26 October 2015: #lotsofrain #apartmentfloodedalittle #ihatehashtags

I really don't like hashtags, but lately I've just really wanted to use them. Don't ask me why. I have no idea, but it's been raining a lot here! Crazy! Everyone was freaking out. They said we were supposed to have another flood like they had in May this last week, but it was supposed to be worse....but it wasn't even bad!!!!!! I was really excited to have to bike in knee deep water, but I guess that just wasn't meant to be! haha, so you don't have to worry :) our apartment got a little bit of water inside, but not too much! Thankfully we heard about it, so we put all of our stuff high up! So it worked out!

speaking of our apartment complex, our investigators are going to be our neighbors!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!! They're the investigators we see everyday!!!!! :) I love them a lot!!!! they just need to get baptized though!!!! With one of them, Iris, we have hit a giant bump in the road. More like the Berlin Wall (but even that came down, so I'm hopeful that we will help her get through it! :) hahaha I still remember some history stuff!) but she HATES halloween. I can't even explain to you how much she absolutely loathes it. She knows the book of Mormon is true and everything, but she thinks that because we have Halloween activities and people of the Church celebrate Halloween, that this can't be the true church because that's wrong and we're supporting all this horrible bad stuff. She even asked us to pray about Halloween and she said God will tell us it's wrong. But it's all about the intention. Halloween really is for the kids. But I get it. It's something that she has grown up with, so we will work with her and she will get baptized. Her date is for this Saturday (she picked Halloween, so we couldn't go out and do stuff..... ahahahahahhaha:) but I feel confident she can and God said she was ready. One other thing He said though was that she will ultimately make the decision.

Can I tell you something though? That is the hardest thing on the planet. You grow to love these people more than you can even describe. You see their good qualities and how much they NEED the gospel. They NEED it, so when they don't accept it, it hurts. It really really does. Salvation, Eternal Life, Eternal Families all depend on this. This is the most important decision of their lives! IT's the most important decision of all of our lives! We all need to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be in the true church. We cannot be saved without it. Do we all realize how important this is???? I see investigators refusing baptism and it kills me. I see members who were so strong, fall away. If you think about the eternal scheme of things and even now with all the blessings that they are losing, it hurts. How would it be if it was your family members?? I wasn't the perfect person, member, or anything like that by far. Still am not, but I know now that we need to stay strong and keep going. We can't have an eternal family or the blessing of God in the Celestial Kingdom if we don't stay strong. We all NEED the gospel. We all do. Let's not give up on it. Let's keep going strong and find joy and love and happiness and peace in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Sorry that was really long, but I just felt like I should say it. Please keep going strong. Pray, Read, and Go to Church. :) PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! also y'all should read DyC 19:15-20

Anyway, back to the investigators, we are working really hard with them. Manuel has a date along with his kids, Adrian y Jonathan, and we know they can make it! They just have to work hard and prepare themselves!!!!!!! Any prayers you want say for them would be awesome!!! Also for Antonio, he is the son of Iris. 

We also have the cutest family on the planet. Gustavo y Jaquelin!!! I love them so much!! They're so humble and really accepting. They act on what they feel. They don't need to know everything, but when they feel it, they are willing to act on it. They want to be married soon, so they can get baptized!!!! They are adorable and I'm so excited for them!!!!!!! :):)

This week I have been studying a lot about Joy. I love it. Really what I want in life is to be joyful and happy. and the true and only way of finding that is through God. all the good things from from God, so that makes sense doesn't it??? I was reading in Alma 29 and it talks about joy from being an instrument in God's hands. Isn't that true joy? Being able to do what God needs you to do in bringing salvation to others? We first bring ourselves and then we bring others. "you can't convert someone beyond your our conversion" The more converted someone is, the more they can speak with the Spirit and then the Spirit can testify to them. How incredible is that?? and we find so much Joy in bringing people unto him, including ourselves. 

What ways do you find joy??  How are you trying to be more converted to Jesus Christ??? (food for thought:)

Love you all!!! Let me know if I can do anything for you!!!!!!!!!! ":):):)

Kasey's Address

Sister Kasey McMullin

Texas Houston South Mission

602 Eldridge Road

Sugar Land, TX 77478

19 October 2015

So guess what. I had the craziest best week on the planet!!!!! :):) 

all right, first I should probably say, I'm not getting transferred!!!!! HERMANA IHRKE AND I ARE STAYING TOGETHER AND WE ARE GOING TO BAPTIZE SO MANY PEOPLE!!!!!!!! :):):):) they are so close!!!! They need to get baptized!!!! It's their SALVATION!!!!!! but anyways, i'm super pumped and ready to work hard :) and I love H2. it's awesome!!! There are so many people who speak Spanish here. Totally different than Kemah!!! and the good thing is I'll probably be here for a while because Hermana Ihrke is going home in December halfway through the transfer, so I'll probably kill her (mission term, don't' worry!!!) and then take over and then be there for another transfer (hopefully two!!!!) pero a ver lo que pasa:)

now for this week!!!!!! Guess what!!!! WE WENT TO KEMAH!!!! it was so fun!!! We were all laughing so hard!!!!! Our investigators are the best!!! I loved it and I got to see Jorge!!!!!! He even brought me a gift :) awwwwwwwww people are the nicest!!!! We went on all the rides and I wore pants!!!!! (sorry just had to throw that in there, but I haven't worn normal pants--even though those were dress pants-- in like 9 months! What!!!!!!) but it was so fun. I love them all so much!!!!

then we went to the temple as a mission on Thursday!!! I loved it! We didn't learn as much as we did last time because it was a little different, but we talked about what we wanted from our missions and what we want for our lives. Kind of a big topic right? We studied it and I'm still doing that, but one thing I know is that whatever I want (por ejemplo happiness) I can only get it through having God in my life!!! and it's the same! Only good things come from God, so we need him now more than ever in our lives!!!!  True happiness only comes from Him and His gospel :) the temple is amazing and it's the only way we are going to have eternal families!!!! (also another way to have joy in this life and in the eternities :)

then SATURDAY WAS CRAZY!!!!!!! this isn't so much spiritual, but just crazy and funny and maybe a little sketchy! hahahaha so Hermana Ihrke's bike broke, so we had to take the metro. and while we were waiting for the bus after a cita, some policeman drove by us and they were staring at us hard core. then they flipped around and came over to talk to us. they asked us "what are you doing here? Do you know where you are? Don't you have a car?? You really shouldn't be here..." They were really worried about us being out!! (but don't worry it's not that sketch, they just think it is!!! hahah) 

Then we went to another cita of a new investigador and he tried to kiss hermana Ihrke!!! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, it was sooooo awkward, but she handled it well. I probably would have hit him in the face really hard. His friend was cool though and pretty interested. the other guy...... maybe not......

THEN ANOTHER THING happened!!! We were walking to another cita because the bus was really slow. and as we were walking a car passed us, and then stopped and backed up to where we were. We were a little bit nervous, but then it was a lady who was really funny. She got SO mad that we were walking around there at that time of night in that area. She told us, I see that you have your tags and you've got that missionary thing, but there is no way  I am letting you walk around here at night! I am giving you a ride to wherever you're going! hahaha, she was adorable :) I really liked her and she knew about us too!! Her cousins live in Utah!!!!!

Our investigators were really freaked out when we told them. It was pretty funny. 

Then we had an amazing service! We got to help with a race and I loved it!!! The people there were so cute! We worked at a kids carnival and they were adorable!!!!:):) 

I have lots of pictures to send, so we are trying to get it to work and then I'll send them to you!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! If i can i will write a little longer, but the time is about to run out!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!! :):):):):):):):):):)

12 October 2015

Hello!!! I'm emailing y'all a little early because we're going to GALVESTON!!!  and KEMAH!!!!! our investigators wanted to take us and we got permission, so we are heading off!! I'm super excited actually :) I mean I was just there, but still. it will be awesome!!

This week was amazing!!!!!!! We found so many people and these people are legit!!!! They came to church and the ones that couldn't was because they went to Mexico. So I guess that makes sense :) but how cool is that??? We are so blessed here in this area and Heavenly Father is helping us so much! Love it!!!

One cool thing is we had a referral, so we went to try him. We started talking to him and then we asked him if anyone wanted to listen, so he went and got all of his primos, tios, and all of those guys and so they all came out and started listening to the lesson. It's a good thing we brought extra stuff because we had about 7 people that were there and we were all having a great time!! IT was kind of funny because it was 7 guys and then us two, hermanas. pretty great. It was kind of weird though because we have to be outside because we can't be inside with only 2 girls, so we all just stood on their balcony in front of their door. They were really cool though and the ones who didn't go to Mexico went to church!

Que mas..... I'm really bad at remembering all that happened. There are so many miracles every week, but I can't remember them when I'm emailing!!!!

One thing I've been studying a lot is a talk called the fourth missionary. One of the greatest talks on the planet. I absolutely love it. But it's talking about having to give up everything that you want good and bad to serve God and all you have to do is choose to do it. It's the same for life. It's really the only intelligent thing to do to accept God and do what He wants you to do. It's the way to happiness and the way to eternal life. It's a principle i'm trying to incorporate in my mission more and then what I want to do at home. :)

Also this week we learned how to make coconut fish soup. It was pretty good! and do you remember how I hated fish when I was home?? For some weird reason, I can eat whatever I want and I don't hate it! Heavenly Father really blessed me to get over that, so now i eat whatever. Also, I can eat SO much food. I've always been able to, but now I eat even more. It's really bad, but I guess it's kind of a gift too because they love having you eat a lot. They normally give us give 5 servings and then desert. It's delicious, but it's also bad because I don't want to eat that much..... :) 

well I think that's all for this week!! LOVE YOU TONS! :):):):):):):) 

6 October 2015

So guess what!!!!! THIS WEEK WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! I mean every week is really really good, but this one was especially good because it was CONFERENCE WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) I learned so much and I have a lot to change and work on from listening, but that's the best part! The gospel is here to change us into better people, so when I find out the many things I get to work on, I'm happy:) I'm going to share some things with you and if you all want to share some things with me, I would love to hear what you got from conference!!! I always love learning from others :) (I got to watch all of the sessions and then I watched the General Women's session in Spanish! it was awesome!)

A couple quotes I loved:

Uchtdorf: "Ahora es parte de la eternidad" we are told we will receive happiness and blessings in the eternities, but we can also have them right now it just depends on ourselves and our actions! So let's all focus on doing God's will here, so we can be happy!

"Exaltation is our goal. Discipleship is our journey." As we truly become disciples of Christ, we will have exaltation. Who doesn't want to live with their families forever and have joy forever? I don't know about y'all, but that's what I want :) and I hope you want it too!!!!

A couple random things: trusting in God more will bring us the faith we need. 

We have to keep the Sabbath day holy to really follow our Savior. It's really such a blessing to have that day to rest from our struggles and jobs. As we keep that day holy and renew our covenants, we can have the Spirit more: which brings happiness, peace, and all other good feelings.

Mom: I mentioned this in your other email, but definitely the importance of mothers. Holland's talk was amazing and really without our amazing mothers, we are nothing. and I know that's especially true of me :)

Seeing people through their parents eyes. Their earthly and heavenly :)

God gives us commandments as a blessing to keep us from heartache and danger. They're not restricting us, merely helping us along the way back to our Heavenly Father. 

Last I want you all the question yourselves just as it said in Elder Lawrence's "the Course of Steady Improvement" What lack I yet?? I know you are all amazing people (all of my family and friends everywhere) but we always have something we can change to become more like our Savior. I encourage you to ask that question and pray about it (if you haven't done it already). I know that we will be blessed if we always try to do one thing better. 

I love conference and I've grown to love it even more on my mission. The gospel is true and it's the way to eternal happiness. As we keep going forward and endure to the end, we can have joy now and in the eternities. :) 

If you haven't listened to conference, DO IT!!!!! It will help improve your life so much!!!!!

Okay now for this week!!! which has been an amazing week as well not just because of conference :)

We went to the temple with a recent convert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was lucky enough to be in this area to go with him. It's really wonderful to see someone progress in the gospel and have the privilege to go to the temple. It's such a special time and getting to see that really brings joy. Temples are true and I know that when we do what we can, we can have an eternal families and receive the help we need from Heavenly Father :)

We have some really amazing investigators who are so close to baptism. One of them, who's name is Antonio, is a 16 year old boy who is so close to the Spirit. He said he received his answer that the Book of Mormon is true and that he really loves reading it. He loves having us come over because he says he can feel a difference. It's amazing when you have people like him who are ready and prepared. We should be extending him a date soon!!!!!! He's amazing!!!!!!! 

His whole family too, Iris, Manuel, Alexis, Adrian, Jonathan, and Estrella (his sister who we just met) are such charitable people. They are ready for the gospel. I just want them to have all of the blessings and have an eternal family (well they're like 2 families, but basically one, so 2 eternal families but friends forever haha) I always want to be over with them. They just make me so happy. Who knew you could have this much love for people in such a short time. 

one funny thing: one of our investigators Manuel is really nervous for us because we're biking around by ourselves, so he bought us mace to protect us. HE IS THE BEST!!!!! hahaha love them!!!!!!!!!

I love you all so much!!!!!!! Let me know if there is anything I can ever do for you!!!!! I am praying for you :):)