Expect The Unexpected

Hello awesome and fantastique friends and family!!! This week has been a crazy one, but oh my sweet goodness it has also been an amazing one! Before I dive into too many of the juicy details I would like to start off with something that I have been thinking a lot about recently as well as had the opportunity to teach. Many people wonder or have wondered why would our Heavenly Father, who loves us eternally and infinitely, send us to a world so fallen and infused with evil. Well in the words of President Nelson "We are newcomers on a very old stage. The plot of the drama is already well written". We knew before we even came to this world that there would be difficulties and heart ache, but we also recognized that there can be true and lasting joy as well growth and knowledge. So yes, this world can be dark and dreary but we have been preparing for thousands upon thousands of years bracing ourselves for the final curtain call where we can stand in a fallen world and serve our Heavenly Father, our supreme creator. So, my wonderful spiritual brothers and sisters, my fellow doers and preachers of Christ, it is our turn on the theater stage of life. Let us all play our unique part with Celestial Brilliance. I know you can, and the Lord knows you can, so seize this special opportunity, and perform! 

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!!!! My Companions and I were able to have our personal interviews with President Howell and low key it felt like I was on a roller coaster! President Howell has received inspiration that it is time for me (and Elder Post) to transition into another form of missionary work and leave my advertising endeavors behind. With that being said, Elder Rosas (a new missionary that I met back in November) was "emergency"  transferred to me on Friday and is my new companion for the last three weeks of the transfer. While we are together I am charged to teach and train him on all the ins and outs of advertising as well as how to work with other missionaries a little bit better and be more positive in missionary work.  So yah, here I was thinking that I would have a nice chill interview maybe making light conversation about the recent weather changes, but as typical for the NDBM expect the unexpected. 

 

FRIEND UPDATE!!! Not going to lie these last couple of weeks have been AMAZING for finding new people to teach, but unfortunately with the recent transfer I won't be able to continue teaching them, but they're all so awesome so I want to talk about them anyways. We were able to get in touch with a less active, part member family that lives in New Salem, which is a super small city that specializes in beer brewing and cattle ranching. At first the Sayler, family really didn't want to meet with us, but were too kind to say anything, but after we talked for nearly two hours and showed us (me in specific) their absolutely gorgeous Blacked-out 2019 Dodge Charger with a Hemi-Hellcat Turbocharged engine we became super good friends and were able to continue to meet with them. Now the miracle part. Corey Saylor (the father) is not a member, but we openly asked if we could give him the Missionary discussions and teach him more about the Church and what we believe. His simple response was "I have felt for a very long time that I have been missing something in my life, but when you missionaries come over I feel complete. So, yes I will let you give me the discussions and teach me the restored gospel". Oh my gosh I love missionary work!

 

This week I also had the fun opportunity to go on splits with Elder Garner (one of the music missionaries) and travel to Jamestown, a city halfway between Fargo and Bismarck, to pick up Elder Sallenback from filming a hockey video. Couple cool things about Elder Sallenback, he is a fellow Lone Peak Knight who graduated in 2019 and a tennis partner that I had at Ivory Ridge Tennis Club. Before we started driving back to Bismarck, we asked if Elder Sallenback could say a prayer of safety. In his prayer he felt prompted to ask for teaching opportunities along the way. When we arrived at the Bismarck Stake center to drop off Elder Sallenback to the Dickinson Elders there was a guy in the church parking lot looking up at the temple. We asked the other Elders if they knew him or talked to him and they said that he was a super cool guy and that he was here for financial help and meeting with Bishop. Elder Garner and I both had overwhelming promptings that we needed to talk to this guy, so we zipped up our coats and knocked on the window of his truck. We invited him to come inside the Church and warm up while he waited to meet with the Bishop, which he quickly accepted because the heater in his truck went out a while ago. Together Elder Garner and I were able to introduce ourselves and teach the entire restoration, give him a Book of Mormon, introduce him to the Bishop of our ward, snap a selfie together, and schedule a return appointment to teach him what God's purpose is for him. Even retelling the story gets me all excited to preach the gospel to everyone!

 

All I can say is that these last couple of weeks have been absolutely amazing!!! It is such a blessing to be a missionary!!! I also just want to say that I love you all sssssoooo much and that I feel your support and prayers each and every day! You all are so amazing and I hope that this next coming week treats you amazingly and that you perform on the stage of life with ease and celestial confidence. Love you all so much look forward to writing to you next week!!!

 

Sincerely your favorite McM in the NDBM 

- Elder McMullin :)

Ice Skating Backwards An A Malibu

Hello AMAZING friends and family!!! It feels just like yesterday that I was writing out my last weekly email, but here we are again! Not going to lie this week has had its ups and its downs but regardless it is always a wonderful privilege to be able to be able to serve our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. A topic that has been on my mind a lot recently is the importance of love, not only to one another as spiritual brothers and sisters, but to our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. One of my favorite scriptures on the topic of love is Deuteronomy 6:5 which says, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might". To love our friends and family is wonderful, but to love our friends and family with Christlike love anchored in Him is truly exceptional. Unfortunately, loving one another sometimes isn't the easiest thing to do, in fact sometimes it can be crazy difficult. But when we put our faith in Him and let his heart of grace and mercy replace ours of pride and anger, our relationship with Him and those we try to love is immediately elevated. In the words of President Russel M. Nelson "Love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ provides the illumination, inspiration, and motivation to love others in a loftier way". My wonderful spiritual brothers and sisters, I love you all so much!!! I have learned this week that it can be hard to love one another, but when we put faith in Him, the very same person that unconditionally loves everyone, our hearts will be softened and we will gain a deeper desire to love one another as He so loves us. 

So, as you can probably guess the weather out here in North Dakota is straight cra cra! We have been in the 40's or low 30's for over two weeks now (low key the biggest miracle for all international missionaries that served around the equator) but we have been having some crazy "fog storms''. According to the locals these "fog storms" are even worse than normal snow, wind, or rain because it coats literally every surface in an inch thick layer of completely transparent ice making driving and walking straight up impossible- or so we thought. On Saturday morning Elders Bichon, Post and I went to go help set up chairs for a funeral that was being held at the church, so we walked outside to the lovely 38 degree weather and then immediately started slipping and sliding down the sidewalk to the parking lot. I had the pleasure (if you could call it that) to drive our rear wheel drive car that low-key gets stuck in an inch of mud down the ice path of death-yay. Let’s just say I have checked repeatedly sliding backwards down a hill into the temple parking lot off my bucket-list. 

 

In addition to the "fog storms" advertising has also been very eventful. President Howell somehow set up a meeting with one of the heads of marketing and advertising for the Church's websites and Social Media pages to meet privately with Elder Post and I to discuss how we can continue to further the work through advertising. In the end, the biggest decision/suggestion that he made was to "literally double our efforts". This means that our advertising budget is now doubled, Elder Post and I now need to double the amount of ads we produce to compensate, and ultimately double our research and testing as we spread (like the Coronavirus) onto new social platforms. So yah, needless to say it's great to be progressing and have the head of Comeuntochrist.org advertising say you're ready for the next step, but man is it stressful!

 

FRIENDS UPDATE!!! This week was pretty good with people that we have been teaching and there have definitely been miracles along the way. Eugene is still progressing, but recently has told us that he wants to quit his job and become a pastor for another "true church of Christ". Needless to say, we will be going over lesson one again and continue to teach with love and patience. Recently we have started doing a ward volleyball night where we invite all young single adults as well as people we are teaching to meet one another and hopefully build friendships while also having fun playing volleyball. It has been a huge success so far and a couple of non-members that we invited even came to church the next day! With Elder Bichon moving in with us we also want to try and focus on our area a little bit more so we tried calling about twenty part member families to see if we could meet them and possibly share a short lesson, but something even cooler happened! It was my turn to call a family and the number listed was disconnected, we then searched their name on white pages and found that there were seven different phone numbers listed under the individual’s name. On the last phone number listed someone picked up the phone and..... it was not him, but instead it was a person that said he wasn't interested in religion. I was about to wish him and hang up till Elder Bichon swooped the phone and asked why he is atheist. Well, it turns out he's not atheist but instead constantly struggling with demons possessing his basement and Elder Bichon told him we would be coming over at 7pm on Tuesday and cast out these evil demons. Low key I'm terrified, but hey it's a teaching opportunity so you can't be too terrified.

 

All in all, North Dakota is popping and I love every second of it!!! Please know that I love you all so much and that you are all absolutely amazing and wonderful spirit sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father and that you can do anything! Love you all so much and I look forward to writing to you next week!

 

- Elder McMullin :)

 

Pictures:

1-2) District Photos with a twist! 

3) Weekly Planning on the ground with blankets and pillows

4) I FINALLY found a soda shop in Bismarck!!!!!

5) Good ol' North Dakota Winters!!!

BIG OL' TRAINER FAMILY REUNION!

HALLAH FAM AND FRIENDS!!!! 

This week has flown by and I still cannot believe that this week over let alone the transfer! I did get my transfer call yesterday and have received exciting news, BUT I will leave that on a cliffhanger to add a little bit more pizazz and festive flair to this email and start with the spiritual thought with Elder McMullin! Something that has been on my mind a lot recently is the Millennial and Gen Z term of "Full Send". This is one of my favorite slang terms to use in the fact that it can be yelled, whispered, or signed and it still holds the same meaning of putting in all of your efforts and pushing through, no matter the difficulty or judgment received. Although often used as a peer pressuring device I believe that there are a lesson and principle that we can not only apply to our lives, but also in our efforts of becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. As we strive each and every day to "Full Send" it with the Lord by giving it our all in each and every daily effort, regardless if we are wearing a missionary tag or just our regular everyday clothes, HE will bless you immensely! There is no such thing as a "half send" or a "quarter sends" only a "FULL send" meaning we either give the Lord our all and "let God prevail in our lives" or we contribute nothing and let ourselves enter a numbed state of temporal happiness. I also echo the words of Sister Atkin when she said "We have had an eternity to prepare for this life, and we will have eternity to reflect on it. But we only have a limited time to live it". My sweet Brothers and Sisters, know that I love you and that the Lord loves you SO much, and that by "Full Sending" our efforts in this life to follow and teach of Him you will receive immense blessings that will truly make your soul radiate the Light and Love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Okay now for the time you have all been waiting for (cue the lights dimming and a single letter on a silver platter being carried onto the stage). I... Will... Be... Staying in Bismarck and remaining the chair of advertising for the North Dakota Bismarck Mission. Elder Post will also continue to be my companion and will also become the Zone Leader with Elder Tran Kan Bichon (yep, the very same one that trained me back in Fargo in my first transfer). Not going to lie both President Howell and I were not expecting this because this will be my fourth transfer together with Elder Post and my fourth transfer in the office here in Bismarck, but hey I now get to be assistant to the Zone Leaders which is practically assistant Zone Leader so that will be fun! I was also assigned a couple of new unique assignments which are a little bit stressful but exciting! The first is practically becoming the lawyer for the mission in making sure all of our Social Media efforts are not infringing intellectual property rights, copyright, etc. while also handling disputes, complaints, profile flagging, and charging. Then my second assignment is creating and teaching a two-day curriculum nicknamed "SM Boot Camp" where I will be teaching all internationally reassigned missionaries in the NDBM and possibly nearby Sister Missions how to best utilize the tools of advertising and create an effective Church-based advertising platform. So yah, the exciting life of Elder McMullin continues!!! 

FRIEND UPDATE!!! Not going to lie this week has been stellar teaching wise. If you remember last week's email Elder Post found a super nice guy through Instagram who used to live in Bismarck, North Dakota, but recently moved to Leesville, Louisiana due to his deployment in the armed forces. However, thanks to the miracle of technology we were able to have five spiritual lessons with him and were also able to transfer him over to a set of Sisters that are over his area. Elder Post and I were crazy excited when the Sisters called thanking us for the referral and how Haven came to Church yesterday and bore his testimony about how he knows that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that he can be forgiven of his sins through baptism and the atonement of Jesus Christ. Needless to say, Elder Post and I better be invited to virtually attend the baptism. In other news, we have worked out the snag with Eugene and he is now progressing super quickly and is becoming more and more able to feel spiritual promptings like waking up earlier than usual to come to our church and bare his testimony with scripture references for the first time about how Jesus Christ in acts change in our hearts. Again, this week was awesome and with another six weeks of finding and teaching, I hope to find even more people willing and ready to receive the gospel.

My sweet friends and family, I hope that you had an amazing holiday season and that the transition back to normal life is gentle. I also hope that you will try to be a "Full Sender" in learning and preaching of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel on the earth today. I love you all SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSSOO MUCH and look forward to writing to you again next week!


Love ya!
Elder McMullin :)