May 24, 2010 response to my email

Hey mom!

Every things going well out here! Not a whole lot happening at the moment though...our investigators that were taking the stop smoking workshop were sick yesterday, so they weren't at church. The wife is doing great and should be smoke free now, but the husband is still working on quitting snuff.

• DL (District Leader) stuff is going all right. Got a DM (District Meting) tomorrow. Had ZC (Zone Conference) on Fri. Great time!

• The weather is crazy out here. It's been rainy and sunny and rainy and humid and sunny...crazy!

• Crazy cats! (in response to Miss Kitty jumping up on me and using her claws to dig in)

• Say hi to autie moo for me! (Billy's Auntie Moo is here for a couple of days)

• Yes, i do... (remembers me having him play the hymn, "Come Unto Jesus" on the violin.

• Oh, it's actually on the Camp Helaman website? I thought that it was just on Youtube. (Billy's former Young Men's President spoke to me in church about seeing the video of Billy receiving his mission call on a church website)

• Heh, we spoke in sacrament yesterday too! On the Abrahamic Covenant...not something i'm too familiar with. Poor bishop Bruce! LOL (Told Billy that Bishop Bruce was back this week from being out with eye surgery last week - also Cameron Bruce spoke in Sacrament yesterday)

• Heh, Derick hated that name(Spiekerman), he always said that he was going to have it changed to Wiley. (One of Billy's friends connected with me on facebook)

• WHAT?!?!?!?! You liked something w/ rhubarb?!?!?! (all my life I have hated rhubarb - last night I ate a dessert that Scott made with it and I actually liked it! I told Billy about it because I knew he would be surprised - I have been adamant my whole life that no one could make anything with rhubarb in it that I would like"!

Okey-dokie! Hope ya have a great week!!

Love Ya!!

Elder Mulks

New Address

Elder Mulks called on Mother's Day and we were so happy to hear his voice. Billy sounds so good and is doing well.

If you would like to write to Billy, here's the new address:

Elder William W. Mulks
231 Days Drive
Sutton, WV 26601

The new area is sixty miles north of Charleston.

The Elder has been losing weight - 33# to date! His clothes are getting very loose on him - Yikes - maybe need new suits after awhile!

Typical diet: Cream of wheat with a spoonful of jam for breakfast; Apple/Banana/Protein for lunch and stirfry for dinner. Not much time to cook - mostly on Preparation days. Their new P-Day is Monday. That changed recently.

We learned there are 56 areas in the WV Charleston Mission and only 10-15 are bike areas.

There is going to be a new stake formed in July - "Huntington" Stake.

Billy's newsletter from last week - sorry I didn't post sooner. Here goes:

Hey All!

Things have been going great out here! I know that I didn't send a newsletter out last week, but I'm sending one this week...so deal with it! LOL

But n e ways! I've been transferred! I'm not in a little place called Flatwoods. It's near the geographical center of WV! Our area covers a MASSIVE AREA OF WV!!!!!

Normally we only cover 1 county, if that. But here...we cover 3 counties! So, lots of fun, especially seeing as we have limited miles as missionaries (here we have 1300 miles/approx. 42 miles/day)

I have the pleasure of opening the area too. That means that there haven't been missionaries here for a time and they are putting them back in. So that means 2 new missionaries coming into an area that they have no idea where anything is. So that's fun! But I love it!

In addition to that, I've been called as a District Leader. Meaning that I'm over my companion and another set of Elders. I get to teach the 3X/transfer, and I go on exchanges with them every transfer. Hard work, but lots of fun! Well, I think that's about it! Hope all y'all's week is awesome!

It's Transfer Week!

Elder Mulks has been out in the mission field for 7 1/2 months. His first area was just over the south border of WV into Virginia and his second area was not far from it in the southern most part of WV.

Billy said: Hey mom!
Things are going well here. Lots of hot days. It feels like we skipped spring and went straight from winter to summer! The past 4 days have been in the high 80's with high humidity.


Billy said he is being transferred this week to a tiny spot called Flatwoods which is about 50 miles north of Charleston as far as I can tell. Right on the major freeway going north out of Charleston which is where the Mission Home is. He has a new companion - Elder M. Billy has been called to be a district leader. Billy said he was getting "doubled in" to Flatwoods and the only other explanation he gave was that they are opening the area - basically starting from ground zero. He doesn't know his address yet so hopefully I can get that on Sunday when he is supposed to get to call home. I'll have a ton of other questions too and will take notes so I can share any news with you.

When I told Billy that I had donated birthday cakes to our scout fundraiser/auction, Billy mentioned a lady in the Peterstown area who does cake decorating as a side job and she is REALLY good. She does a lot of the kinds of things that the "Ace of Cakes" crew does. That is a crew on cable tv that specialize in amazing cakes. Billy also said it was cool about the bids for my cakes because they are worth it! (Sweet of him to say)

There wasn't a newsletter this week - just a response to my email. Elder Mulks is going to be a very busy young man - more so than he has been!

I had asked about all the Stake visitors in his branch last week and Billy said that they released and called a new Branch Presidency.

If you write before I get a new address, send it to the mission office posted in this blog. Otherwise, hopefully on Sunday, I'll have his new address and more information.

Billy sends his love and I appreciate your support.

Hey all!

Is everything going good out there? Everything is great here!

We had an awesome experience this week with one of the families we are teaching. After we finished teaching them on Sat. and had dinner, they said that they have been feeling lost and that the Spirit has been coming and going. When we told them that, "Through baptism, by one with the right authority, the Spirit can be with you all the time to lead, guide, and protect you." What the wife said shocked us, she said, "Yea...I've been feeling that my last baptism didn't have the right authority." WOW! That was just so AWESOME to hear. The Spirit has been working on them like crazy! It just goes to show that we don't do anything, except bring the Spirit. He does all the work. WOW.

Well, I hope that your week this week is great!

Hey Mom!

Things are going well! Weather is being crazy again. Church on Sun. was awesome! Pretty much all of the entire Stake Presidency was there. The presidency, the relief society, the young mens, and the primary. It was a really big congregation. (makes me think it might have been a branch conference)

* Yea, I just got some mail from Johan today. And I was just referring to my peeps back home.(regarding not getting mail from his friends last week)
* Cool, I LOVE LUMPIA! Was the white silk pie the one that i love? (making lumpia and having a wonderful meal at Auntie Schell's last Saturday. Scott made the white chocolate silk pie that Billy loves!)
* Yay! the grass is growing! Green haze...lol (Mike's lawn is coming in and looks like green haze)
* Yea, but not as much as I have been. (when asked if he was taking photos)
* Yea, we get the Ensign each transfer. but just one. I'd love to have my own to mark up! (church monthly publication - I asked if he can have copies)
* LOL. Silly kids. (told Billy about his little cousins bathing the dogs in the cows water trough)
* Amanda?! Really? Cool! (daughter of a friend of ours thinking of joining air force)
* I don't really know yet. just waiting and watching. (transfers come up next week)
* Wow. I didn't even know what she was studying. Great to hear that he's getting out. (a friends daughter graduating as a Veterinarian and her son getting out of the Army and going to school in Hawaii)

Okie dokie! Well that's about it!
Love Ya!

Elder Mulks

April 20, 2010 - Please Write Elder Mulks!

Hey all y'all!

How're ya doin'? Hope all is well, because I didn't hear from ANYONE THIS WEEK! Besides mom, Thanks mom!

Things have been awesome down here! Here's a couple of cool experiences...

We're teaching a family of 3 who we tracted into. The husband was sleeping when we meet them, so we taught just her. She said that it was kinda like God was speaking to her, and that she felt that we were an answer to her prayers, to find the right way. Then the next day, we ran into the husband at the park while we were tracting. So we met both at different times, 'That has to be a sign,' I thought. We taught them again this last week and they fed us brunch. And on Sun., they were there for all three blocks! They said that they really enjoyed SS because they got to learn so much. How Awesome!!!

I love to see people enjoy church and feel the spirit. We've gotten fed every day for the last 10 days! Compared to the usual 2x per week before. The Lord is sure blessing us! I feel that it is because of the faithfulness and diligence that we have shown. Though I know that we can still improve! In God we can do all things!
Well, there's all y'alls' excitement for the week!

Love ya!!
Elder Mulks
xSOIx

You can write to Elder Mulks until 5/5/10 at the following address:

Elder William Mulks
RR 1 Box 357
Peterstown, WV 24963

April 13, 2010 response to mom's email

Hey mom!

Everything is going great here! We've found about 33 N.I.'s (new investigators) these past 3 weeks!! It's awesome to see the Lord bless us for our diligence and obedience!

Something we've been doing is skipping meals if we are out in an area that is far from our trailer so that we can save time and gas, plus it allows us to work an area better and longer.

* Yea, i got it, gonna send one out here soon! (a stamp and address to mail a letter to an oversees missionary friend)

* Ohh, nifty! (reply about me sending him some flyers/etc. for church activities)

* It's already open? Where is this one at again? We don't get to in our mission...we have 3 temples, but...they're all outside our boundaries. So, no temple for us for 2 years! TT_TT (speaking of the new temple in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

* Wow! Been working hard! (about dad working on the lawn - all new lawn coming)

* It's OK! This is a time for improvement. (talked about sending him healthier stuff as he has been slimming down and rationing out his Easter candy - apologized for sending him so much sugary stuff)

* Heh! Yea, I like that! (when I wrote about the gun incident from last week, I mentioned that I didn't worry too much - partly due to something I recently read about worry not being productive and to change worry to concern as that is an action word and can cause you to do something positive about the concern you previously were worrying about)

* Haven't been able to see him again yet. (the man from last week's spiritual experience)

* A couple of sisters that I know are Sis. B. and Sis. F.. But that's because they are in the same zone as me. (I asked if he knew any names of sister missionaries since I recently heard on my missionary mom's email site that a young lady was heading to WV and her mom wanted to know of any other sisters out there.)

* Cool! Good to hear! Lot's more Eagle's!! (About Cameron Bruce's Eagle Project in May)

* Cool, looking forward to getting it! (another shipment of YOLI Healthy Beverage compliments of Auntie Moo!"

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Hey all! How's life been treatin' ya? Everything's going great out here! Hope all y'all enjoyed Conference if ya watched it. Really great talks!

We had Zone Conference yesterday too. That was cool. Always love to hear from Pres. and Sis. Thornock!

Well, we've continued to have freaky weather! It seems to me that weird weather follows me...But anyways, it's been in the 80's since last Thurs! And it's only spring!! I cant believe this place! Then on Mon. we had a lightning storm. That was the coolest thing I've seen so far! There were 6 different colors of lightning---white, blue, violet, yellow, orange, and red! I was mesmerized!

That same night, we had a gun pulled on us as we walked down to this guy's trailer. More surprised than scared...I was like,"Is that what I think it is?..Yup! ok, weird...Can we give you a card, sir?" heh, that was cool!

Here's my spiritual experience for the week---We taught a guy who seemed kinda aloof the first time. When we went back on Mon., we read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon. After we read it, he told us that as we read it, he prayed for understanding, because he has a hard time comprehending what he reads. Well, he said that after he did that, he could understand what we were reading. He also said that that only worked with one other book...the bible! He felt that it was the truth and wants to keep reading. We have really high hopes for him!

Well, gotta go!
Love Ya!!
Elder Mulks

Hey Mom! Everything's going great! Had a great General Conference and then we had Zone Conference on Tuesday. I can't remember his name, but the talk on duty was my favorite. I got the feeling that the conference was mostly about love. We ended up watching it at our Branch mission leader's home. We ate there too.

* Sounds tasty! (our Easter dinner)
* You were supposed to mark me as there...at least that's what we were told. (Census)
* Nope, no dog attacks...but we did have a gun pulled on us! lol.
* we've been finding lots. We found a guy who, as we were reading with him, prayed for understanding and received it. He told us that only happened with one other book...the bible. That was AWESOME! We have high hopes for him.
* Those eggs are too good! I've been trying to control how much I eat when it comes to sweets. I've barely even gotten into that box of candy! Just since the picture of when I arrived, people have said I've gotten slimmer!
* Cool! Good to hear. I bet he wishes I was there! lol. That's cool. (dad's lawn work)
* I'd LOVE to get his address! OH, I'm starting to get low on stamps too. Could you send me a few more? Just 2 should be good for now. (Kyle G. address)
* Good to hear. I'm praying for 'em! Heh...Scott using a cane. I can't picture that! (cousins going through health issues)
* Heh, that's how it happens in the church! Get a calling, try to figure it out, then get released the moment you do!

Well, sorry for getting back to you today, I forgot to tell you last week that we had Zone Conference this week. Which is on Tuesdays, so our p-day gets pushed back till Wed.

Anyways, Love ya!
Elder Mulks
--
Psalms 23
___
"A mind without purpose will walk in dark places."