My Last Email

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Sincerely (for the last time),

ELDER MAUGHAN

Many Times on a Bike with a Tie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love you all!!

ELDER MAUGHAN!!!!          

A Math Formula

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

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

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

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

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

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

Take care and have a great week!

ELDER MAUGHAN   

Kids in a Candy Store

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Love,

         ELDER MAUGHAN

The Great Roanoke Rapides

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 LOVE ELDER MAUGHAN          

Elder Holland's Visit

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ELDER MAUGHAN

New Companion

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

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

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

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

            I will let you know all about it!

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

ELDER MAUGHAN!!       

So Miracles Are Still Happening.

          Another great week. We have been doing a lot of personal finding which has mostly been walking around and talking to people that are put in our path. Its not as good as member work, but we are trying to work on that too. This area is a little different than most of my other areas... well actually in the fact none of my areas have been the same with the exception of the gospel and lots of biking..haha but I love it! Seriously though Roanoke Rapides is different because most of the housing here is not in the country side.

          We have found a few people this week.

We first talked to a father out on his door step which is a very popular thing to do this time of the yea. We set up a time to come teach him and then when we went the bishop came with us. At the start of the lesson we invited the mother to come in and join us. The lesson on the great Apostasy went really well, and what made it so good was the fact that the mother had to come in and out of the lesson so we were able to teach the doctrine several times. A few times we had the father teach his wife the parts that she had missed. After the lesson they both asked “so which church should we join?” and it went from there.

         It has been truly a miracle finding them for a few reasons; first they let us in... haha, second they both have very open minds, and third they are married and they have strong family values.

        The father's father is a Baptist preacher, so he was born a Baptist but later in life become a J.W. and is now an inactive Baptist again. The mother has never been very active in any church in her life.

We talked to them again a few days ago and  he told us that he had read Joseph Smith's testimony and he feels that its true! We are meeting them again today.

          To go on now about people we found this week while walking and talking there were two other men on the porch and one called us over and told us to call him to repentance because he was drinking. We did talk with him for a little and now he is interested as well.

          We also have another investigator named Ricky and he is ready to be baptized. His wife to be lives in Utah, and she is the one that introduced him to the church. He is a semi-pro bowler. As he bowls in the 280 range…. anyways we always joke with him because elder Caldwell and I tried our hand at bowling and he just teases us now about it. Its funny stuff.

          Yesterday we found out that it is Elder Holland that will be coming to our mission on June 2. I am very excited for that!

Man Jun is almost here! Crazy

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

LOVE, ELDER MAUGHAN!!

Another Great Week

         It has been another week in the great Roanoke Rapides! Elder Caldwell and I have had a lot of laughs like we had a lesson with this former investigator and when we got to the house gate to get into the yard it was guarded by a Rottweiler/pit-bull thing that wasn’t too happy to see us! haha  After watching we realized that his collar ended at the very edge of the path, so what do we do? Well like a good missionary I take out my camera and start recording us going past the dog….. then when we got all the way through there do you know what? The people were not even home! haha This means we will have to do the same thing again soon. 

            We had a man who stopped us this last week and he asked if we were “Mormons” and goes on to tell us that he is very interested in learning what the “Mormons” believe because everyone is saying all these strange things about them. So every time someone would say a down statement about  the Mormons he would then ask “well have you ever asked a Mormon?” and no one had. Even his preacher said that we were not christen, and when he asked him if he had ever spoken to a Mormon before he also said that he had not.  So he decided that he would talk to some “Mormons” and now we have a lesson with him tonight. We are hoping that that it will go very well and we will be able to answer all the questions  he has and help him to feel the truth of our message.

            This week we found out that we will be having another member of the 12 coming to our mission the first week of June. I am really excited for that.

          It is a little strange coming into the last few months of my mission because once again it doesn’t feel like it is time to be coming home. Everyone in the ward here knows that i'm going home soon because I served in rocky mount 7 months ago. Yesterday all these people started telling me about the new movie “The Avengers” and how it was clean, a lot of action and that they recommend it when I get home... bla, bla, bla, it was funny.

            Last night we had a big dinner with a few people and one of the people was the sister that gave the talk last week, and the one I had interviewed all those months ago for baptism. It is so wonderful to see how much her testimony has grown and how the gospel has blessed her life so much. It is always just amazing to me to see what the gospel can do for.

            Yep it's great to be a missionary!

You never know what is coming...and I think that it's that unknown that makes for the best stories. Not only the funny stories but it is just wonderful to see the changes that people can make because of the gospel.

          This last week we were teaching a lady. She is a very hard working mother, that doesn’t have a lot of support from her husband. She doesn’t yet understand a lot about the church but it feels right to her. As we invited her to be baptized she got very excited. There is more to teach her and yet I love how the sprit can testify to anyone no matter who they are, if they truly want to know. i love it!

            I hope you all have a great week and enjoy all the wonderful things are going to happen. thank you so much for all the prayers. I am just grateful for all of you!!

ELDER MAUGHAN!                

Answer to Prayer

          It was a good week in RR. We have been working on trying to find less active members and former investigators. We have been able to find a few people and talk to a lot of them, but in the process I destroyed the front tire of my bike so now I have to go find a new one. At least it is not like back in my first area where I had those 4 flat tires in one week... haha crazy times!

          A few big things happened this week.

On Wednesday we got a call from the second counselor in the bishopric and he asked if I would give a 5 to 10 min talk in sacrament meeting. I said yes. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to talk about….. I had a lot of ideas and nothing seemed just right, so I decided that I would talk about the doctrine of Christ and share my testimony (since 10mins is really not a long time to talk.)

         As I was sitting on the stand right before the meeting was to start I was switched from the first speaker to the last speaker so I quickly got some more ideas written down on a little spare notecard I had with me and then

I prayed a lot.

         The first speaker, who was supposed to be the last speaker talked for a full 5 mins! Then the second speaker (who I interviewed for baptism when I was in rocky mount) gave her talk (the first one in her life) and it was really good. So do you know how much time was left to me?

Oooh about 30mins J

         As I got up there and started speaking it just came and I don’t think anyone besides Elder Caldwell, the other Speakers and the bishopric  knew that I had only prepared a 10min talk. I think that this was the best talk I have ever given.

         After I had some members talk to me and this one said “you remind me of a soft spoken Baptist Preacher” (it was a compliment) I felt that

it was a big answer to prayers and I loved how great it felt to have the spirit working through me. It was a wonderul experience and I see a lot of good things happening here in this area!!

          Next thing today I am looking forward to going to the recreation center (It is an old center and has a plastic floor) and playing basketball with some of the young men from the ward.

          I'm grateful for all of you. Thanks so much for all that you do! Have a great week and stay safe!

ELDER MAUGHAN!!       

Roanoke Rapids is the place to be!

          Well im in Roanoke Rapids! Yep its my new area, and the funny thing is that I have already been here at lot before! It is in the same district as Rocky Mount so I came on exchanges here in the past. It was funny because I know most of the members here. I also was able to see some people that I had interviewed for baptism. 

          I sort of already have found out a few reasons why i'm here and it is that the young mens program is growing really well and the way they are getting boys interested is basketball! At transfers when President Cottrell was telling me where I was going he looked at the member from RR (who is the young men’s president and also the coach of the young men who I already knew pretty well) and says “well i'm sending you a 6 foot 10 center.”

         At church all these boys were hovering all around me and I must have been asked how tall I am, and if I play basketball 1000000000000 times, it was really funny. So i'm excited to be here.

          I also had my last interview with president Cottrell since he is leaving the mission about 10 days before I am and it was really good. We reviewed a little of my mission and talked about the area and he said that he felt very strongly that this was where I needed to finish my mission, and he is excited for me to be here.

         My new companion's name is Elder Caldwell and he is from Utah and we are getting along great. We have had a good week and i'm looking forward to serving with him!

        Do you remember Elder Koplin? He is the first elder I trained those many months ago in Smithfield, it is really neat to see  that he is now district leader.

         I am sad that i'm not with the lubees anymore, but they did send me off good! Do you know what I had my last meal there? CHICKEN BRYANT!!!! (its not as good as yours dad but it was still really good!!) it was a lot of fun serving there J

          Well i'm just really excited to be here and be a part of all this. It really doesn’t feel like I only have 3 month left….. Tht is really strange to me.

          I hope you all have a great week! I'm so grateful for all of you!! Take care and be safe!!

ELDER MAUGHAN     

Leaving Pembroke

           Well…..im leaving Pembroke tomorrow L im leaving my Lumbee family but now I’ll be able to go and meet another family for my last 3 months…. Haha but yesterday was my last Sunday here.  So I have some mixed feelings about moving.

            Well this last week we had our zone activity conference and I made shirts for all the district and I will send some pictures if the computer will let me. haha It was really good I was able to see a bunch of my old companions like; E. Moore, E. Butts, E. Conners, and E. Yankton and it was a little strange to find out that they were all quoting me to each other…… it was funny, as I talked about all the things I did with them.

          We played Volleyball, Capture the flag, a relay race, and soccer (mike you would be proud of me haha). It was a lot of fun, but it only lasted for 3 hours.

            We had a few good lessons and I hope that within the next month someone will write me to tell me that some people here decided to get baptized.  I have really enjoyed my time here and almost everyone wants me to come back, so if you come with me you will be able to have a great dinner (lunch) or supper waiting! Maybe even a good pig picking haha

            Yesterday we had a adult fireside and it was a good way to say goodbye to this area, plus I got a pic with everyone J

            I don’t know about my next area yet ….. (because I don’t know how to talk to anyone that isn’t a Lumbee anymore haha) But i am sure it will be fun.

            I have to do a lot of packing today plus i'm sending some things home. yay

            I hope you have a wonderful week and talk care!

ELDER MAUGHAN!!       

Lumbee in Me

       Easter was really good! I had a really good time and the spirit was really strong yesterday. It started out at church with a few really good talks and then really good lessons about the atonement. We then went to have lunch with a really good family where we had a good southern breakfast for lunch and it was fun. Then there was an Easter Program that our ward put together (I was not in this one) and it was really good! So all of my Easter was very spiritual.

       Oh and on Saturday the primary had a Easter egg hunt and we offered our yard for them to do it on, since it is so close to the church. Tt was really funny to see this mop of children attacking our yard and there was a little girl that saw the horses next to our house and ran over to them and the horse came right over because it saw me. ( I have made a friendship with this horse by feeding it..... so now the horse will come over when I walk up to the fence) so anyways this girl walks up and when another little boy sees the horse coming he runs over and spookes the horse, the lumbee in me kick's in and I run over to calm the horse down. So the boy got scared and ran away but this little girl stayed right there because she wanted to pet the horse. The funny thing about it was as the girl was petting the horse, it bent down and grabbed her Easter bag thinking it was food and for the next 3 seconds.....it was this epic struggle between animal and girl! The surprising thing was the girl won! So never underestimate the strength of a girl and her candy!

        We had a really good lesson with the girl from UNCP, she is doing really well and she has started to open a lot and its been great to see the growth in her.

We also had another good lesson with another investigator and she has been really quiet about what has been holding her back from baptism and this last lesson she shared to us what was going on and it is is that she is having a hard time with the Sabbath being on Sunday (she is a former 7^th day Adventist) so tomorrow we will talking more about that.

       Oh also on UNCP there was this man that came and claimed to be perfect . He started telling everyone that they were going to hell for very random things; like any girl that plays sports is going to hell, and bla bla bla and bla. It turns out that this has made a big impact on the school and a lot of students now have questions . We have talked to a few people already and it looks like its opening a lot of doors for us to share what Heavenly Father really thinks of his children. But that's the south for ya... haha.

        I hope everything is going great back home. I am so grateful for all of you. I hope you all had a great week with Tim! This week we will be having a Zone Activity day and I'm going to see a few of my old comps and I'm way excited! Then next Tuesday will be transfers and this Saturday I'll be finding out if I will be saying with my Lumbee family or going to make another family! So its going to be fun!!

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

ELDER MAUGHAN

Hoe Hoe Hoe

           Good morning! How are things out there? That is so crazy that Tim is home! Conference here was really good (as I know it was good everywhere) I learned a lot and it was just good to feel of the spirit and I felt close to everyone knowing your watching it too.  it was just strange to think that Timothie was watching it there and all that stuff. It was hard not to think of home when every talk was about families and I must say I'm very grateful for the family that I have, so thank you so much!

            So last week I was able to go to the temple and that was really nice. It was just a wonderful experience for the spirit to be felt so much.

We also did so more planting this week and that was fun.

           Yesterday after conference we had 30 mins before our next appointment and we could have stayed home and found something to do at the trailer but we felt like we needed to go to the college. So we went over to the college and there was no one there, so we started to head for home and as we were almost home we came across 3 college girls that were walking and we started talking and wouldn’t you know it? They wanted to learn more!

          So this is truly the lords work and he knows which of his children are ready. And I'm so grateful that I'm able to be apart of it J

            This last week has been a large blur, and I cant recall much of what happened haha!

I love you all! And I hope you have a great week!!!

ELDER MAUGHAN!     

Adventure is With Us

As Hermana Maughan returns home to our hugging range we are so grateful for all those who helped support and encourage her on her journey in Chicago Illinois these last 19 months.

Thanks to President  and Sister Doll who have served to be a guiding force during this time.

Thanks to all those who sent packages and letters. 

Thanks to those who read our letter-day blog and found joy in the journey along with us.

We are so Blessed.

The Great part of this is that all those lessons, and memories are all coming home

with our daughter and will be a blessing to her and others for Eternity.

Hermana Maughan had a difficult time taking off her missionary badge today,

which I told her I'm sure is branded into her soul for ever.

She has felt pure Joy and once you have there is no turning back.

We are all Children of God and he wants EVERYONE of US to feel this JOY and to SHARE IT! 

Hermana Maughan Homebound

When words are not enough I'm so glad that there are pictures.

Our Hermana Maughan is home!

Powerful

Hey there familia!

Man so this is literally my.last.email. as a missionary to you guys at home! WEIRD!!!! and let me tell you today is BUSSSSSSSYYYYYYY

We were up late last night as i was packing (what a mess that is) and cleaning the apartment to get it ready for Hermana Alvarez's BABYYYYY! somebody is gonna be a momma :) shes gonna do great!  And then today we've got to do some super running around--post office, office max, cvs, grocery store, pottery place, having lunch with the bishop and his wife, then we got to go see the famila chavez and the familia guzman hoy....and the zone leaders and the english elders in our area are kidnapping us for the afternoon-don't know what we are doing? but with them its pretty much guaranteed to be fun. And then we are getting some deep dish pizza (one last time out here) and yeah. Good way to go home :)

This week has been AMAZING! we taught 37 lessons, found 2 new investigators, had a wedding and 4 baptisms! :) It was pretty sweet. Let me tell you though i am so exhausted. its like ill be fine and then ill sit down for a bit and the exhaustion will just hit me like a sack of bricks. its like my body knows that mission is up and so its slowing down. idk its weird....RMs should understand what I'm saying. this is a pretty common thing I hear. so I am looking forward to catching u on some z's :)

the wedding on Friday was absolutely amazing! this ward has seriously been one of the driving forces for the amount of success that is in this area. They are so pumped about missionary work it is exciting to work here. The wedding was so beautiful that the ward put together. we literally had to do nothing. and i can pretty much guarantee you that any other missionaries in any other area would have had to plan out the whole wedding. but here. man that was such a cool blessing. and really helped la familia chavez feel super welcome. They were so happy and the kids are even super excited that their parents got married finally.

and the baptisms on Saturday--OH MY GOSH!!!!!! so cool. Like my favorite and I am so happy that that is how i got to end my mission. I was talking to Carina and Carlos after (ages 12 and 10) about how they felt and this is what they said "Its like the water was tight around my waist but then I like got in the water and i just felt like this happy inside. Like a little kid and i just wanted to jump and scream I'm so happy." "yeah its like a feeling i cant describe. I loved it." The chavez family was one huge miracle that i feel so blessed to have been able to see. :) we wern't teaching them 5 weeks ago. didn't even know they were there. and boom--lord performs miracles. :)

So Ive been thinking  about how i could end my last email to you all and i thought---you need to know some of the things Ive learned on mission

so 10 things Ive learned being in the Spanish Program:

1.) Sin tortillas, no hay vida

2.) You can eat chile with ANYTHING. Literally ANYTHING...fruits, candy, water, pizza, ice cream--whatever. chile goes right along with it

3.) If you ask for Agua, you re gonna get anything BUT water.

4.) You spend more money on your car than your house

5.) When you run out of storage in your kitchen--your dishwasher and oven make great cupboards.

6.) If you don't have curtains-bedsheets do just fine.

7.) If you don't have utensils, don't worry. you can use your tortilla

8.) If you don't have a napkin, don't worry. you can use your tortilla

9.) If you don't feel well, Vicks cures EVERYTHING.

10.) There's Mexican standard time. There's Mormon standard time. When you put the two together--Mexican Mormon Time---ohhhh boy.  

10 things Ive learned being on a mission

1.) Miracles happen EVERYDAY when you expect them.

2.) If you let him, God will always guide you

3.) Eternal Marriage is essential

4.) My parents are my biggest support and they know a ton

5.) I thirst for the scriptures.

6.) Prayer should be a literal conversation with God.

7.) The Spirit is Real and it is POWERFUL

8.) Its when we give our all to God that he makes of us a masterpiece

9.) Communication with your companion is necessary. When you re in unity-anything is possible

10.) My testimony is secure in this gospel. I will not move for I am a Disciple of Christ.

Thanks to everyone that has been there for me-supporting and praying for me. it has been a huge help. I have felt them. They have kept me going in the hard times and helped me enjoy the good ones even more. This mission has meant everything to me and I know it has changed me and my life for the better. Missions are the best thing out there. Seriously. bombskies. If your questioning whether to go or not--GO! do it. High chances you ll regret not going on a mission--but you ll NEVER regret going. its the best. Ive loved it!

pues hasta pronto entonces! :) les quiero mucho!

se cuidan!

paz y amor,
hermana maughan

Community Garden

    
well its another week and i just know that your all way excited for Tim to come home and I'm excited for all of you too. You'll have to tell me about it and i hope everything will go good, plus with the Easter pageant. I know life is going to be an exciting week full of spirit!
     I'm so grateful for the e-mails and letters i get from all of you they all ways seem to come at just the right time.
     This last week has been some great North Carolina weather haha like it will rain really hard for about 5 mins then sun and then..... for example we were out talking to people on UNCP all the sudden there was no one out side and then blam!!! down pore on us all and by the time we made it back to the trailer it was sunny again haha ...it was funny
   Then we also had a chance to help make a garden. In the pic I'm sending It is of the bed that I sowed and planted. It is so funny because you can just put some seeds in the ground and it grows, not like Arizona. There are some crazy bugs around. Not any of them are fire flies in fact there are no fires flies in Pembroke :( sad day haha
    This last week we also had a Zone Training day and it was about the role of the Book of Mormon in conversion.  It was a really good  Zone Training and as i looked around and saw all these new missionaries the thought then came that I was one of the oldest missionaries there..... I felt a little sad and a little scary and then I thought of Tim going home and how I only have like 4 months left and bla bla bla mission goes way to fast. the meeting was a really good meeting as the next day we had a chance to use what we had just learned as we ended up talking to this one guy for about 2 hours and the entire time we were testifying about the Book of Mormon and how it testifies of Jesus Christ.
      It is just crazy to think about what a blessing the gospel is!! I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonder full time with Timothie just tell me how it goes!!!

ELDER MAUGHAN 

HOLY COW One More Pday

HOLY COW only 1 More Pday

Hello hello there! :)

Well, this is it. My.last.week. in the mission. and it feels super funny. but fyi--i do have ONE more pday after this one. So emails from family are still appreciated for next week :) hint hint. thank you :)

Being my last week is a buttload of emotions...and it honestly doesn't feel like that's all i have left. its just like im in this super surreal bubble and yet it does. idk how to explain it but heres the best way i can put it..........

So you know when you have a relative dying in the hospital? Like they are super old and you know they are about to die. You know that that honestly is gonna be the best thing for them to move on but, at the same time you don't want them to go and you re like sad......well that's kind of how i feel. I don't have any fears about coming home. Like I'm not afraid of it anymore. I know that Ive served a great mission, that I have worked hard and that in order for me to progress even more I have to move on and go home-otherwise I'm just running away and that's not what the Lord intended missions to be. My mission has meant everything to me. I have put all of me into it-i have had some of the best times and also some of the worst times. My mission has pushed me to the extremes physically, emotionally and spiritually. My heart is here. So much of me is here that it hurts a bit feeling like I'm being torn from it. And yet I know that God is going to take care of me. One of my mission friends put it into awesome words yesterday: "You wont be left with nothing. Sometimes the Lord challenges us and asks us to lay on the line more than we think we can take. to put so much out there to be sacrificed that it looks like the only possible outcome is disaster. But time would prove that when we have faith enough to follow through that God wont leave us hanging, he not only fills that gap in us but, expands us beyond our original preconceived capacity and abilities. As much as it seems like you re leaving so much of you behind, you re really just storing it up for the future." And that is so true. Things are going to be great and I know it. God is just now giving me the opportunity to use all of what I've learned here  in the mission for my real life. and my vida normal is gonna be great. :) Mom and DAD suuuuuure hope you re ready for this! :) I am really looking forward to some family time hope you know that! :)

This week has been awesome and this one to come is going to be EVEN better.

Biggest Miracle of the week: The Chavez family got their Marriage License! :)  We went over on Monday and talked to the Dad-Ernesto about asking to leave work early one day so that we could go pick up the license and pretexto after pretexto and finally he went and did. we went with them to the office on Friday and guess who got to be the translator? yep. me. oh. boy. that story will be in the lessons learned section of the letter :) But good news is that I must have done somewhat of a decent job at it-cause we got their license! :) So the plans for this week are wedding on Friday and Family Baptism  on Saturday! :)

The coolest thing happened with that yesterday--we had correlation with the ward yesterday to go over the missionary work and stuff and we told them how the familia chavez were gonna get married this week and I am not gonna lie-I've been kind of stressing out about how to plan for a wedding, 4 baptisms, pack my things, and say bye to everyone all within 8 days...not to mention that the familia chavez isn't really super expecting anything great and wonderful for their wedding either. but we go in and immediately all of the people in the meeting get super excited. the relief society pres and the elders quorum pres immediately start talking about how they'll be in charge of food and decorations and that the young men pres will take care of the music and basically have the whole wedding planned out right there within 5 minutes. President Vivas (EQP) turns to us and says--don't worry about anything for the wedding. we've got it taken care of. Our ward is seriously the best ward ever. and they have really just welcomed this family in with open arms and been a HUGE stress reliever for us that I know that this family is being taken care of waaaaaaay good. I am super excited!

Second biggest miracle of the week: I made it through my departing testimony alive on thursday.

It was zone conference this week in Joliet and boy was it great. it was my last one and it was everything i needed. I didn't eat too much at lunch due to the amount of nerves that were in my body. its tradition in our mission and I'm pretty sure everywhere else that when it is your last zone conference meeting those who are leaving get up and bear their departing testimonies. basically their last testimony in front of all their fellow missionaries. and well guess who's turn it was? yep mine. there are six of us in our zone that are leaving at the end of this next week with me. and i was asked to bear my testimony last.....just to draaaaaag out the nausea for that much longer. right? well i not only gave that. but i feel really good about what i said. i followed the spirit and didn't even cry :) (i was the only sister not to hahaha) Then I was also part of my last special musical number in the mission and it was an awesome song and really fun to play. ill have to show it to you when i get home. :)

As for lessons learned this week:

I do not have the Spanish vocabulary for legal talk.

So we get to the civil offices to pick up the marriage license with the chavez familia. and we get there and their translator is on a break and wont be back for a while. welllllllll we had Matilde (mom) Ernesto(dad) Chu chin(the 2 yr old) and Pilar(the 4yr old) with us...let me paint this picture of how odd we look here in this office.......this mexican family, with Pilar jumping off the walls shes so hyper due to amount of candy that Hna Alvey gave her, and 2 white girls in skirts trying to speak spanish....needless to say it was a bit crazy. so the lady (who is super intimidating) asks me if ill be the translator and then tells me that i have the hardest job and gives me this whole huge legal spill about how i need to say EXACTLY what she says in spanish to them and then repeat to her EXACTLY what they say to her but shes talking so fast i cant remember all the instructions shes giving me except of all the legal responsibilities i have and that if i don't complete it the way she says then you can say---no marriage license. First words to then come out of her mouth for what i need to translate: " do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." uhhhhhhhhhhhhh. first off. I don't know what the word for solemnly is. second off the word swear? really? "well maybe we should just wait for the translator." the lady then laughs and gets rid other intimidating manner and says it'll be all good. so i do the best i can. but i seriously don't have the vocab to do legal work. give me a gospel term and BAM i got it covered. but law things....count me out.

 If you see something on the ground that looks long and skinny and that it shouldn't be there. don't wipe it away.

Here's what happened: Last week after emails we went to a park and played basketball for a bit and then did some sidewalk chalking. well I'm watching Alvey draw on the sidewalk and shes drawing this really cool picture but then she stops...cause these long skinny things that shouldn't be on the sidewalk are in her way. so what does she do? Yep starts brushing them away. I'm so flabbergasted at what she is doing it takes me a while to get out my words. I finally am able to muster out "ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm thats.goose.poop." She stops. looks at her hand-as it then has goose feces smeared allllllllllll over it. and all that comes out of her mouth: "oh."  I DIED laughing. ummmmmmmm thats goose poop. Come to find out that she thought it was weird grass. but no. instead shes got crap smeared all over her hand and it stinks. baaaaad.

When leaving your apartment its a good idea to make sure that one of you have the keys.

This past Wednesday was seriously the most epic day ever. From beginning to end. My email could be filled from lessons learned on this day. Started at 8 am that morning..... Alvey and I are quietly doing our studies for the day and then Alvey asks---wait-don't we have an appt for our car this morning? I had totally forgotten that the day before i had scheduled an appt with our car for wed morning (there was some safely recall on the car that needed to be fixed) and immediately -oh shoot. yes. we do. Hna Alvey starts busting out laughing and asks what time its at....me I'm not laughing at all. i look at the clock-its 8am our appt is at 8:15. I look at her--we gotta go. boom lets go. we are gonna make it. From PJ's to pros in a total of 5 minutes we are out the door. at the dealership for our appt on time. We are in the waiting room for a good 2 hours while they fix it. studying and stuff. well they come out and as good dealerships and mechanics do they then proceed to tell me all the other things that are wrong with the car that we need to get done....I call Elder Lines and he says just to get it all done. So we go BACK to the dealer and are there for another 2 more hours......well because we have zone conference on Thursday we made Wednesday our weekly planning day and did I mention that the weather here has been insanely awesome?!! like in the 70s and 80s...record warm weather for Illinois in march. if its like this now boy oh boy do i feel bad for those missionaries here in July.....they are going to be swimming and it wont be in a pool of water...but in the pool of their sweat. ill be in the pool of water :p anyways so we get going on our weekly planning and finally get our car--there is still so much more left we need to plan so we get home and decide that its been so nice outside---why don't we do weekly planning outside?! cool. so out we go. well couple things happen in that moment. 1. i still have yet to shower. 2. i have no shoes. 3. i have no money 4. alvey is in her PJ's 5. our keys are inside. locked safely in our apartment. and 6. our landlord cant come unlock our door for at least another 1.5 hours. so we are officially locked out of our apartment. completely stuck. and looking rather homeless. but does that slow us down or make us stress out.oh heck no! :) we finished our weekly planning, watched the clouds, completely decked out our front porch in sidewalk chalk and played a game of basketball. Our landlord showed up laughing at us and let us in and through all of that we were indeed still able to teach five lessons that day! :) pretty sweet huh? hahaha don't sweat the small stuff. :) Just enjoy it.

Other epic thing that happened this week-that actually happened on our epic Wednesday was we got a phone call. from the stake president. President Peterson. And he has a a quarterly meeting with all the bishops and their counselors every quarter and asked us to go and speak for a bit on what makes us successful missionaries and getting the bishops excited to do missionary work. It was such a neat opportunity and the spirit was there super strong. they then had a q and a with us after and it was pretty cool. We have some awesome bishops and stake presidency here in Naperville. kind of really surprised me-president Peterson knew when i was going home and where i was from and it completely caught me off guard.

Then on Sunday the bishop asked me completely on the spot to share what i had shared the other day at the meeting--but this time in spanish. and oh man. this week i have had to do more on the spot public speaking in front of leaders of the church than i have my whole mission. and its been really neat to feel the spirit right there with me the whole time.

Well this email is getting super long and i feel like i have sooooo much more i could share. but I love you tons and hope you have a great week! make it a good one :) its your last one before the trouble maker timbo maughan gets home and rocks your world! hahahaha

I love you all! take care

paz y amor,

Hermana Maughan