"EW. NOT. Happening"

Como le va???
no creo que ya esta augosto! pues basicamente....... Here in Arlington Heights we have been experiencing some pretty wicked storms..trees falling on cars and buildings due to the wind, and its seriously like weather is totally fine and then within 5 minutes its pouring and windy and psycho and then 10 minutes after that....hot and humid, sweatified.  Weather here really makes me start to think of the end of the world cause its so crazy.... like right now for instance...pouring rain and loud thunder...a bit distracting to concentrate and write an email but I'll try ;)

As for this week the most important event that happened.........MARGARITA AND LEO GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!! So ready for the drama on this Saturday? and I don't know if other missionaries have seen this-but Satan works really hard on the baptism day to keep people from making that covenant with the Lord. something ALWAYS goes wrong. Hermana Reyes woke up that morning with a fever and had been dealing with it all day long. So she feels miserable and I feel bad that I cant just let her sleep...but thankfully-no problems with the font this week...45 minutes before the baptism service is about to start we get a call from Margarita telling us that shes not feeling well and that she's not gonna get baptized this week but that she'll wait till next week.....can you feel our hearts sinking? Leo showed up early but was so tired he could barely stay awake. so we let him sleep for a bit and then he was good. but then 15 minutes before the service is about to start Margarita calls us again and tells us that she's on her way and she's gonna get baptized!! And man its been so cool to see the progression of our investigators, my friends and then have them enter the waters of baptism. I seriously love it! and the changes in them is so evident once they've left all their sins in the water. man its so cool.

So Lupita who was on track to be baptized this Saturday isn't going to be baptized this Saturday. :( She is having problems getting the marriage license to get married so the baptism has been postponed for hopefully sometime in August or September cause this woman is more than ready to be a member of the church. Lupita will be a relief society president someday. I know it. And I just really want to be here to see her get baptized. We celebrated her birthday on Monday and she found out that she will be having a little girl! :) Meh I LOVE LUPTIA

As for Ruben this week. He is the best. I need to get a picture of him so you can just have a visual of the new friend we have made. He has such an awesome desire to learn and to know-and its sure been interesting to teach him....cause everything is "interesting" to him. "hmm thats interesting." and he's really super smart so he thinks about things very logically and thoroughly and yet he's pretty funny. Like you wouldn't expect him to be witty like he is....and the coolest thing is that he is GETTING BAPTIZED! and you know what date? August 27th which means he will be the newest member of the AH ward on my birthday! :) 

As for things learned the week: Mexicans eat chilis with ANYTHING. Lupita gave us chilies y leche (chilis and milk) which is basically 3 different types of peppers in milk with mozerella cheese. and wala. and I was the only one except Lupita who ate it. she told me that I may not look like a Mexican on the outside...but the inside of me sure is. 
Also learned how to make mexican rice on Monday :) be prepared for mexican food when I get home.

Other thing learned this week: Don't tell the elders about the dreams I have and this is why:
So in my dream I was reading and studying my patriarchal blessing and I came to the conclusion that I knew who my husband was going to be because he was going to have an orange scripture case. So I go to correlation the following days and the elders pull out their scripture cases......yep you guessed it. Orange. well you know the filter that most people have connecting their brains to their mouth and what they should and shouldn't say? well mine was turned off in that moment....and what came out of my mouth is now the "saying" in our district... "EW. NOT. Happening."  So lesson learned.....not telling anyone about my crazy dreams. :)

The wedding sounds like it was a lot of fun! I can't wait to see pictures! :) I hope you all have a great week! Pass my love along to the family!!

Paz y amor,
Hermana Maughan

Sheryl's Baptism

Well it was an interesting week; full of fun and good things, but first my random thought of the day… Did you know that it can rain without a rain cloud in the sky?  it gets so humid that the water in the air gets so heavy that it just starts to fall so therefore you have falling water when the sun is out….. we were walking during this and it was so hot as well that we couldn’t tell the differents between the rain and sweat on us…. It was gross but funny.

            This week we were able to teach Crystal one lesson and we had left a plan of salvation pamphlet and asked her to do the scripture study in the back using her bible and book of Mormon and then at the start of the lesson we asked her what she had learned and she just started teaching the plan of salvation to us, all the way to the spirit world and the kingdoms of glory and that was because she didn’t have a king James version of the bible but a new world translation version we taught and she was really excited about how much the gospel makes sense. She is still having a hard time with getting work off on Sundays but she is working on it.  And we are praying for her next week =)

            Also another great thing is that Sheryl got baptized on Sunday!!! She has been a good friend to a resent convert and really wanted to be baptized with the only thing holding her back was her fear of water. She had prayed about it and knew she needed to be baptized on the 24^th and so she was! But I felt really bad because they filled the water to the fullest it could so they could make sure that they would only need to be baptized her once but when she went under a part of her dress came up…. And I was one of the witnesses and was the one that said she had to do it again. She was really scared but the Lord helped her out and she was able to do it again! Also another great thing was that she had her  husband come to all of church and also to the baptism and you could see the spirit work in him. I don’t think it will be to long before he wants to learn more and the thing that’s great about the Rocky Mount ward is that they will just make friends right away. It has just been wonderful! 

Well those are the big things in my week! You’re all so great and I love you all so much!! I hope you have a great week and God be with you till we e-mail again...hahaha

Your friend

ELDER MAUGHAN!!

Just Givin shout out from the East Side! :)
To start things off this past Saturday was a pretty busy Saturday. I had my first wedding on my mission for Margartia :) Hermana Reyes and I went and bought a cake and got a little bouquet for her to help celebrate the day. There weren't many people there the bishop, the bride, the groom their kids and their sister and brother in law, brother and us. So this coming Saturday Margarita is all prepared and ready to enter the waters of baptism :) everything is looking like its on track to do so.
Then we had the baptism of FRANCISCO!!!! Oh it was so cool! I mean like I love baptisms just to see and feel the difference in the person from before and then after they are baptized. So to add some drama to the whole day---it was like 97 degrees plus humidity, reallllllllllllly hot....we had the tank filling up on time and the bishop actually helped us out with that. and the font takes about 2 hours to fill up....so half hour before our baptism we check the font-----bishop forgot to plug the font. had buckets of water being hauled from big pots from the kitchen and janitors closet to the font--another hose in their as well. We needed to make copies for the programs and lo and behold there's no paper. The bishop goes and buys some paper--comes back Hna Reyes gets the programs going oh look. photocopier broken. we fix it get the programs. still no Francisco. 6 when his baptism is supposed to start, still no Francisco. 6:30 still no Francisco.......7:10 He finally walks through the doors. oh boy. but important thing is that he got in the water. Before his baptism he was really nervous and after man he couldn't stop smiling.

Two more people are gonna feel that way this Saturday too. Margarita and Leo. I seriously cannot believe the blessings I have seen this transfer. and that God is letting me be able to work with and learn from these awesome people who the Lord has prepared for the gospel.

And missionary work is really interesting. I mean its never ending. Your finding to teach and your teaching to baptize and the circle just never ends. there is always work to do. and right now we have a lot of teaching and all of them are heading to the waters of baptism by the end of this month so Hermana Reyes and I have been a bit worried about all the finding we are gonna have to do when this month is over..and its not that i mind finding I just don't like tracting for 6 hours at a time in the heat and humidity. But the Lord has been helping us for sure.
Last week all the missionaries in our district were at the library writing our emails and this man came up to the English elders because he saw their name tags said Jesus Christ on them. and he didn't speak very much English--so what language does he speak. you got it. Spanish. and well his name.: Ruben. Just moved from California here and he was looking for a church to go to. Where does he live? Yep our area. So we talked to him and taught him the next day. Ummmmm and can I say---PLAIN AWESOME! So Ruben is pretty smart. Loves science and math and basically all the things in school I didn't like he did...and he grew up in Mexico with parents that were Catholic because that's what their parents were but they never taught their kids anything about the Catholic Church. Religion was never really a topic of discussion in their home and so growing up Ruben looking for answers went to science books and then when he was in California one of his friends invited him to go to a Christian church. He really like the unity he felt their with the other members of the congregation but he only could go 3 times because he was moving to Chicago. His first Wednesday here he saw the Jesus Christ on the name tags and figured he'd ask about their church.
The first time we met with him we invited him to come to church and that Sunday he came to church. It has been really neat and interesting teaching somebody who doesn't have a christian background or any religious background for that matter. For the first time on my mission I have had to teach someone who God is and that we are literally his children and that he loves us. In our first apt with him we asked him to say the closing prayer and he did it. not to mention that it was the first prayer he has ever said his whole life. So I am really looking forward to seeing the growth with Ruben.

As for adventures this week: I had a death defying experience....i have never had to run faster in my life........I went to throw out the garbage  in the big garbage bin outside our apt...la dee da humming how firm a foundation in my head as I'm trying not to get touched by the juicy wet extremely smelly garbage bag. I hear something in the garbage bin but pay no attention to it. Heavy toss on the bag into the bin. All of the sudden this creature jumps out of the bin. MAD. hissing....jumps on the fence and starts to chase me.....who is it?? Mork the Squirrel. The lord does protect his missionaries though because no bites or rabies shots were needed after the horrifying experience.

Anyways, that's the update for this week! I sure love you and hope that all goes well with the wedding...send my felizidades!!! :) Hope you enjoy your trip to the good ol Canada! :)
Love you all mucho!
paz y amor, Hermana Maughan

Just trust in the spirit

Well I'll started off about the lesson we had with crystal yesterday night, she didn’t come to church this Sunday because of work and as we talked about it she just kept on saying “it’s no way to keep the Sabbath day holy” and “I hate working on Sunday” so she is doing all she can to get it off. Then we followed up with her reading and she had read every day this week and she is still feeling that she needs to read and find out if its true but she said I want it to be true, and I believe that its true but I want to know. We had planned to show her The Restoration DVD but I forgot it so we were looking to see if the members whose home we are in had it, and they didn’t. They did have The Testaments so we watched that and it was really good! She said that it really helped to bring the Book Of Mormon life. The members then began to bear their testimony with her and I tell you what the spirit was so strong to the point we asked crystal what she was thinking and she started to cry and tell us how she really wants it to be true and that it feels so good (I think she knows now). By the end everyone was crying, it was a great lesson and we are teaching her again tonight at a different members home where we will be teaching the Plan of Salvation. It’s going to be great!

            The other big thing that happened this week was that I went on exchanges. I asked a lot of questions and really felt I got to know there area a lot better. It was very different to be the one asking and not the one being asked, and its just fun to have no idea what I'm doing at times and just trust in the spirit, and you know what? It works.

            Well I got to go! Take care and be safe! I love you

ELDER MAUGHAN                    

I won for the ugliest

This week was zone meeting and the Elders deemed that it was ugly tie day so all the Elders wore their ugliest ties--and I can't be left out of things like this....I may not have to wear a tie....but I do have to wear a suit coat:) needless to say I won for the ugliest and best part was that Sister Doll thought that it was cute :)

This day has been awesome. Me and Hermana Reyes live 7 minutes from the temple. We are the missionaries that live the closest to the temple and yet it is out of our zone but we got to go today as they will be closing the temple for about a month and a half for cleaning. We got to spend some good hours this morning in the house of the lord. And I got to see some missionaries from the city including the awesome Sister and Elder Beck. They actually organized a group of us to be able to do some baptisms this morning. And let me tell you. It was like seeing family again. I have really missed them and being in the city and it was like everything I needed to spend some time with them. The becks actually had done some family history work and had found one female who needed the ordinance of baptism done and gave me the opportunity to do it for them. It was amazing. Hna Reyes and I also did some other work in the temple and as I was sitting in the temple pondering and just breathing in the peace I realized that it had been one year like almost exactly since I had gone through the temple for the first time. I was remembering how I felt that day and how special it was to have my family there with me. It is just so crazy to think that it has already been a year. Man I miss you guys. :)
We then went out to lunch and now we are here! And after this its time to hit up the sand volleyball :)

As for things here--weather wise...its been crazy. We have had some pretty killer storms here. Power is still out in over 800 peoples homes including some of the missionaries who have been without power for over a week now. Thankfully I'm not one of those. The humidity is still something that I am not used to, nor am I huge fan, but better than the snow. waaaaaaaay better than the snow. I get to see and feel lots of bugs, lots of them.

I have also been learning how to be a Latina chef. look at all the things Ive learned this week: Guacamole, Pico de Gallo, Salvichi, and el Salvadorian Pupuesas( hope I spelled that right)---mwahahahahahahahaha get ready for some spicy food when i get home! :) I love Chile!

Miracles seen this week: Francisco is getting baptized this Saturday and Margarita will be having her wedding. We have also been trying an experiment with our members where we go to their house with a map of our area and we pray all together about where we need to go tracting. The members pick out the street or streets that they feel and we go knocking and then report the miracles that we have seen. We have had some really good conversations and gotten some new investigators...2 of which were actually being taught by missionaries like years ago and badabing bada boom now were doing it again. 

Also Sunday we had all of our investigators at church! Lupita came and she LOVED it. That woman, shes already a member. The hardest part is getting all the paperwork so our investigators can get married. I do have the faith that we will see more miracles out of this. Lupita and all of the investigators we have are getting baptized this month. I can just feel it. I don't know how to explain it. but I know it.

This transfer has truly made me be even more of a missionary. I mean not that I wasn't before but just like a missionary is who I am and not something I'm just doing....I love this work. It is hard but it is oh so joyful. I had set a goal when I came out on my mission that I wanted to go to bed so tired at night and so so so happy because I loved what I was doing and I knew that what I was doing was who I was and idk how to explain it but I feel like I have finally reached that. I mean I have been tired my whole mission-from the day I got to the MTC I have been exhausted. but never have I experienced joy like this in missionary work knowing that I am literally putting everything into this work. everything. If there is one thing that Hermana Reyes and I do well together is work. There is no awkward training to do or greenie things to deal with it's just like we've been out the same time and we know how things go and what were doing and we just do it. I mean not to brag but weekly planning we've gotten it down to an hour and half and we plan cause if there is one thing that Hermana Reyes is good at its planning. :)

Cut hair for the rest of my life…

     Man it was a good week! I'm just now getting use to the “city” which really isn’t a city if you compare to Chicago or Phoenix but to me it’s a city and one nice thing about it is I'm no longer biking like this /\/\/\/\/\ but more like this __________________  so that is a wonderful tender mercy, and also I have come from a higher elevation so it makes it even easier.
     This week I don’t really have any funny story besides elder Conner’s tried to cut his own hair and I'm just getting ready for the day when I hear “ELDER… I need your help..” well it turns out the he was doing a #8 on top and a #2 on the sides but ended up putting a line of the two really high on his head, so after a little of laughing together about it I tried to fix it and did a good job too, so I have now decided that I'm going to forget basketball and missionary work and just cut hair for the rest of my life………. Joking ha ha.

We have 3 baptisms coming up this month and one of them is for the 31^st and it is with Crystal. She is in her 20's and was invited to hear from us by a member in their home and we have taught her 3 times and she has come to church twice (she couldn’t come yesterday because she had work and she was really sad) but she just wants to know the truth and had been reading a lot and praying as well. It was really cool how she described her answer, she said that she was praying and she didn’t get an answer that was saying “yes this is true”  but as she started to read there was no feeling that this was wrong and she just kept reading and it felt good. Then in the next lesson we invited her to be baptized on the 31^st and she got scared but as we talked she said she would and then she prayed and that scary feeling went away and it was replaced with peace. Yesterday we taught about the doctor of Christ and also about her reading and praying. It was so great it was like she had read a book with all the answers to the questions that the missionary have. As we were teaching she was talking about all this stuff and it felt almost to good to be true. The Lord has really prepared her for his gospel.

Another investigator who has been taught for a while is best friends with a resent convert of about 2 weeks is doing really well right now as we were able to find out the thing that was holding her back was that she is afraid of water...like really scared of it. As we talked she decided that she needed to put her trust in the Lord and just do it! And she is getting baptized on the 24^th =)

I am learning a lot. It does seem weird not having to call in safe every night but to be the one to have people calling me to tell me they are safe…. Its just different. Well I got to go and I hope you all stay safe and have a great week!!! Take care. Love

 ELDER MAUGHAN!!    

Anyone can see them

Hey family! 
This week we have seen some really great miracles in the missionary work...We actually now have all of our investigators with a baptism date for the month of July! We have Fransisco and margarita for the 16th, Leo for the 23rd and Lupita for the 30th. We are really praying that all of them go through. It is so interesting to me and huge testimony builder to see that all of these people are very, very, very, different and yet they have found the truth in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Margarita is a stay at home mom with 3 young kids. 

Fransisco is 20 with 3 kids under the age of 4, ex gang member who didn't even believe in God

Leo was a cop in Mexico, has 2 kids in Mexico. 

Lupita is in her mid 20's from a strong catholic background. She has completely grasped the words from the Book of Mormon.

The church is true for everyone! 

The temperature is getting hotter and hotter and more and more humid....and most Latinos don't use or have ac in their apartments. When we arrive they've usually just got done cooking on the stove which makes for a really hot house.

The fourth of July was good. We got invited to someones house from the English ward for dinner and BBQ. It was sure good as I haven't had that for a while:) We also played a good game of Life and today we are gonna go play Settlers of Catan....but nothing beats Sunday nights playing that game with Dad who always wins.... 

I do want to say that I know that this church is true and everyday that I am out here I have the opportunity to see miracles. Anyone can see them they've just got to have the faith :) but how cool is it that I have the opportunity to witness and testify of my Savior Jesus Christ everyday. Mission life has really become my life. I can't imagine my life any other way. What am i gonna do when i get home?  Go to work with the missionaries that's what! :) so the church is true, the book is blue, god loves you and Joseph Smith was a prophet too! 

tegan un buen semana! :) 

paz y amor! 

Hermana Maughan

No longer a teenager.

     Well it’s the 5^th to day so….. HAPPY 5^TH OF JULY!!!!! Ha ha well this week has gone by very fast! And yes, I have been transferred to a place called Rocky Mount and it is a city its so crazy! There is a ward and everything!!! There is even a target and Sam’s club!! I haven’t seen those in forever!!! Its so crazy I think its really really funny how I had forgotten about most of this stuff and was just happy to have a Walmart!

     Tuesday morning when I was about to leave Roxboro to transfer meeting president calls me and asks me to be district leader. Tomorrow I have my first district meeting that I'm in charge of and I'm hoping it will be good. The focus of the meeting is on the doc of Christ. As we increase in Christ-like attributes our ability to teach with love and the spirit will increase.   

      We have a lot of people to teach here and that’s just amazing! The Lord is putting people in our path. I have a really funny story that happened yesterday and let me tell you it was scary! Ha ha OK so on the way back from shopping (on our bikes still we share a car every other week) we pass taco bell and we both decide we would like something to eat, and we go in and this lady takes our order and I think nothing of it and then sit down. I start to eat and talk with my new comp (Elder Conner's who is also cool) and then I decide I need to get a refill and I get up and this kid at a table I pass spills all over the place. The lady starts to clean it up and I say something like “oh no” and go sit back down. When I look up and she is still cleaning up and she looks at me and said,

“Why didn’t you help me clean up?”
I say “because you’re getting paid.” 
“Why do you keep on smiling at me?”
 I said “because I'm just happy.” Then she walks up and asks "Can I sit down? We say "yes" so she sits right next me and starts asking who we are? We started to talk about the gospel and the plan of salvation and invite her to church and she said she would like to go because she hasn’t been to a church in a long time. God works in strange ways.

Later that night we had an appointment and taught a very interesting lesson outside on the porch, then just as we started biking home the rain started coming down and it was pelting us in the eyes. We just kept on going until this man stops in his mini van and offers us a ride home. He was of a nondenominational religion and he was a little interested to know what we believed, as we testified, he decided that we did truly believe in Christ.

     That's it for this week. I'm so grateful that I am able to enjoy this time on my mission. It is scary to think that already halfway done.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes I know that it’s going to be a great one!!!! I love you all so much. It was been a great 20 years and I'm looking forward to many many more with all of you!!!
Well I got to go so take care and be safe!
ELDER MAUGHAN no longer a teenager =) hahahahaha