We almost got kicked out the library this last week!

Happy Monday! And that means another week of missionary work ya but you know what I did today? Well I went golfing again and I'm slowly getting better and slowly losing less balls ha ha but the member that we went with is a former Pro and I had to keep reminding him that the winner was the one that got the most points…. And because of that elder Towne was the winner of today ha ha. But it was really fun and not to to hot, and in the end the member told me to stick with basketball…. Ha ha it was a lot of fun might even compete with fishing….. 

            Well as missionary work goes this week it was a little slow and we didn’t teach as many lessons as we would have liked, but there is progress. We had dinner with a member one day and they invited Pete and Scooby over too, and I really enjoyed it but the boys wouldn’t eat, not even ice cream and I was just thinking that was crazy but the lesson was good we taught about the restoration and how the church is on the earth again. And they are very smart but they don’t have any support from home but I know that entire family will come around soon as the members just keep on showing their love and keep on inviting.

            The day after that I gave my first interview which I feel went good. I was more afraid about messing up the paper work than anything haha but it was great and the sister was truly ready. The missionary’s met  her when she just walked into church one day and she had lots of LDS friends and she really understood the things she needed to know, and it was a good spiritual experience to hear her testimony and the way the Lord has prepared her.

            Then we had a lesson with a less active member and her non-member nephew and we taught the restoration and Elder Towne did great, he even invited him to be baptized at the end of the lesson and the members after the lesson went and got them all new Sunday clothing and really want to help them, but they didn’t come to church yesterday L but we are going to teach them this week.

            O ya I almost forgot!  We almost got kicked out the library this last week! So let me tell you that story….. we went to the library to go on to Mormon.org and after I was done some older lady’s asked if I could help them with their computer and as I started to help them the man next to them starts asking for help as well, so the lady get done really fast all they wanted was to be able to print something and they had talked to missionary’s before but where very great full for the help. Then I start helping this other man and in the meantime Elder Towne is just standing there till one of the workers comes over and starts asking him if I would be able to come in on Friday to do service. I'm just helping away and then they start telling Elder Towne that we will need to fill out paper work and stuff. But as I'm helping this man just asks me questions like; what religion are you? why are you here? and if I'm going to vote for Mit Romney and as we are wraping up and giving each other our numbers this lady walks by and just says “NO!!” and walks away... the next thing I know this other man comes over  and asks if he can talk to us and he goes on to tell us that we will not be able to do service because we were handing out church stuff and proselyting….. we try to explain that we didn’t hand out anything and we were just answering questions that this man was asking us but he didn’t want to hear any of it and told us that if we try to help anyone or talk to anyone again he was going to kick us out……….. hahaha it was so crazy and funny so that is my story of this week.

 So... never help or talk to anyone in a library or they will get after you!!! haha

            But that was my week and my random thought of the day is that Elder Towne knows more video games then I ever knew about and has beaten them all…. Its crazy

Well take care

ELDER MAUGHAN             

He just had this big smile on his face,

 So my new companions name is Elder Towne and he is from Maryland (two states north, he is a Yankee haha but just barely) and it has been a good week, its just very interesting to be training again and on top of that im the district leader so I'm growing a lot and I find that I have even less free time then I have ever had before and it feels great because it all ways feels like……. I'm a missionary haha. But the beginning of the week was hot but the last few days we have had some nice rain and yesterday we had a appointment with a man and it was just a nice rain and we decided that we should go anyways so we start biking and as we bike it just starts coming down, but this time it was not a humid rain so it was nice and at first I think Elder Towne was not to sure about it all but after the lesson and as we biked home (25-30 mins) he just had this big smile on his face, I think he really enjoyed feeling like a missionary his first week out on his mission. Also we have had people coming out of the wood work, and the lord is just putting people and things in our path that just help so much. And I really think it’s the Lord blessing us for obedience and he really wants Elder Towne to have a great start! I just love the work!

Well a update about sister Crystal she has had a hard time with her dad and they came up with the deal that when she comes back from college and still wants to be baptized then she can and the past week he has been planning a lot of things to do with her to keep her from spending so much time with the members and us. Her thirst for knowledge has kind of died a little but she has committed to go to church up there and all the members have friends where she is going so they are going to make sure that she does. We hope to have one more lesson with her before she goes but I know that the Lord will take care of her.

Oh some other things with the new training we have 3 hours of study every day plus as a district leader I have to take another 30 mins and we also have DVD players now so we can watch training videos and it has been a lot of fun, I have learned so much doing all this teaching and I'm just so grateful to the Lord for all of it! So I got to go I have run out of time again but I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great week!! And don’t worry its going to be winter before you or I know it!!          

ELDER MAUGHAN!!

Anti-Nephi-Lehi's

Buenos Dias mi familia! :)
otro semana ya paso....no lo creo. pero todo esta bien aqui! :)
hows my good ol family doin? glad to hear you have both the puppies in hand and not down in some strangers garage this time ;) baxter learned a lesson maybe? but glad to hear that your all home safe and sound and little nana's in the HOWSE!  bet that will be fun! :) hows she enjoying the heat? I mean let me tell you...there has never been a time more in my life that I want to just jump in the pool than the time that I can't.... funny how that works isn't it?

As for the update the week:
Hermana Reyes and I have been working really hard at trying to find new investigators. we were blessed with 6 new investigators.

Good news is that we have an awesome investigator. Her name is Ligia We were looking through our Area Book and found her. She was being taught by Elder missionaries 2 years ago and when the sister missionaries came into the area something happened that they lost contact with her. So we decided we would stop by and see if she was home. and you know what? she was! She let us in and we talked for a bit--turns out she had a Book of Mormon and told us she would find it and we set up another appt to come back and see her. So we went back and you know what she told us? well she told us 2 things. one that she found the Book of Mormon and had started reading it. and 2 that she found out yesterday that her sister in mexico is mormon! she got baptized a year ago. (perfect timing right?!) her sister was an alcoholic and now she said her sister is a completely different person for the better and she loves that. Then she brought up cause her sister doesnt drink anymore..."So I heard you dont even drink coffee...why is that?" "Well Ligia its a commandment from God that we don't. He has told us that it's bad for our bodies. So thats why we don't drink it." "Oh. ok. Ill stop drinking it then. I have noticed that it makes me all shaky inside. I won't drink it anymore. what are the other things God has told us not to do?" did I mention that Ligia can't see out of one eye. It's a silicon eye. So does she use that as an excuse to not read? no. not at all. She told us that she was feeling sad last week and so she picked up the BoM and started reading it and she felt this peace and knowlege that she could do what she needed to. 

Then we also have Lupita on date to be baptized for the 27th of August.....she still needs to get the actua de nacimiento de su esposo so they can go get their marriage license but we are taking steps of faith that this will happen. Lupita is more than ready to enter the waters of baptism. She is already pariticpating in the Relief Society lessons and like loves reading the BoM. She is an amazing person. I'm praying and praying that I can see Lupita get baptized this month!

So on monday it was pouring rain and all the appts we had lined up for the day allllllllllll fell through. Life of a missionary right? So we tried finding some less actives and doing some other work when our dinner appt cancelled on us. so we had no where to eat and Hna Padilla found out and told us we could come over to her place for FHE. So...coming up with the lesson.....I was sitting at my desk earlier that morning looking at my pictures of my family...and when we were trying to come up with an idea for the lesson I thought back to those pictures on my wall---my indian family FHE---boom. that was it. that was our lesson. So we went to their house and we dressed up like anti-nefi-lehites...and told the story of the stripling warriors and how they stood up for their Dads so they didn't have to break the promise they made with God and how their Moms taught them if they had faith and prayed that God would save them and he did.....and then we took the popsicles sticks and talked about how as individuals we are easy to break but as a family we are strong....so thanks mom and dad for your awesome FHE lesson all those years back. its still stuck with me! and hopefully it will stick with the padilla kids for years to come. it was really fun.

Today for Preperation day we are heading to go fishing and try our hand at catching catfish. So dad if you have any good recipes I could really use them! we want to do some catfish fryin! :) :)
But sure hope you have a great week! :) Love you all! Read your Scriptures cause they're the word of God and they're true! :)

paz y amor,
Hermana Maughan

Rocky Mount

So I have found out how much we bike every day! Are you ready?....... about 20 miles… everyday… haha and how do I know you may ask, well we had a car this week and let me tell you what; those missionaries that have cars full time don’t really know what missionary work is haha but I must say its been nice for just a little. And the other big news I have is that Elder Conners is leaving Rocky Mount tomorrow and I am…………drum roll………….. Still here as district leader. And o ya I'm training again… I defiantly have a little more on my plate then I have ever had but the Lord is really letting me grow, he is helping me so much and im grateful that he does this to me because it makes me even better, and helps me realize that I really have no idea what im doing… haha   but I go pick up the new missionary tomorrow and then the fun begins!

            The really big thing that happened this week was Crystal….. on Tuesday we had a very powerful lesson with her because the day before she told her dad that she wanted to join the church and he threw a bunch of anti at her and she had a lot of questions, and the lessons was all on her and what she believes and her testimony and at the end of the lesson she didn’t even bother asking us the anti-questions because she knew the church was true and the book of Mormon was the word of God, then she had her baptismal interview and did wonder full, and she said that she was getting baptized. But the next day she was texting us in the morning her favorite scriptures and things like that but then all the sudden we get a text saying that she can’t be baptized this week….. it was really sad…. Then her member friends jumped right on top of it and then we called and it turns out that she made a deal with her dad that if she came back from college in October and still wanted to do it then she could (she is 22 years old)…… and no matter what we asked or said she was very decided that this was the way it needed it to be. We later found out a big part of it was that the Dad told her if she gets baptized he was going to take her out of his will and stop helping her with college money. We have a lesson with her tonight and the members are really helping out. It is weird in a way  because it is no longer the missionary’s doing all the work and us asking for members help but its members helping their nonmember sister and doing all they can. One of the members (the one who we are having the lesson at with tonight) went thru the exactly same thing with his parents and is even the same age, religion, everything. It's so great and they are the ones inviting crystal over and getting everything ready! This ward is so great and I have no doubt that Crystal will be baptized it is just a matter of when…  I hope its when I'm still in Rocky Mount when she is.

            Also something really cool is that this week we were invited by a member to help move a non-member from one apartment to another, and all we had was a small truck and a lot of heavy stuff, but we did it and the best part was  1.)I didn’t get hurt this time haha and 2.) every time we droped off a load she would ask questions about the church and was very interested about it all then we would go get more stuff then come back and she would have even more questions, and then at the end we gave her our number and she said she wanted to have us over the next week for dinner then to learn more about Jesus Christ, the book of Mormon and prophets today. So im excited for that too!

            Well those were the big things in my week! I hope your all doing good and are safe! I love you and I hope you have a great day!

ELDER MAUGHAN        

Fishers of Men

Whats Crack-a-lackin-y'all? 

Well first things first. we did an awesome thing this morning....and I know that dad will even be proud :) There is this member in the English ward here that lives on lake side property---HUGE HOUSE. and anyways he has like his own private fishing backyard and he invited us to go and said we could use his poles and bait and stuff. So yes. We. Went. Fishing. and it was fun. and the best part....me and Hna Reyes...Only ones to catch anything. The other elders. nope. zip. nada. mind you the fish we did catch...little things. but nonetheless caught. Hermana Reye's fish short fat little thing. name: Tina. Mine. Skinny short thing. Name: Larry.  And next week were doin it again! :) but probably more later in the day cause that's when the 8/9/10 lbs catfish come out to play. so well see what happens there next week :) but it was actually a really neat thing to do this morning. Something different, that I haven't done on my mission and it was pretty relaxing for the most of us~ except poor elder sommer who didn't get to do very much fishing since he was going around fixing every ones knots and hook problems...so this week was a warm up. next week:game on!

As for the work this week. Things are going good. Hermana Reyes and I have been in "finding mode" since most of our investigators just got baptized. so we have been hitting the streets. knockin doors and talkin along the way. its actually not been too bad. I just know that I will not come home and sell pest control. or security systems where i have to go door to door and bleh. not happening. but actually yesterday we got 3 new investigators from our contacting. We met this really cool couple the other day-he is from Poland and she is from Italy and they have been married for 11 years. he has a ton of questions about religion and knows a lot about history. and we taught them about all sorts of things with an emphasis on the book of Mormon and the importance of it and are actually going to order a polish and Italian book of Mormon. but as we were leaving I said the closing prayer and asked god to bless them and stuff and after I asked if there was anything we could do for them. and you know what never ceases to amaze me? is how comfortable and trusting people are of us so quickly. How when people feel like someone is listening to them they really open up and want to tell you...They proceeded to tell us how they have not been blessed with children and asked if there was anything we knew of that could maybe help them with adoption or something. So we are still finding out so information for them to check out. but I seriously love being a missionary.
Even though we have faced a lot of rejection from doors slamming in my face...I have learned one thing...Hay alguien que nos gusta muchisimo. mosquos. nunca van a rechazarnos. nunca. and I have the bites on my legs to prove it. and with all this humidity there is a TON of them out here that we get to face every day!

here is the translation:

There is someone we like very much. mosquitoes. will never reject us.
Lupita is progressing really well. She cam to church again on Sunday and loved it. and then we had a lesson with her and brought some members with us and boy what a powerful lesson. We have actually taught Lupita everything she needs to know to be baptized and she already knows its true so we had a lesson on the priesthood power. and man oh man. the spirit was so strong.  I love the spirit and how Strong the spirit can testify that something is true. Luptia actually has traces of cancer in her body and she cant do anything about it because shes 5months pregnant (having a little girl!) and so blessing of health here she comes :)

Oh. other thing i did. spoke in church on Sunday. yep. in Spanish. oh boy did it seem to take forever to prepare it. but the topic was on obedience and it was actually a pretty good Sunday. I mean I'm glad I had the opportunity to speak but its like even harder to do it in a different language....all the things I'm learning on my mission to do right? :)

But that's the update this week!
Mom be ready to thaw "it" out this week on your way back up to the HEAT! :)
and HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK! :) I have your gift I just need to put it in the mail. I'm gonna try and get that done today so you can get it this week....:)

But I sure love all of you! have a blessed week! :)
Paz y Amor Hermana Maughan

It was great and she was so happy...

Um… today's random thought… this is getting harder every week…. Did you know that God created everything!?!.....did you know that sweet potatoes are one of the healthiest things you can eat? (And as for you people from the west a sweet potato is what you call yams)… well there you go ha ha.

              So Sunday sister Shirley was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! And was given the gift of the Holy Ghost! It was great and she was so happy, I'm looking forward to having a follow up lesson with her and asking how she feels now! I just love it when new members are able to bear testimony on the power of the Holy Ghost, how different it feels and the overwhelming joy that it is in their lives.

              We had a 2 lessons this week with sister Crystal. As we talked we asked her about how she was doing and she told us that when she was at work the other day there was a person that came in and started to ask her about her religion. She started telling her about how she was becoming a Latter-day Saint and bearing her testimony about the book of Mormon and how the church is true. As we kept on visiting and teaching her the last few commandments she reset her baptismal date for next week. She said she needs to get baptized and that she really wants to. The only thing that is still sort of in the way is that she has not told her dad that she wants to be baptized. He knows that she has been meeting with us a lot but she was still worried about what he was going to think. She said that either way she is getting baptized and we just got a text this morning telling us that she is going to tell him today. Tomorrow she is having her interview.

               This all is such a testimony to me on the importance of members doing the finding and helping their friends all the time, because I know that we wouldn’t have found Sister Martin without members, and that she would not have the support system that she has had to keep her going. It has just been great!

            Now we are going to be working on finding new investigators because we are just running out of investigators as they are becoming new members… it’s a nice problem to have but I know that there is still a lot of people out there that need the gospel.

        I hope you all have a great week and that you will have fun.  Stay safe and good looking! Ha ha

ELDER MAUGHAN