The unsung virtue of quiet consistency

Much of The Salvation Army’s work involves helping people change their lives—from unhoused to housed, from addiction to recovery, from lost to saved. These remarkable transformations are often the fuel for great testimonies.

But quiet, faithful, consistency is also worth celebrating. It takes an entirely different type of fortitude to live one’s whole life in line with God’s purpose, faithfully getting up every day to serve God and serve others, throughout life’s ups, downs, twists and turns.

Major Jonnette Mulch has been a Salvation Army officer for over 40 years, serving in ministry throughout the Pacific and the Western US with her husband, Randy. 

When asked, “How do you do it?”, her response is telling: “I can’t. God is faithful in bringing others alongside of me who do those things that I can’t do.”

Below is a transcript of the video edited for readability.

Major Jonnette Mulch: I was not a rebellious kid. I’m really still not a rebellious person.

Growing up as an officer’s child, our parents included us in their ministry. That was really the only life that I knew. 

But as I got older, I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. That’s what God had called me to, I thought, and I felt like I had already given a shift, you know, and I already put my time in. And so this was my opportunity now to do what I wanted. 

So I did go to college. I had gone back home for that summer. As a college student you need money to go to school and I had three different jobs. But my dad kept saying, “No, there’s some reason you need to go to camp.” There, I had actually met this gentleman.

That young man’s name was Randy Mulch. Everything during that week, they put us together. And on the way home, I had lots of quiet time.

I remember telling God, you could give me somebody just like him. Not him because at that point, he was on his way into training school.

After the end of my second year of college, I knew that I could no longer be there. The desire to teach in a classroom setting had just disappeared. So I applied for training school. Randy was already in training school, you know, and he’s a year, of course, ahead of me and so, that gave us a year to, you know, get to know each other.

I was commissioned on a Sunday, of course, married on a Wednesday, and two weeks and one day after that, we arrived at our first appointment in El Centro, California. 

Then from there, we were asked if we would be willing to serve in Alaska. Angoon, beautiful place. Not without its challenges. We were without water quite a few times. Our oldest daughter thought it was perfectly normal that everybody lived this way. But again, God was faithful to us there. 

One of the years, we had every single child on our island that would come faithfully. And I thought, where else do you have that opportunity? Then we accepted to serve in the Marshall Islands. We had countless opportunities there.

After five years, The Salvation Army sent us to Everett, Washington. And then we got another phone call. This time, we’re going to send you back out to the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands. We just felt blessed to be 14 years in Hawaii. 

Today, we’re stationed in beautiful Medford, Oregon. It’s difficult for me to accept someone’s, you know, appreciation for 40 years of service.

And they’ll say all that you do here. How do you do it? I couldn’t do that. My first reaction is, you’re right. I can’t do it. I would venture to say we all have had those dry spell moments in our lives. So during those moments, I think I had set unrealistic expectations. And, you know, I wanted to accomplish everything.

I finally, have come to realize, I just have to do today what God calls me to do today. And I can’t do that on my own. And I don’t do that on my own. I can only do what I do because God has called me to this, and God is faithful in bringing others alongside of me who do those things that I can’t do.

I’m always the first one to admit that God has blessed me incredibly with a husband that I have, and he’s always been supportive and loving and caring, and I’m spoiled to death. 

I think the opportunities that God has given to us, and the places that He has placed us in through the Army was no mistake. And it’s because of those experiences that we’ve had, and the people that we’ve met and the cultures we’ve encountered has given me even a greater love for people.

We’re just humbled by the ways that He’s used people like us.

Do Good:

• See more videos like this in our video feed.