My Last Email

Well this is it….. my last e-mail to all of you as a full time missionary….it is very strange and it still doesn’t feel like it is really going to happen.

i'm leaving here at 8:55am I have 5 hours and 10 minutes of flying but only 3 hours will have passed ooooooo i'm going to be a time traveler haha.

It was a good week, it was funny because I haven’t talked about going home to almost anyone and this last Sunday when they announced it everyone was surprised. They knew that this was going to be my last area but they didn’t know I was leaving this soon.

it was a good last Sunday in North Carolina. I have made a lot of friends and almost everyone told me that I need to come back with my “bride.” They told me that there home would be open to me and things like that.  I told them when I get the money i will come back out.

 Last night there was a bunch of the young men that where asking me for my signature, so I was able to sign a few basketballs and things like that, It was funny.

 I heard some terrible news...what is Steve Nash doing going to the Lakers!?! O man that was so depressing to hear, I had to eat one of my last mars bars just so I could be happy again haha!!!!!  So if that happened.... I wonder what other things have changed….. I doubt that too many things will be bigger than that…I hope haha         

Well its going to be good to see you all again soon. I'm guessing the rest of my week is already planned or at least a few days. haha Then the wedding is just around the corner, it is going to be fun and I'm looking forward to talking about the mission with all of you and seeing how mine was different from timothie's.  I love you all so much and im looking forward to seeing you all really soon.

 Sincerely (for the last time),

ELDER MAUGHAN

Many Times on a Bike with a Tie

Well it’s the last week…… o boy… it is really strange but I'm sure that Timothie can tell you what that feels like.

Yesterday was the first Sunday that a missionary from this ward who just came back went to church. (He got home on Thursday).  I was just watching him, he had this really funny look on his face and it seemed like he was very overwhelmed but it was funny, couldn’t help but to think that this week I turn 21 and next week I’ll be with my family.

Almost everyone in the ward knew that this was going to be my last area but I haven’t talked about it at all. A lot of people had forgotten…..until yesterday…. a few were even shocked that I was leaving so soon, and few talked about how it feels like I have been in the ward longer then 3 months because I was here some of the time before. It really does feel like I have been here longer than 3 months . Last week…….

Today we are going to play basketball again. But before we did we stopped by a little thrift shop and I got a nice “camp” tie for $.50. It was a nice find...haha 

Tomorrow we are having a zone meeting and it will be the first time I meet President Bernhisel. On the 10^th it will be my second and last time meeting him. It will be good to see some of the missionaries that I have worked with throughout my mission for the last time.

On the 4^th we are going to the elders quorum presidents house  for a good cook out. Then on Thursday for my birthday we have two lessons planed. The  7^th is my two year mark, the next day is my last Sunday in North Carolina, Monday is my last preparation day (last e-mail home) 

so its crazy, ill be really working to make this my best week of my mission!

 Oh ya, so last week I went to waffle house, and it was really funny because all the food joints here have these sanitarian scores and a good score is 96 -100. Really good is 101-105. This waffle house had a 88!!! Haha the food was good but…..i don’t know what could have floating around in the waffle batter, if you know what I mean...haha It did taste good, and what was even better was that this random couple paid our check. It was a great memory.

 Don’t worry im getting all my kicks of food in before I go home, one place I don’t know if I will be able to eat again is Golden Corral…I call it “the trough” I have eaten there so much its crazy! Everyone always talks about how fast and much I eat. I found out a great secret there is that over at the salad bar there are strawberries…. So I eat a few bowl  of those J

             This last weekend got way hot! Like 116 degrees plus crazy humidity it was terrible! Then yesterday afternoon we had a good rain storm and it dropped down to about 75. It was a wonderful blessing and they say all this week will be stormy, which I am hoping that the nice weather will last until the 11^th. I have gone through 2 North Carolina summers and both broke a lot of records and I do not want another one of those thank you. I think my pores have been cleaned out one too many times on a bike with a tie on... haha but at least I look good doing it...haha  joking

Well I'm looking forward to seeing you all again! I miss you and I hope that we have a great week and that you enjoy this last week of peace and quiet without things breaking, or any miss spelled words, or random songs, or competitive card/board games, or any of those “Chris things” because for the most part those little things are still me just coming back in a more....Refined way haha. 

 I looking forward to telling you and  showing you what a difference my mission has made for me it's going to be great! So if anyone wants something from the great North Carolina you better let me know before next Monday!!!

I love you all!!

ELDER MAUGHAN!!!!          

A Math Formula

          Sorry about getting this e-mail out so late. Our library’s internet was down so we just made it to the community college.

          Today for preparation day we went to the local rec center and played basketball for a few hours. We went with about 6 young men and as we played a lot of other kids came to join us. Most of them were not taller than my hip…. Needless to say I didn't shoot that much ( one of the kids started talking to much smack… oh then it was on!!! haha) What made it really good was the fact that we had a boy who is part of a family that a lot of the members of the ward have been working with.

          Well one funny thing is that we have this investigator and he was introduced to the church by a LDS girl that he met on line. But anyways he left to go visit her in Utah and he left engaged but when he came home a week later he wasn’t engaged anymore…... He told us when he got home that this would be his last night that he was there cause they got married! They had only met twice in person. He really wants to be baptized but he is getting baptized in Utah as he is leaving this Thursday.

          The weather has turned into summer here. It has been so nice for so long but this week has been in the high 90s and broke 100 a few times... so I have a math formula for this; hot+humid+bike+tie+backpack+black pants +many miles = Missionary work+sweat. See it’s all very simple.

President Cottrell is leaving this week and we get our new President. I will meet him for the first time next week, and then I will see him a second time when it’s time for me to……..

well I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for all the help you all have been to me on my mission it has been great!

Take care and have a great week!

ELDER MAUGHAN   

Kids in a Candy Store

                It’s been another great week! We were able to do a lot of service and we also found a new investigator. She was a referral from a member, and we taught her in the members home ( I love teaching in members’ homes ). She is an older lady, she feels like she has never really had a relationship with Jesus Christ and about a year ago her brother past away and she really wants to feel peace in her life, and even before the opening prayer when she was telling us all this we started testifying about Jesus Christ’s Atonement and the love Heavenly Father has for her and the spirit was so strong! She and the members were crying and throughout the lesson we just kept coming back to that feeling and how that is what Heaveny Father wants us to feel all the time. It was wonderful. She is inviting her family to be a part of the next lesson. It was a really good experience. I'm so grateful for the spirit that comes into those lessons. It is really what makes missionary work great!  

             Then we helped a family mow there 3 acres (I never want that much grass to cut, so maybe I’ll just get some nice rock and spray paint it green haha) but it was two older members, Elder Williams and I went at it and it was a 3 hour process haha First we weed whacked and when we finished with that we each got a push lawn mower and the other two had riding lawn mowers and the funny thing was, we were moving faster and cutting more grass then they were haha.

             So ya….. I'm just glad it didn’t take longer.  That is one thing that North Carolina has a lots of is grass, weeds, bugs and all that good stuff. Oh the other day we drove though some farmland we could see farther then 50 feet on all sides of us…it was a strange feeling.

            Then we helped someone move.  Each week we do service every at this place called angel's closet and they give clothes to those in need. We help hang stuff up and things like that.

            This last week someone donated a bunch of ties and do you know what that means? Yep!!! Kids in a candy shop. We got permission to take all the ties we wanted, and I must say I don’t think you can have too many good ties... haha They were all Wembleys and I got a few 6 stripe ones.

            Well it still doesn’t feel like the end of this is coming….. I have really mixed emotions about it all and I just don’t think about it that much. The ward is more trunky for me than I am. They have a missionary coming back next week and then two leaving in October.

            I'm working my hardest and the lord is blessing us .

I love you all and I really love North Carolina. I love the people and I love this work.This two years has been so great! I have learned so much and grown a lot closer to my Father in Heaven! But I also love you all a lot too... and I'm looking forward to seeing you all again……..

            Well I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Crt and all that stuff!

 Love,

         ELDER MAUGHAN

The Great Roanoke Rapides

Well it's been another great week, I was able to see President Cotterell for the last time as a missionary at a Zone Conference. The new mission president comes in on the 28^th of this month his name is President Bernhisel. It’s a really weird thought….. haha it all feels like it's not really happening.

          We have been working hard to find those to teach and we found this nice lady. She was a past potential investigator that didn’t ever remember talking to the missionaries before, and she just became a catholic but is still looking for Christ church. Then there was a young man that was a referral from a member, he just graduated from high school this last week, and has read the book of mormon but he didn’t understand to much about what was in it. We were able to help him with that, so things are picking up in the great Roanoke Rapides! I also had my last exchange with Elder Koplin who was the first missionary I trained and he is now my district leader. It was a lot of fun to be work with him.

          I have been thinking a lot about what kind of effect my mission has had on me and it's really amazing to me to think how much I have changed and what a great 2 years this has been. It realy feelis like I'm just going to be a missionary forever, and I don’t think it will hit until……….so any way this last week…… haha

          Sacrament meeting was very special, elder Williams was the first speaker and he talked about some hard events that have happened in his family's life. His family is on Mormon.org it’s the video about the drunk driver hitting their car. I would recommend it all. The rest of the meeting just kept getting better there was a lot of tears in it, and a lot of it was about missionary work. (http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#forgiveness-my-burden-was-made-light)

          We have two missionaries that will be leaving soon on their missions and one that is coming home at the end of this month so it was really good.

          We taught part of “sharing time” in primary. It was on tithing so we had a few of the boys that wanted to be missionaries some day, role play teaching me about tithing! It was a lot of fun and exciting.

        The youth in the ward a really funny. I think everyone of them have told me how their going to either dunk or shoot over me, or just how their going to beat me really bad in basketball……and I have found out that my smack talk is really bad now!!! haha But if these boys could play as good as they talked then we would have our own NBA allstar team. Its really funny!

 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week too!!!!

 LOVE ELDER MAUGHAN          

Elder Holland's Visit

           Well it has been a good week to say the least, having Elder Holland come was GREAT!! So some things he talked about was:

-The brethren do not put a number of converts we are to have on our mission, but they do commit us to have at least one convert which would be ourselves. That the mission has to change us and we cant return home as the same person.

-He also said any decent missionary has asked “Why is this work so hard? We have this very important message to share with the world so why does it seem like the world doesn’t want it?” then he answered it this way: “the reason it so hard is because the road to salvation has to go through the garden of Gethsemane and some times up the hill of Calvary” and he went into talking about that we have to go through a little of what the Lord went through in order to have salvation

-He also said that we were doing the same work he was doing, the only difference is the fact that he holds keys I don’t hold and he is in a quorum that I'm not in. He said he was like a upper case “A” and we were lower case “a” and then in a larger sense we are doing the same great work as the Lord.

-He talked about Adam and Eve and what their lives were like while they were in the garden and then after when they were cast out. Then what it's like because of Jesus Christ and the atonement. I'll have to explain about this more when I can talk to you because its hard to write about haha.

That’s only a few things, he also shook all are hands at the very beginning and he said “good to see you” to every one  then after explained that the apostles used to interview every missionary but that was back when there was only 4000 missionaries so the reason he wants to shake our hands is because he has a very personal interview with each of us and he wasn’t just looking at us but he was “seeing” us. It was crazy haha.

I learned so much. Then the rest of the week has been good. Elder Williams and I are getting along great! We are working hard and are staying very obedient so good things will be coming. We are working with more less actives and the members are trusting us a lot more with there friends. Yesterday we got a referral from the bishop's sister and she is graduating this week from high school and she set up for us to teach a boy from her school that has always picked on her at school about the church. He has read the Book of Mormon and has a few questions and he started asking her questions so she said “I will just sent the missionaries from my church to you because they can answer the questions a lot better then I can” so im excited to see how it goes!

I just love being a missionary! And thank you all for all your support!! I love you all and thanks again! CTR

ELDER MAUGHAN

New Companion

           Well it was transfers and I got a new companion. his name is Elder Williams. He is from salt lake and he has been out for 6 months, I am his 3^rd companion and this is his second area. He is a really good missionary, his favorite foods are pizza and hamburgers and we have a few other things in common; we both like Star Wars and things like that. He is also a big skateboarder and snowboarder and it seems like he was pretty good back at home, so im excited for the next 6 weeks! They are are going to be great with a lot of good things coming to our area!

            As for our memorial day, went to a members home and had hot dogs then right after that we went to another members home and played basketball with a bunch of the young men. I only played the first game L  its was just a fun game. Elder Caldwell got all his things packed and ready to leave for the next day and then we went to see a few members so he could say goodbye.

            And yesterday as I was waiting for my new companion to come so I stayed in Rocky Mount and it was good to have all those memories there. It feels strange because it is not my area anymore but at the same time I still remember a lot about the area just like it was yesterday. When I got there we planned on going to see how people  we I knew were doing, and then  after looking through the area book we went out and worked.

            Well this week is going to be crazy! Getting a new companion tomorrow, having district meeting and our Mission President is going to be there with his Wife. On Friday we are going to go spend the night in Rocky Mount so that the next day we can go meet Elder Holland, it is very exciting!!

            I will let you know all about it!

I love you and I hope you all have a great week! Take care and be safe!!

ELDER MAUGHAN!!