Tender Mercies

Well hi everyone! It’s me again and another fast Sunday is done only a few left but Tim has even fewer than me haha and that’s hard to get my head around sometimes. Well like I was saying last week this week went by fast, it started with me going to south Boston Virginia on exchanges, that was a lot of fun, we were able to teach a girl who is 14 and her family was mostly less active and we all started getting along great and the lesson was really good. I love teaching children that want to learn. And something interesting is that this girl didn’t want to go to church without her dad who has not been for many years, and something really funny happened Elder Fare challenged the dad and older son to a game of horse shoes, with the wager that if we won they would come to church and If we lost they had to come to church to get their money haha. And it was really wired because it really felt like the spirit wanted us to play (and as you all remember I’m no good at horse shoes) and as we start to warm up I cant even get the shoe into the box and the other two were making fun of us and giving us a hard time. So the game started and my very first throw……. RINGER haha and they were all like “elder Maughan is a hustler” and as the game went I was scoring and they were keeping up and elder Fare and I were praying so hard and they the game was tied at 10 to 10 playing to 21 and I throw and my first throw….. RINGER, second throw….. LINER… 5 pts!!! Haha after that it was cake haha, it was so much fun and then yesterday the South Boston called and said that the entire family came to church!!! The Lord works in strange ways even to the point of horse shoes haha.

            They we had zone training, and in the middle of it President Cotterell comes and asks if its OK that they show my car that was crashed and I say yes  then he brings it in front of everyone talking about driver safety and then asks me to talk about it…..so I was able to bare testimony about the tender mercies of the Lord and the goodness of God and stuff like that, and the funny part was that when they put the pic up everyone was in shock and then president was talking about no one was really hurt and no one knows he is talking to me until he says “elder Maughan would you please tell us about this” and it was funny to see how big the missionaries eyes got when they found out it was me. But it was a really good training where we learned about the difference between teaching lessons and teaching people.

            Thursday at 8:00am we went to court and there was 500 people, and only 140 seats in this little court room, so they wanted to get rid of a lot of us and didn’t need to be there so everyone that wanted to see if they could get there ticket dismissed got in line. I was able to leave without having to pay a ticket and it will not go on my record. And I tell you what I was praying then like crazy too haha. So more tender mercies I didn’t have to pay J Then we were able to find a few more investigators and it was a great week. I really felt the Lords love! 

Well I care about all of you and pray for you all the time! 

            Your friend, brother and son

ELDER MAUGHAN!

Hermana in the City

hey family!

so this has been another week....a crazy busy one. being here in the city is seriously like being in a completely different mission. this world here is so fast paced and there is just so much to do. we get to talk to people everywhere we go. we do numbers every week and one of the things we count is how many gospel quality conversations we have which is where you like talk about the gospel with someone and invite them to do something so its more than just a hello and here's a card. Last week we had 96 of those.  its seriously so fun. there are so many miracles that come out of just talking, its amazing.  the lord totally puts us in the right place and all we have to do is open our mouths. Hermana Curtis is training me on how to ride the bus and the L and know when to get off and find where our appts are. She has started where she hands me the map as we get on the bus and she tells me to let her know when where we are supposed to get off. She did this on Thursday and i had no idea where we were going. if you know me and my relationship with maps and directions it's not a very good one. so i forgot where our cita was and i had no idea where to get off so we basically rode the bus forever and i gave up trying to figure out where we were and just started talking to people on the bus. That is when i met this wonderful lady named margarita. (which means daisy in Spanish). She was telling me that my Spanish was really good and we just started talking only to have her tell me that she is on her last treatment of breast cancer and that all these people in her family have died of cancer and i shared with her about how families can be together forever. It was just a really natural conversation and i felt this immediate connection with her as I think she did with me to tell me a lot of this on a bus. We are trying to set up an appt with her and ill keep you updated there. so my comp finally realized that i wasn't gonna ever get off the bus so she got us off, turned out she had talked to this really awesome person Angela who is now meeting with the English elders. we got off the bus and we were actually out of our area :/ my bad..

Then when we were waiting for that bus to come and take us back the other way, we started talking to Victor and he is definitely looking for truth in his life. Things are just awesome he's gonna be meeting with some other missionaries and well see what happens. 

This week i have met people from all over the world. from Nicaragua, Japan, Poland, Mexico, Canada like seriously all over. Ive been asked out on 2 dates now and have been to humble park and ghetto side of Chicago. this place is crazy. and i love it. i really think i was born for the city.

hna curtis is awesome, she is a gun hoe missionary and if anything the fact that shes going home in 5 weeks is making her work even harder instead of less. we put 2 girls on date this week to be baptized in the beginning of April and there are more to come. there is seriously so much to do with this area and I'm excited.

I really appreciate the support. i couldnt do this without you guys!

I love you! and now its time to party in the city!

pazy y amor Hermana Maughan

Busy week ahead

         Well I'm trying to think of all that has happened this week and it was full of a lot of appointments falling through but this Sunday sis woods came to church and she was so glad to be there and it was really funny because it was stake conference and instead of driving 1.5 hour they just had a broadcast to our church and at first the sound wasn't working and she is blind and so she had no idea what was going on and i had to explain everything, like there praying of now, or we are going to sing... but they got it working and there was some great talks and sis woods even started crying it was wonderful she really loved it, and now its just a matter of finding a date that works for her to get baptised because every she goes through a lot. She knows its true and its great. She is sad every week that she can't go to Church because of her health. She is so much fun to teach.

     So I have been able to stay on top of the college basketball because no matter if i want to know or don't want to know, people just want to talk basketball to me, it is really funny... like when they start listing teams i have no idea who they are and i just stand there and they still love to talk about it. Oh and my comp hates duke because he can't understand why anyone would have a devil represent a team. but any way its really funny and cool that duke, UNC, and BYU are all in the sweet 16.

   this week is going to be crazy we have a major thing planned for every day like:

 Tue: I'm going to south Boston (Virgina) for exchanges

 Wed: is a zone training

 Thur: i go to court

 Fri: is weekly planning and going on to mormon.org

 Sat: we are going to put up all the framing of hat house we are building

 Sun: church

its going to be a fun week. and I'm looking forward to it and i hope all of your weeks will go great to!

 take care be safe and be happy

  Elder Maughan

BIKES...in yes a skirt. weeeeeeee...

FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

holy cow do I have a ton to tell you.

So you remember how today was transfers? well I do. Would you like to know what happened? Cause I think I'm just gonna cut to the chase and tell you. hope that's OK. Plus I'm now on a computer with a time limit...due to the fact that yes! I HAVE BEEN Transferred!!! Crazy!!!! Wanna know where I am now? Bet you cant guess........

Well I've left the sticks, and am now that's right in la centro de la ciudad. the center of the city. aka the middle of downtown Chicago!  And so I live in a ghetto apt, no longer have a car, we walk and RIDE BIKES. I am now in a place where yes. I will be riding a bike, in yes a skirt. weeeeeeee. I for see no bruises or injuries coming out of clunky me, in a skirt, on a bike. but also maybe some weight loss as well??? or maybe just some really manly legs. hahaha. But I am SERIOUSLY SOOOO EXCITED! get this:

There are only 2 sets of missionaries in the downtown city city of Chicago (like what the video was that we toured the first day we were here) One set is English elders, and the other set is us Spanish Sisters. And there is only one area in this whole mission where Sisters ride bikes and yep I'm in it. So crazy!

We went grocery shopping today and that was a different experience. all this walking and bus and train hopping I can't even believe where I'm at right now. I don't have a bike yet. Still have to get one of those so I'm gonna be using one of these old ones that are super small for a bit. Sister Doll--Presidents Wife said that there is bike she has in her garage she'll give me. so hoping that to take that so that I don't have to spend the money buying a bike.  I already have a blister on my toe from today's walking adventures. this is seriously more exercise than I have had since I left on my mission.  I'm in for some body pain as I get used to this whole thing.

And already I am learning how much different the mission is in the city. Everything is super more fast paced and we really do have the opportunity to open our mouths and talk to EVERYone we pass by. we set up 2 different citas con 2 different people to go visit them within the last 4 hours that I've been here in Chicago and its totally just from talking and having a conversation that leads to one thing and has us coming over to tell them about the gospel. SO SUPER AMAZING!!! AHHHH I'M SOOOOO EXCITED TO BE HERE!!! there are so many things to do and I'm living here! I mean there is like a 1 in like idk 3% chance that sister's get to actually serve near the city of Chicago and I'm in it. crazy eh?!

Oh I totally forgot to tell you about my companion!! She is wonder woman. Super missionary who totally knows why she's here and she's not afraid to talk about it. Her name is Hermana Curtis. and guess where shes from? Yuma, Arizona. so crazy right?! finding all these weird connections thing....ahhh crazy! She is seriously awesome. I think this transfer with here will be great. I'm gonna learn a ton. plus she only speaks to me in Spanish so I'm kind of having a feeling that my Spanish speaking skills are gonna be improved mucho mucho in this time with her. she has been here in the city for like 9 months and are you ready for this? she only has 6 weeks left of her mission. so this one transfer more and then she goes home.

Do you realize what this means for me? I have to learn everything about this downtown chi town from her in 6 weeks. I'M so happy. I have wanted to serve in the city on my mission and I get to do that.

well that's all that I've got :)

Love ya!

paz y amor,

Hermana Maughan

Tia got baptized!

            Well a lot of things happened this week but something really cool is that Tia got baptized! And even though she is 8 I’m still counting her. It was really special I was able to confirm her and I just loved how strong the spirit was. Also most of her family came who are less active and non members and in the blessing I felt very strong that as Tia stays strong in the gospel and lives in a way worthy to have the Holy Ghost with her, then she will be able to help her entire family to become able to feel of the joy she has been able to feel by becoming part of Jesus Christ’s true church! I just love the change you can see in people and Tia’s smile was worth the world with how big and happy it was. I’m so gratefull to have been able to teach her and have those tender mercies in my life.

            Then after the baptism we had a lesson with a 16 year olde girl that has been coming to church for the past 4 years, her name is Kadijha (I don’t know how to spell her name and people just call her Dee). We came in and mostly talked about baptism and we sort of set a date for April 2^nd she wants to pray about it. Something interesting about her is that when we talked about baptism we asked what was holding her back and she just kept on saying “I don’t know, I really don’t know” she knows that everything is true, she loves church and she has gone to seminary for the past two years, so its up to her but I have prayed and I know if she wants it she can be baptized. She is really great and I know she feels the spirit and now she just needs to feel it all the time by having the GIFT of the Holy Ghost.

            Im loving my mission it is great and the new home makes things a little better. And we just got a lesson coordinator so I hope that will help us get into more members homes. Members are key.

            Well I got to type my L.T.P. now so i'll talk to you latter! Take care, be safe, be strong and be Happy!!!!

ELDER MAUGHAN