Hi Liz,
        
While I haven't faced the same problem as yours, I had some trouble getting 
mutt to work properly too. These two links were helpful in solving my 
problem. Actually they help you in configuring mutt, so do verify if you 
have missed out on any step or need additional settings.

Hope this helps you :)

https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/email-clients.txt
https://kernelnewbies.org/Outreachyfirstpatch?action=show&redirect=OPWfirstpatch#kernel-setup-done 

(The section on setting up tools)

-namrata