It is always good to be prepared!

Hey family!

Man I feel like I have so many cool things to tell you this week and I don't even know where to begin! I think I'm gonna start off with...........

Miracles of the week:

1. We now have 5 people on date to be baptized! man it is just so cool! We had to move victors baptism because he has been working on Sundays so hes finally going to be coming to church this Sunday but Karla and Carlos Jr are still on track for the 29th. then we have Jorge on date for the 5th of November, Soltero and Victor for the 19th

2. We had a lesson with Jorge on Friday and we had two fairly recent converts come with us Silvia and Miguel. And we felt like we needed to address the word of wisdom because well Jorge loves his tequila and his coffee. and let me tell you it was one of the most awesome word of wisdom lessons that I have ever been a part of. Jorge was kind of debating with us that he wouldn't be able to give up his coffee and he didn't understand why we couldn't and Miguel then bore a really powerful testimony and shared his experience with living the word of wisdom because turns out that was something that was really hard for him but that completely changed his life around and then Silvia she then asked Jorge...."Jorge I don't know much about this kind of stuff but don't you have diabetes?" and I had totally forgotten that he did. so he said yes....and she goes "and a lot of sugar is bad for you isn't it?" and he says yes....and then she said "well I would imagine that coffee cant be good for you either than because it has so much sugar in it." and let me tell you I have never seen Jorge speechless before but he knew she was right. So then I felt the spirit so strong and promised him the blessing that if he obeyed the word of wisdom gave up his coffee and his tequila that he wouldn't have a much problems with his diabetes. so then i called him Monday to see how he was doing and you know what he told me? that since our lesson he hasn't drank one cup of coffee or tequila since! and that he hasn't even had any desire to or like withdrawals or nothin. so sweet!

3. We are teaching this AWESOME Hermana named Cruz and she is a single mom with 3 kids ages 11, 9 and 7 (turning 8 on the 29th of Nov) and her mom is recent convert and she has really seen the change in her mom since she became a member but she has been so busy with work and just really hasn't had quite the desire to listen until now. I can honestly say that i feel like I am here on a mission for Cruz. I mean from the first day I met her we just clicked and since she has been having such a desire to get her priorities straight and I cannot even tell you how strong the spirit is when we are there. And we are actually getting to the point that we are having awesome lessons with her. which is a miracle if you were to read her teaching record. So on Thursday we had a lesson with her on repentance and boy oh boy was it awesome. she just really opened up and gave her the commitment to repent and left her with a BOM and the story in Mosiah about Alma the younger and the sons of mosiah and we left but then (she has a younger brother who's 20 and his name is junior and hes a partier...drinker, smoker, living the life as the world would say) on Friday the next day she was reading the chapter and then later that night her brother who usually isn't over and usually doesn't stay the night came over and Cruz got him to spend the night so they were sleeping and Cruz woke up at 4am cause she heard junior grunting and stuff. well turns out hes having seizure. and he was biting on his tongue like crazy hard and Cruz didn't know what to do--she called 911 and then to keep junior from biting off his tongue she grabbed the first thing she saw (the book of Mormon) and shoved it in his mouth. and well everything worked out really really well. hes totally fine but they are just trying to figure out whats going on with him since this is the second one he's had. but we saw him on Friday after he got back from the hospital and he told us that hes done with the smoking and the drinking and that hes trying to get Sundays off of work so that he can come to church with Cruz and her kids.

And then! we had a lesson with her 3 kids and her 3 kids were talking about baptism and faith and they all want to get baptized on the same day and they want their mom to too...so we told Cruz this and she sad "oh really? hmm. OK." not one no popped out her mouth. so Cruz will be getting baptized. we don't have a date and we haven't invited her yet but she will be getting baptized i can just feel it.

4. So Idk if you remember the ice cream truck story? about the man we saw like 3 times in one day and finally contacted him and got his information? this was back in September when i first got the area with Hermana Noyes...well so we have been trying to get a hold of him and he told us that he was just trying to work and work till the summer ended cause his job was kind of a temporary one...so we left him alone and then the second day with Hermana Brown all our plans had cancelled for the night and i was at a loss for what to do...so looked in the back of my planner and saw his name and i thought hey! ill try giving him a call. So I called him and he answered and asked if we could meet that night! so we did and had a really awesome little lesson with him and then Hermana Brown gave him a soft invitation and asked him if when he knew these things where true if he would be baptized and he said yes! so we have another lesson with him tomorrow! :) I'm really excited to see where it goes!

5. We went over to the Bishops house last night to talk about invitation Sunday coming up and all the things we need to do to prepare for it and then I just had this feeling that I needed to share with him and his family all the things I had learned from our Zone Conference and all the miracles of the things that were happening in our area and then when we were about to leave I told them that we were going to another appt. with Karla and Carlos Jr and they were so excited and pumped that I invited them to come with us and they were so excited to come they hopped in their car and we were off! had a really awesome family home evening member present type of lesson with the Carlos and all his kids and Victor on the plan of salvation.

Seriously this ward, this area are the best i have ever been in. they are so excited to help and love love love missionary work!

Basicamente it twas a pretty sweet week filled with miracles! :)

As for lesson learned this week:

Biggest one: it is always good to be prepared. So this week was the mission tour where we had the member of the 70 and his wife come and tour our mission. Elder and Sister Ellis. and So the divided our mission in half and had half on Tuesday for a conference and half on Wednesday for the conference and our half ended up having more missionaries in it..but usually for zone conferences that we have once every other month~ President Doll gives us a topic to study and usually its like a scripture or something like that and then we have to prepare to share our thoughts on it for 3-5 minutes but none of us know who is speaking until that day at that very minute. they just call you up to the front and ask you to share your thoughts on it....and usually we have a week to prepare but this time we had 2 days...the topic: the Definition of Faith in the Bible Dictionary and then an example from the BOM to go along with it. Ive been lucky enough to slide by all the zone conferences thus far in my mission without having to speak....and as we were driving to the stake center for our meeting i was rewriting my prepared thoughts into my notes journal so that it would be all together instead of all over the place like it was...and as i was copying it over about half way through i had the overwhelming feeling come over me and i said out loud in the car "oh boy i just got really nervous." but i shook off the feeling and we got to the stake center...we were all sitting in our seats and usually we have the 5 minute talks at the end of the zone conference but this time BIG surprise it was first! and so Elder Littledike the assistant who was conducting the meeting gets up and says "welcome everyone to zone conference today wed like to recognize elder and sister Ellis here from the 70 and we will be singing hymn number sdfkjdfksd and the opening prayer with be given by sister dfksdfhdsfh then we will be having our 5 minute talks and we will be pleased to hear from Hermana Maughan and Elder dfkhsdgkhds. dfklfisdrhklsdfjklsdfkjsd sdfsdfhksdfyhsdapsdfkhsdf.....i don't really remember what was said after that i was sitting there in nervous shock and ultimate gratitude that I had prepared something. So I gave up and shared my thoughts on faith...how faith is a principle of action and power. that it is when we make faith a verb instead of a noun that we will have a stronger relationship with God and he will endow us with power to do his will. and shared how we need to EXERCISE and use our faith and that in turn we are given more faith and more power from God which is the best kind of power to be given. So I can now say that a member of the 70 has heard me speak and over half of the mission....lesson in all of this:

BE PREPARED! hahaha

oh and mom to answer your questions:

my favorite thing about serving a mission? That would definitely be being able to see the change take place in peoples lives as they come to know who Christ is and what they need to do repent and come unto him.

Did I get my package? Yes. and it was right in time. I had actually pretty sure I had strep throat.. I was losing my voice and had white bumps on the back of my throat. couldn't really eat or swallow very well and got the package with the oils in and i know that the combination of the oils and the priesthood I'm back to 100 percent! :) So thank you so much and the costume stuff is perfect! :) thanks so much!

Did I get the letter? sure did and you should be getting one back to you! :)

So what is the greatest lesson you feel you have been taught as you serve? Well I think that one of them has been how the spirit speaks to me. That i have come to recognize --don't get me wrong I'm still learning--but it is getting easier for me to discern if it is my thoughts or the spirit telling me what to do. another thing is the importance of temple marriage and family and the things i know i need to find and the things i definitely don't need in my relationship with my companion...along with that learning when to pick your battles. as silly as it may seem it is something that has really changed my relationships with my companions and has made it so much for the better...learning not to sweat the small stuff. to breathe and let it go and life is so much the smoother and happier and another thing is to not let moments pass you by. The importance of living with future goals but living in the moment and enjoying life while your in it.

Well that's all for this week! I sure love you all! have a great week!!!!

paz y amor Hermana Maughan

The greatest lesson

It has been a very spiritual week first we got to go to the temple on Friday then this Sunday was stake conference with a member of the 70 (and I’m in the same stake that I was in when I first got here so I was able to see a lot of people from my old ward family) then yesterday we had a mission tour where a different member of the 70 came. Elder Jenson of the 70 was great, he talked about faith and things our mission can do better. The sprit has been so strong and I have been able to gain a lot of spiritual insights for myself and those I serve. I’m just so grateful to be on a mission it has really blessed my life so much! And one of the things that hit me really hard is the fact that I truly love these people! North Carolina is truly one of the greatest places in the world, I’m so grateful that I have only served in 3 areas so that I have been able to really get to know the members and they have become a part of my family. I love them….. I think it’s so great that the Lord has sent me here, out of anywhere in the world he sent me here because he knew it was what I needed. The thought that I could get transferred in two weeks is so heart wrenching, I don’t want to leave my family here even with the thought that I will make more family some other place. I would have never thought I would feel this way with strangers in a very, very strange place but here I am enjoying it all!  Heavenly Father truly knows his children…… isn’t it wonderful?!?!

            The Lord has just been great to us and I’m looking forward to Nate being confirmed next week and then the week after that is Williams’s baptism! So it has been wonderful! Thank you all so much for all you do! I love you all! And I hope you have a great week!

ELDER MAUGHAN!!             
(Answers to question)

My favorite thing about serving is the spirit that comes seeing others repent and making new family members

I am still eating a good amount this Sunday we had chicken, ham, roll, corn and green beans and lots of good southern food like that.
Next training well we have interviews the 3rd of next month. The other missionaries are going home in two weeks and I don’t know about any more I think that there is enough work here for 4 Elders
My suits are good and my shirts are good and to be honest I have had to do a lot of mending on my mission but I’m doing fine I bought my self some new socks the other week with my home card so things are going good. The purple runners are great! They are the best shoes I have ever had in my life

I have not gotten my package yet :(   

The greatest lesson..... How to love people and act on what the spirit tells me to do

Que tal mi familia?!
man otra vez---una semana ya esta terminada! daaaang. its goin waaay to fast.
As for things here biggest thing i guess that you'll all be wondering is....what happened with transfers??????

My lesson learning and hectic adventures are now sadly over :( shes off to the area I was born in or started out in good ol Rockford! Then who am i getting you might ask??? Well I'm greenie busting. Her name is Hermana Brown shes from Utah and Rockford was also her first area! :) I am going to be her second companion and this will be her second area. It was really sad to have to say bye to Hermana Noyes but I have a feeling this transfer is going to be a good one. Hermana Brown likes to work and there is a lot of work out here to do so I'm pretty excited :) Sometimes I just want to sneak into presidents brain and figure out what his plan is ya know? but its all about trust and knowing that everything is going to be the way that God wants it to! :) can you believe its already half way through October? I mean how does this happen? Like way to fast!

But this last week with Hermana Noyes was a pretty awesome one....in one week we invited 7 people to be baptized~ 6 of which we invited in 4 days! and out of them they all accepted the invitation to be baptized just 3 of them are praying about their fechas :)

Carlos y Karla y Victor are going to be entering las aguas del bautismo on the 29th of this month and then Jorge I don't remember if I have ever told you about him. but He is someone prepared by God for this. He is just eating up everything and has come to church and loved it and has accepted the date of the 5th of November for his date! weeeeee!!!! mission work is AH-MAZING!!!!!!!! Hermana Noyes and I had set a goal to be bold and fearless and to follow the spirit and as a result we have just been doing really awesome things. This area is seriously ah! I don't know just so cool! MY LIFE IS GREAT!!!!!

As for other Miracles: Raquel (the inactive member for 4 plus years) is actually coming to church AGAIN! she came to stake conference and general conference and is coming next week to church! these are huge steps for this woman and oh man its pretty exciting! :) She is definitely feeling a difference. :)

This area-God is truly blessing me so much with so many great members, investigators, and other missionaries that i have the opportunity to be with. I am so happy. and I love being a missionary. do you hear me?! I love being a missionary! (didn't think that would ever come out my mouth huh....I know me either! ) but EVERYONE GO ON A MISSION! its the BEST EVER!!!!!!! and if your looking for a good study read the bible with Jesus the Christ. you learn some pretty sweet things. :)

AS for lessons learned this week:

1.) when walking through houses that have big bushes keep your mouth closed........spiderwebs taste gross.

2.) if anyone ever offers to feed you chicharon.....kindly find someway to refuse......man. by far the.hardest.meal.I have had to eat on my mission. by far....I would take 4 chicked feet over this. seriously so awful. I do not understand how people eat this. they actually crave this stuff....chicharon for those who don't know is pork rines. aka the fat. you know the part of the meat that you cut off and don't eat? well. they eat it. they boil it and then put salsa on top and bada bing bada boom theres your meal! add some rice and some tortillas and man your set to go....bleh. gross. so its chewy and rubbery and just doesnt go away. Needless to say I drank alot of water. I ate all of it.....my stomach was not so happy about that afterwards. oh man. bad news bob.

And as for something cool/random....preparation day will be on Thursday next week because the area 70 is coming to our mission next week and we will be having our zone conference with him on Wednesday! :) I am really super excited to hear and be apart of this! :)

SO ya.....that's about it for this week! except that I'm gonna say my mailbox has been pretty empty and lonely so if you feel so inclined and want to receive mail in your box that's not a bill shoot me a letter! I'll wright you back :) promise.

Have a great week! les extrano much y espero que tengan un muy buen semana! :)

I love you! pazy y amor!
Hermana Maughan

I love it here in Rocky Mount!

          Well it was a great day yesterday! Nate was baptized and it was great! He had his good friend Sam baptize him (Sam has been a member for a year.) Something that was really cool about the baptism was the fact that Nate invited all his friends and there was about 20 of them. All but 4 of them left right after Nate was baptized. Then after the baptism we watched the restoration and then the ward missionary leader, the bishop and Nate all bore strong testimonies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As this was going on I was just watching everyone and it was amazing how everyone was so happy and how the spirit could be felt so strong. Then after it was all done Nate wanted two more copies of the book of Mormon and a few pamphlets to give to his friends. It is so great to see the changes he has made in his life and how much happier he is.

            Then later that same day we had a lesson with William and he is excited about his baptism on the 30^th of this month. We talked a little about where he is in life and he is finding more and more peace through the gospel. A fun thing he said was when I asked him if he had his book of Mormon with him and he said “I forgot it in the car because I was just excited about the lesson” haha good thing I had an extra haha. It was a really good lesson and he is doing great. He also gets a little brake from baseball this week so he wants to meet more. We also found out that he wants to bring one of his friends to church and is planning on it next week =)

            Another great thing that happened that day was that a non-member came to church. He was taking the lessons up in Virginia and just moved down here. The other elders just taught him today and he is ready to be baptized. So that was wonderful too.

            Yesterday really made it a great week and I'm just so happy about all the things that Lord is doing for us here. He is really blessing us. It has just been great! I love it here in Rocky Mount!

            Thanks for all that you are doing I love you all!

ELDER MAUGHAN

messages full of love and just awesomeness!!!!!

buenos dias, o tardes o noche--no se cuando va a leer eso pero BUENOS! :) hahaha

anyways! preperation day once again! :) This week has been such an awesome one. I must first say that I LOVE CONFERENCE. just love it. I could always use another 2 or 3 more sessions though ;) but it really was so awesome. Man. I love the church of Christ. it really functions in the way of God. I mean every talk-just seriously was one of my best and most favorite conferences ever. There is nothing like being a missionary and watching conference. A really neat experience to be listening at the feet of the prophet with my fellow family that is trying to push the work of the Lord forward. I think one of the most major themes that I got out of it was that the world - the people in it need to step up and be preparing for the second coming. that we need to get our act together and experience pure and lasting joy instead of the temporary and fake happiness. That we are truly going to see a difference between the true disciples of Christ and the world. and we need to shape up and pick what side we are on. hot or cold. no lukewarm option is available. and yet they were messages full of love and just awesomeness!!!!!

Besides conference this week we also had some really cool experiences happen:) Where we have really felt like we have been instruments in the hands of God as his mouthpiece.

 

Last Friday we went to an appointment with some recent converts who are preparing to serve missions :) and they are teaching us the lessons from Preach My Gospel which has been so awesome because they are gaining confidence in the stuff they know and are sharing it with their friends. So we go to this appointment and their dad who isn't a member happens to be there. I have never met him before nor anything about him. but he came and sat down for our lesson on the plan of salvation and Silvia and Nolberto are missing a few things from the plan and soltero(the father) comes in and ends up fixing everything they missed out on. like he knew the plan of salvation. even Silivia and Nolberto were super surprised at that . but while he was talking about the spirit world I had the impression or thought come to my head that I needed to invite him to be baptized. As I began to question whether this was a prompting for the spirit or just my own silly thoughts another very distint thought popped into my head saying "Dont question me. Just act." very distinct like and overpowering all the other thoughts in my head, and so i said OK I will do it. and so I asked. hahaha kind of funny to see Hermana Noyes's face in my peripheral vision-one of complete no way she's goin for it. yeaah....and do you know what he said?! you got it! YES!! turns out hes been reading Silvias gospel priciples book and after Hermana Noyes told me that he came to their baptism and was so happy for them but that they hadn't been able to teach him since because he was always working. So he's praying to find out if God wants him to be baptized on the 29th of this month. :)

Then just yesterday we went to an appt with Carlos's nephew Victor-and this is our second lesson with him and Hermana Noyes and I were bien in sync for this lesson it was so awesome. we were just truely listening to the spirit and invited him to be baptized as well and he said YES! :) hes really got a desire to change and knows that the Book of Mormon is true and is really excited for it. and not to mention that we have an appointment with Carlos's kids- Carlos jr and Karla and are going to be putting them on date for this month as well. and you know who's gonna be a busy priesthood user? yep thats right Carlos!  the recent convert is gettting to work! :) Just seriously so awesome and I know that it's gonna be such a sweet experience to see the rest of the family enter onto the path of Chist:) my first family that i get to see completely converted! :) sweet stuff huh?

 Another sweet project that we have been doing--and i totally get this from mom :) but there is this member in the english ward and her name is kiki and she is seriously one of the most loving people you could ever meet-she speaks not a lick of spanish but she comes with us to some of our lessons which has been awesome. She clicks really well the people and she also lets us go over to her apt on wednesdays to do our laundry at her place so we don't have to pay for it at ours. and well kiki does have one flaw and that she holds onto everything. like still has mail from 1987 some of which has yet to be opened. so we have been going over every once and a while and helping her de junk and just get rid of all the things shes not using or needs. fun huh?! man i seriously love it. its like a house make over! and kiki is trying to move to florida :( and as such this has put her in the mood to just get rid of stuff. so it has been really cool. we have gone through so much and there is still so much to do but man is it weird to say that its like refeshing and relaxing for me to go through peoples junk and make their house look and feel better? so here are some kind of before pictures of her bedroom. we had already done quite a bit of work on it before i thought to take a picture....so :) when its done ill be sending the after picture! :)

That's pretty much it for this week! Transfers are next week and today we are going to be playing monopoly and settlers of catan:) and doing some boot shopping for Hermana Noyes!

I love you all so much! and hope you have a great week!

paz y amor

Hermana Maughan

I was able to sit at the Prophets feet

                Man what a week. It’s been so good with 4 elders here. There is a lot of work getting done and I must say that conference was the best I ever had. I really enjoyed all of it and i feel like I was able to have a lot of personal revelation on how I can become better and a stronger missionary. I also must say i really enjoy conference a lot more when I’m siting at the Church and I must say that the Rocky Mount ward has the right idea, after the Sunday morning of conference we had a potluck and it was so good. Them southerns know how to cook and just so you know there was about 6 different types of chicken haha. But i loved it all and to me all the talks where directed right at me. I love the ward I’m here, there all so great and really feel like family. This weekend was one of the greatest weekends on my mission; the spirit was so strong as I was able to sit at the feet of a prophet.

               Then yesterday night we went over to bishops house for his birthday and it was a lot of fun. So the elders quorum president and I were talking a lot and something that was brought up more than once was North Carolina State ( one of the colleges here) the wolf pack. We talked about their basketball team and how I should go to the school and then everyone there was telling me that they would love for me to go there...... so I have been swayed a little towards becoming a part of the pack haha.  I really do love it out here and I don’t think i would mind it at all, but i still don't know. It is something to look into. The thing that I do know is that in order to go anywhere I would have to get bigger I’m still 6 10 but I’m only 210 pounds so there is something to do when I’m home but I’m not worried about it right now. It’s all in the Lords hands.

            Another great thing is Nate is getting baptized this week and he is just great and is doing missionary work right and left.  We were able to get in contact with William and he came to most of the conference sessions and as we talked with him he has just been working really hard with school and everything...... but i feel like there is more that he isn’t telling us. We have a lesson with him this evening and I’m just glad he is back it made me feel really happy.

          The church is so true and I’m so glad that I’m a missionary.  I just love it here in North Carolina and even more so now that the heat is gone… haha that makes things a lot better. That was most of the week; we have been making a lot of calls and are starting to get into a lot more less active homes and teaching more there. So the work is moving forward! I wish I could write about how I feel but all that I can really say is that I’m really happy and so grateful for the Lord!

I hope you are all doing good and enjoyed conference too! Stay healthy, stay strong and stay happy

Love ELDER MAUGHAN

Sent from the family history center since the library doesn’t like us …haha

September 28, 2011

hola hola mi familia!

Man como estan? another week!

First of all congrats to Kenz! man that's so awesome!!!!!! ya for missionaries and awesome missions!!!!! if you can say this you ll be way ahead of everyone in your district with the language...... como esta? means how are you (same as spanish) and then to respond you say "my booty" its spelled something like this mabote? idk but you say it like "my booty" and it means very good. and then to say water its " too big" idk how to spell it but funny huh? so if you wanted to say good water you would say "my booty too big"

and from my last email you know that that's more than true with me.

So this week has been insane! we have been so busy. last week we had zone conference in Joilet, IL, General Relief Society Broadcast, A Baptism, 24 hour exchanges with the Hermana's in Westchester and somehow managed to teach 24 lessons this week on top of all of it!  We saw some really awesome miracles this week:

So first of all the conference so amazing. I loved loved loved the talks and am so excited for this week and CONFERENCE!!!!! weeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

But so we have been working with these 2 ladies that are nt related and didn't even know each other but both are really inactive members. like been through the temple and missions and ya. crazy things and then one got married to a non member and the other got offended by something that some member said to her like 4 years ago. So we have been visiting them every week and told them about women's conference and we told Sandra that she needed to call Raquel and ask for a ride to the conference cause if she didn't than Raquel wouldn't go cause she didn't want to drive alone. and we went over to Raquel's and told her that she needed to call Sandra and see if she wanted a ride to the conference cause Sandra didn't have a car and if she couldn't find a ride then she couldn't go to the church. So yeah.......it worked!!!!! THEY BOTH showed up to the Conference!!!!! haven't been to a church building in over 4 years and they both came! :) it was so awesome and then the talk by President Uchtdorf was just so perfect for the both of them :) yay for miracles.

Earlier that day we had the baptism of Carlos Gomez! and oh man. as you know those days are SUPER stressful because something always goes wrong. Satan works extra hard on those days...So Carlos was late to coming cause he got sick :( something with his eyes and he wasn't gonna come but then the bishop called and talked to him and he came. and earlier that morning both the brothers that were gonna speak at the baptism and the person that was gonna direct the program called and told us they couldn't come. one was sick and the other two had to work. so guess who got to speak at the baptism?! yep Hermana Noyes and me!

We had zone conference this past week and it was awesome. we learned alot about being consecrated missionaries and how its easier to give up everything and put it in the hands of God than to fight what he wants you to do. and its so true. I was thinking about how before I decided to go on a mission that is what I was doing. I was fighting against what God wanted me to do. Trying to go the opposite direction as best I could. Enroll in classes at school, apply for a service mission until you know I couldn't do it anymore. and it would have been so much easier to have been humble and said OK God I will go and do and be the person you want me to become. It is so much easier and is so much more fun and and like ya just was a really good conference. you should look up this talk its called "His Grace is sufficient" by Brian Wilcox I think. AWESOME talk!

This past Sunday.....guess how many investigators we had a church?! 7! yep 7 baby! It was so awesome! We had 7 investigators and 9 recent converts and like 3 less actives at church this week! Oh man that was so exciting! So many showed up that we were not really expecting to! Everything went really well. They felt really good the only problem was our gospel principles class which is designed specifically for investigators and new converts right?! well it was packed full on Sunday....and for like the first time ever. and our lesson was about how families can be together forever set up to be a really good lesson right? Well it would have been if the teacher didn't spend 45 minutes of the class talking about how a man can be sealed to more than one wife in the temple and a woman can't. oh man. heart sinker. we've got some major bandaging and talking to do with all our investigators and recent converts. it was not good. But I really think everything will be alright. I don't think that teacher will be teaching again though.

Another really cool thing that happened was on Friday was that we tried to go and see a referral we received from an investigator right before she moved to North Carolina...the missionaries STILL haven't gone over to see her yet so that means that Chris you need to get the missionaries to that woman she's ready to be baptized...and wants to be! So anyways she gave us the information on one of her friends and she didn't know if he'd be interested or not she just thought that she would try, so we went by to see him, his name is Alejandro and he wasn't there. His roommate was so we left a card with a post it note on it for him to call us if he was interested in learning more. and you know usually when we leave notes like that they NEVER call. and so we were planning on trying again later the next week, when on Saturday before the baptism we get this phone call and I answer it and its ALEJANDRO! he told us he was super interested and we set up Monday to go and meet with him and so Monday rolls around and he calls us and tells us that he can't leave work cause its super busy but if we were hungry we could stop by the restaurant and talk for a bit. So we did that and got to meet him and stuff but he was super busy and so we really didn't get to talk to him that much and on the way home he called us and told us that he is really interested in learning more and that he felt like we were really good people. He told me some different things that were going on his life that has made him ready and want to listen to what we have to say. He has been wanting to unite himself with a church he just didn't know where to find one. He then asked me the question if I know when metal is the purest? I told him I didn't know and he told me it was after the refiners fire. That it has to go through the hottest part of the temperature and then it is when you can see your reflection like a mirror in the metal that it is when it is the purest. He said that that is what he has felt like has been happening to him. He wants to be closer with god and follow his teachings. I am really super excited to get teaching him.

Aurora this area really has some VERY elect people who have been waiting for the gospel and when you lose yourself in the work of the Lord it is amazing what he shows you. I feel so privileged to be able to teach and get to know all of these wonderful people. So ya! the mission is awesome! I love, love, love it! it is so much fun. way more fun than anyone ever tells you. a joyful fun! So get on missions everybody! its the Godly thing to do!

sure love you all and hope you have a great week! :)

paz y amor!

Hermana Maughan

September 26, 2011

              So this week had been a little weird and there has been a lot of planning with the new elders. But now I feel good about the plans we have made to best use 4 elders in one ward for 6 weeks (5 now). The weird part is living with 3 other elders again with only one shower. In my first area I was with 3 other elders and then I wasn’t for a long time and now I am again so it has been a lot of fun. There is a lot more laughing going on that is for sure.

                Something that was great was Nate had his interview and is now for sure getting baptized on the 9^th! And after the interview we had a lesson with him and a lot of it was talking about the other investigators that are his friends that will not answer our calls. One of the investigators is William and we really don’t know what happened to him, but he won’t pick up for us so Nate said he would call. Nate is also working with a few other people so I told him that he needed to serve a mission in my ward when I get home and that way he could teach me haha so he is now considering it =) we also watched the restoration DVD and he really liked it and is just ready to be baptized!

                The members here have been great and with the other elders here things are really picking up and we hope that in the near future that we will have many, many lessons. So I don’t know what to really say….. I feel like I have been a lot better in my letters but there isn’t to much to talk about this week just lots of planning and meetings……. I'm sorry….. ill try to think of some more..

Untill then, I love you all [-_-]  _|,,|

ELDER MAUGHAN  

September 21, 2011

Hey there family!

          Well yet another week has flown by....and I cannot believe it. Adventures, miracles and lesson learned this week? well they just seem to keep on comin! along with all the laughter following close behind. Ready for the events this week??

Lessons learned this week:

1. Mouse pooooooop is nast. especially when its EVERYWHERE........

On Monday we were asked to help this family move and one thing i have learned on my mission is that the Maughan style of having people help us move is very different than the mexican style.....Maughan style is having everything packed and put in boxes already and the people come and help put it into the trucks and unload it in the new house....Mexican style is go over to the house and nothing is in boxes and you get to pack their stuff and then take it over to the house. :) We started helping pack stuff and pretty soon Hermana Noyes and I start seeing all these little brown things everywhere...clothes, shoes, food, like everything....bleh it was so gross. we tried throwing most of it away but the owner didn't want any of it in the garbage and so then it just started getting nastier and nastier and we are silently gagging and then laughing at each other......half expecting to find the mice but thankfully that adventure gets to wait for another day.

2. and 3.  Hermana Noyes learned when calling 911 at 1 in the morning you need to be prepared to give more than just your address.

What happened at 1 in the morning that calling 911 was necessary you might ask? well....we were peacefully dreaming in our beds when all of the sudden the most horrendous, ear deafening sound rudely awakened us. No it wasn't our doorbell. beepbeepbeepbeep! 2 second pause. beepbeepbeepbeep! 2second pause etc etc. it was our CO2 alarm. So we called the fire department and we were sleep groggy and laughing at the ridiculousness of all of this and Hermana Noyes was prepared to give the dispatcher our address since she was practicing it before she called and so she was so prepared to give them our address when they asked for her name she replied "226 Longview Dr. Apt A Geneva IL 60134." "um no ma'am. your name please." Her face. I wish oh i wish i could have taken a picture of it as she was trying to register the question. So we had to sit outside and wait for the fire department to come and it was cold btw. They came and tested our apt for co2 and in fact yes siree we sure did have some in there thanks to our lovely old stove. :) So we had to open all of our windows and doors and wait for it all to leave. So lesson number 3....if you only have 9 parts of co2 in your apt than your fine. you wont get sick, dissy or nothin. but how do you find out if you only have 9 parts in your apt? you have to call the fire department.  So yes everything is fine except for the fact that we can't use our oven or our stove until the landlord gets it fixed. which just might be never.

4. The tortillas have gotten to me.

We had the opportunity to go to mission counsel this month and left feeling super pumped and motivated that we were gonna have a great rest of the day and find some awesome people and be super duper obedient. and so we went to an apointment....they cancelled on us right as we got there. I sat back in the car when all of the sudden I felt this silent pop in the back of my skirt.....and so ya. guess who's fat butt POPPED the zipper off her skirt. ya. mine. the zipper didn't just break. it popped off. So it enlisted an emergency trip to the mall to get a skirt as we were super far away from our house....so Ive come to the conclusion that its OK. I'm not getting fat. my testimony is just growing. 

Adventure this week: 

Our ward held a Noche International- international night... where everyone brought food from their country and share a little talent to show off the skills and represent their country. It was pretty cool. and the missionaries were asked to do something and we are all from the US and so that's the country we represented and what a better way to do that, than by using baseball? So we ended up doing the skit "Who's on First." and translated it all to Spanish. it was pretty fun. Our ward has some cool talent and a good sense of humor. 

 Big Miracle this week: 

We have been prepping Carlos for his baptism this week and he is super excited for it. His nephew is living with him and they actually work in the same job. I guess Carlos has been talking to his sobrino about the things he has learned and loved about this church and how its changed his life so much so that it has gotten Victor (the nephew) interested. So we had a really awesome lesson with him this week. He has been through some crazy times that have truly prepared him to hear this gospel. Many of his questions and beliefs fall right in line with the gospel teachings and I'm so excited to start teaching him!

We also have some other investigators that I have felt like I have clicked with and others that we have found that are just progressing super awesome and I really want to see all of them enter the cool clean and refreshing waters of baptism! :)

Hermana Noyes and I have been working super hard that we fall asleep even before our heads hit the pillows-only if alarms and dinging things would stop waking us up we might actually get to have a full 8 hours of sleep :) jk but its been really good, this transfer is just flying by and I'm so EXCITED FOR CONFERENCE!!!!!! I LOVE CONFERENCE!!!!!!! general relief society this saturday! woot woot!

Well I hope you have a great week! Know that I love you super much!

Paz Y amor

Hermana Maughan

September 19th 2011

Another week… its not fare how fast things are going haha (but we all know life is not fare don’t we dad? Haha) but I got some interesting news yesterday morning, so elder Towne and I are staying together for at least another 6 weeks (he will be only my second companion that I have had for 2 transfers) but the interesting part is that we are getting 2 more elders in Rocky Mount for 6 weeks. This is both there last transfer out here on their mission and they are coming to help the work to really get going. So the ward and us are excited about that. Another great thing is that we are going to share a car with them! Just in time eh? Now that summer is done haha.

But on too how the last week went, and the biggest news is still William and Nate, there both doing great and in one week we were able to teach them: the restoration, the plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of wisdom, obedience and a few commandments like keeping the Sabbath day holy, reading the scriptures everyday and praying often, and they are loving it. They have both received answers to there prayers about if the book of Mormon was true or not.

First I will talk about Nate’s experiences and how he got his answer, so he was praying to know if it was true and after his prayer a song came on the radio that he took as his answer (I still have to ask what song it was) then he was going to work and he works at a coffee shop, so before he started work he was looking at what he could have from the menu and as he is looking he says “well I can't have coffee or tea so what can I have?” the lady next to him asks why he can't he tells her that he is becoming a member of the LDS church. After he tells her this the lady just burst into tears…. But not in a good way she starts telling him that this is not a good path to go down and stuff like that, so he takes her off to the side and she just goes into why he shouldn’t become a member. He said that he couldn’t stop smiling the entire time because every thing she was telling him he already knew wasn’t true, like the big one was that we weren’t Christians. He thought it was the funniest thing because the way he put it was “it was like she was telling me that, that wall (he points at a wall) is not a wall, I know it’s a wall no matter what she says” so that was great and he is just so happy.

Then we have William, he was introduced to the church by his girlfriend and went to church with her. Then she moved to Salt Lake and he moved here to play college baseball. The way he came to know these things are true is because a few days before he came to church for the first time he was having a really hard time and then he made it to church and everything got better and he says he is so much more happy and has a lot more peace. So he knows its true as well and has read most of the Book of Mormon all ready and just really wants to become a member. Then we asked him how is family feels about all of this and he tells us there not big fans of it but he knows its true and he really wants it so he is going to keep on with it. He and Nate have both been progressing wonderfully. One reason they both love it is because they both come from Baptist backgrounds and they both really didn’t like the fear they use. They love the feeling they get in the true church and are both really looking forward to their baptismal date.

The work is going great and the Lord is really helping us out. It's just amazing to me.

Thank you all so much for all your prayers they really help!

I hope you all have a great week and are staying safe!

Elder MAUGHAN   [-_-] _|,,| I love you