutely amazing experience of being able to help clean the Bismarck temple. I personally was super excited cause I have never cleaned the temple before and had only been through once and was excited to serve once again in the Lord's house. Well, it turns out the job they had in mind for us was cleaning and painting the new heating and cooling system for the temple in the boiler room. At first, I was kind of bummed as other Elders and Sisters had the opportunity to clean the Baptistry and other beautiful and sacred rooms of the temple, while we were in the poorly lit and cramped industrial room painting stainless steel white. However, while I was doing this I recognized that I still felt the spirit just as strongly as I have previously in being in the other various rooms of the temple and that although not as glamourous was still a very much needed and valuable part of the temple. I applied this into our own lives that as we go through life we may not always have the glamourous or popular positions in the Church or even in life, but if we focus on what we are doing and strive to magnify whatever calling we may have, we will be just as blessed and just as valuable in further the work of the Lord.

 

Love and miss you all so much and want to let you know that you are all absolutely amazing and wonderful sons and daughters of God!!! Look forward to writing to you next week!!!

 

Sent with love from,

Elder McMullin or yah know Elder McMuffin as my small friends like to call me :-)

 

 

Photo Gallery!!!

1) Found this Huge Squirrel and named him Remille

2) Elder Post outdid himself with the ambiance lighting

3) My fruit concoction- these were a big hit 10/10 would recommend

4) Pizza Rolls as the light appetizer

5) Homemade Smash Fries with a homemade BBQ Sauce

6) The Ribs tuned out well I think

7-8) Pizza Party following a five-hour Advertisement Photo Shoot- Love these guys!

Food Trucks, Advertising, And Sign Language, Oh My!

What's up friends and family!!! It has been such a crazy week, but so exciting at the same time! For starters, I want to talk about my wonderful experience at a food truck rally. Now when you hear food truck rally, wonderful may not be the way you describe it, especially when its 42 degrees outside without wind chill. Despite the oily smells of grease and fat bubbling and customers heckling prices, I would say it was a pretty magical place. We were volunteering at this rally washing and sanitizing tables to help everyone feel safe and comfortable at the rally. We met so many amazing and cool people at this rally and were able to give away so many passes along cards and were able to teach so many people about who the "Latter-day Saints" are and what we believe (we also got a lot of free food which was an amazing bonus). One amazing person we met was a very devout atheist who absolutely loved the Choir at Temple Square, so much in fact that she planned a trip to Utah just so she could listen to the Choir in person for their Christmas concert. We told her that the choir has a special performance in October where they sing hymns to the whole world in a worldwide devotional that we call "General Conference". She was absolutely ecstatic and said she would like to stay in contact with us so we could watch General Conference with her and her family, who also loved the choir. Needless to say, it was an amazing 4-hour service project, not because the service was fun, but because the work was good and the fields were white and ready to harvest.

Another super cool experience that happened this week deals with my new position as Ad Committee Chair. Recently, Area Seventies have been collecting and analyzing advertising data from all United States missions. I am proud to say that the North Dakota Bismarck Mission was in the top five for most results and views on our Facebook and Instagram Ads and ranked number three for missions with the most social media presence. With that, we as an advertising committee now get to be a part of a new pilot program that's overseen directly from the quorum of the Twelve Apostles where our Ad committee now gets to focus on an international level, creating social media platforms for missions all over the world and running culturally unique ads all around the world. Not only that but we will now be responding to all of the questions and comments the ads bring in and refer them to missionaries in the area! It's amazing that not even a Pandemic, Civil unrest, or even fires can stop the Lord's work from reaching all far corners of the globe, and I am even more amazed and excited that I get to be a part of it! 

To close I want to share the biggest miracle that I have ever seen! If you remember a while back, around four weeks, our mission put together a virtual choir video, which was absolutely amazing, and I was able to do a signing portion where I translated the song to ASL. A few weeks later we posted this exact same video on our YouTube channel and hoped that people would maybe watch and become interested in the church. Just a few days after we had posted the video a Deaf lady felt inspired to go onto YouTube and search "religious music videos" and by some spiritual miracle, our video was the first search result! Allison, the name of the Deaf lady, was super impressed with the church and noticed that I could even sign so she immediately called the church and called the Sister Missionaries in Fargo to try and get in contact with me. Now, this is the crazy part, Allison lives in Bismarck, and an even crazier miracle is that she’s even in our ward boundaries! We were able to set up a Zoom meeting and it was so amazing and yet so confusing. You see, Allison used to live in Lehi, UT where she was a programmer at Adobe, specifically coding for photoshop, and she was actually taught by the missionaries there. The missionaries wrote down all of the lessons on paper and passed notes with their testimonies while she read the essay. I had no knowledge of this before we got onto the Zoom call and she started reciting the 13 articles of faith (which she had memorized) as well as laws of Chastity, Tithing, fasting, and word of wisdom. Shell shocked I asked if she had read the Book of Mormon, and all she signed was  "Oh yeah I love that book! I'm reading it for the fourth time now. My favorite part is Moroni 10 where he promises that if we pray we can receive a witness that the book is true". At this point, I was trying not to explode with joy and was trying even harder to keep my hands still while signing cause I was so excited! She explained that she really wanted to be baptized but needed someone to translate for her in church and for her baptismal interview with the District Leader (yep, she knew who and what a District Leader was) . I took a deep breath and asked in my best sign language if I could translate for her in church and even baptize her as a member of the Church Jesus Christ. Immediately her eyes began to well up with tears as she said she had been waiting nearly a year and a half for someone to ask her that question in sign language and immediately said she wanted to be baptized in three weeks.

Brothers and Sisters, friends, and family, the Lord works in mysterious ways. I had no idea why I learned sign language in middle school and high school, I had no idea why I needed to sign for the virtual choir, I even had no idea why I needed to leave my beloved Fargo and come to Bismarck. BUT THE LORD KNEW! He knew that I would be able to help this sweet and wonderful daughter of God enter into the covenant of baptism that she has been waiting for, for nearly two years and be able to talk with her and remove any feelings of loneliness and anxiety. I am thankful that we have a Heavenly Father that knows and loves us individually. I am also thankful that he trusts in His missionaries to bring other wonderful souls unto Christ and bring happiness and light that we all need. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen!

Love and miss you all so much!!! Remember that the Lord loves each and every one of you and that it is physically and spiritually impossible to sink below our Saviors infinite love for us. Stay safe and one last time: LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!

sent with love and good tithings,

Elder McMullin

Photo Gallery!!!

1) This is the coldest September I have ever had!

2) Practicing my Hot Chocolate brewing skills- apparently it’s like an artform out here

3) Sunrises always make me so happy!!!

4) Who needs a Ferrari when you can have this sick ride

5) These super addicting puffs of happiness and joy from a Food Truck (I'm not going to tell you how many donuts were in the bucket in the beginning)

6) Elder Murray and Elder Post! Love these guys!

7) I got lucky charms for like the first time in a month and it was such a spiritual experience that I'm taking on a photo and sharing it with you... don't judge :)

Flooding Rivers, Crocodiles, My Mission Suing Facebook And Instagram-...

...Just The Normal Things That Every Missionary Goes Through.

Hello Family and Friends! To start off I just want to say that we all have a Savior and Heavenly Father that love us so deeply it’s impossible for the human mind to even comprehend, and that through prayer we can confide in our Heavenly Father and Savior and have countless blessings appear in our lives. The reason why I wanted to start off with this is I have had so many miracles and blessings come up this week that I really wanted to testify that prayer, although simple, is one of the most spiritually strengthening and nurturing things that we as disciples of Christ can do. With that, let's talk about these prayer inspired miracles!

As many as you know, I have been called to become the new mission Facebook and Social Media Advertisement and Business Manager. Unfortunately, with this new calling, I need to leave my beloved paradise of Fargo, North Dakota and need to move to Bismarck to work in the office with other social media missionaries. When I first was told that I had to end my training early (only 6 weeks rather than the standard 12)  and leave my companions and all of the amazing people we have taught to go and work in an office I was absolutely heartbroken. Here in Fargo every day has been a new adventure and brought on new opportunities with my wonderful companions, which would all change (not end, just change) in Bismarck. I decided I would take my concerns to the Lord and ask for confirmation that everything would okay and that I would still be okay. I prayed for those blessings pretty regularly not setting and results, until I actually got my official transfer call. In that transfer call, my prayer was answered that I will be moving into another trio of Elders all of whom I am really good friends with and that I would still be able to teach as a normal missionary in the evenings and weekends of the week. Needless to say, Heavenly Father hears our prayers and answers them.

The next miracle that I want to talk about is something amazing with a guy named Derek. Before I left for Bismarck Elder Matthews, Bichon, and I met Derek when we were ministering to a lady whose purse was stolen and was evicted from Derek's hotel. While we were trying to comfort her and share a message with her (did not go well) Derek came and asked if we were missionaries for the "Mormon church". We of course tried to seize the opportunity and were able to get his Facebook and phone number and were even able to set up a time to meet with him. After a couple of quick meetings, we were able to schedule an appointment with his entire family at his house. When we first got to his house we had no idea what to expect. For starters, there were no chairs in his house (which by the way reeked of cigarette smoke) and a pool table in the kitchen. Anyways, he called his whole family together in the kitchen, and boldly stated to his two daughters and wife: "Girls it is time. It is time that I share with you something that I feel really bad about, you see I am an inactive member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I feel that it is time that we as a family go back to the one true church of our lord and savior. Girls we are going back to church, and these Elders right here are going to show us how to do it because quite frankly I don't know how to come back myself, but that is why they are here to help us come closer to Christ. Lately, I have been having a lot of dreams about me standing before the judgment bar of God being scolded for not teaching my wonderful family the gospel because I was too prideful to admit that I need God in my life. That is why we are doing this to save our family and eventually be baptized together and even be sealed together both in this life and the life that follows. With that Elder please teach us what you have prepared".  I still get shivers down my spine even just copying the words Derek so beautifully said. Needless to say, this lesson was so powerful, we taught the Book of Mormon and by the end, we were all crying with the family of its truthfulness and the spirt that was introduced into this once empty home. Absolutely amazing!

Two days after we met with Derek we had three baptisms with our friends from Kingsville, Liberia: Sunny Fuller, Joseph Flomo, and Johnson Kerkula. Due to the time difference, my companions and I had to wake up at 2:30 in the morning to watch the Baptism over Facebook Messenger. We got to bed and were asleep until our alarm went off at 2:15 am (my companion set the alarm for the wrong time) and we drowsily tried to put on our shirts and ties ( I nearly strangled myself in the process I was so exhausted). We sat in front of the laptop slightly nodding off until we got a call from the branch President down in Liberia saying "Good morning Elders! It is raining really hard in Liberia today and the river is flooding making it dangerous to baptize because of the rapids and whirlpools. We do the baptisms tomorrow same time, don't you worry" and then he hung up. We collapsed out of exhaustion grumbling that we had to do the exact same thing the next day. The next evening, we set our alarm for 2:32 (just got to get those extra minutes in am I right) and woke up at 2:30 to the sound of the branch President's voice again. "Hello, Elders! It is not raining, but there is a family of crocodiles in the water, my wife thinks that if we slap them with a flip flop or something they will go away but I don't want to take any risks for a bloody baptism. We do next week same time Elders. Soooo I still have three people on date and I am still waiting to find out if the rain has stopped or the family of crocodiles has relocated.

Finally, I want to give a quick update on my transfer to Bismarck and my new roles as  Facebook and Social Media Advertisement and Business Manager or Facebook Advertising Chair. I have been able to restructure the entire advertising and marketing campaign for the NDBM and have been able to set up over 55 first appointments for missionaries all over North and South Dakota. I was super excited because I felt super empowered helping other missionaries all over the mission from my tiny little office and apartment, but alas all good things must come to an end. There was a glitch in the Facebook Audience filter allowing our Ads to travel to very heated Ant-Christ and Anti-Lds Facebook pages. We received over 400 flagged notifications with reports of "Political Suffocation" and infringement of their freedom of Religion" in only 45 minutes. Facebook board of security recognized all of the flagging and forcefully shut-down all of our ads and even Facebook Pages throughout the entire mission and fining us over $15,000. Sooooooooo... this was why I was unable to send out my email last week because I was on the phone until about midnight negotiating and talking to area Presidencies and Facebook Security and Privacy officials. We were able to get out Ads and Pages back up and running, but are currently filing a lawsuit to Facebook and Instagram for the glitch in the Audience filter, which they designed, and reimbursement of the $15,000 dollar seizure from our Mission Bank Account. Needless to say, it has been a party in the office and I have just loved every second of my new position regardless of heated lawsuits and publicity banning.

Anyways love and miss you all so much! Just like I mentioned in my opening paragraph God knows and loves each one of you and that it is impossible to sink below the light and love of our Savior Jesus Christ's infinite Atonement. Hope you all are having a wonderful time and I look forward to emailing you next week!

Love, Elder McMullin

Photo Gallery!

1) Goodbye to my Fargo Companions and Trainers

2) Last look at the Fargo Sunflower Fields from the Transport Van Window

3) What I get to look at every day- It's even more fun than it looks!