Anti-Nephi-Lehi's

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

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

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

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

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

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

paz y amor,
Hermana Maughan

Fishers of Men

Whats Crack-a-lackin-y'all? 

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

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

here is the translation:

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

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

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

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

"EW. NOT. Happening"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paz y amor,
Hermana Maughan

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

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

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

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

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

I won for the ugliest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyone can see them

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

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

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

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

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

The church is true for everyone! 

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

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

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

tegan un buen semana! :) 

paz y amor! 

Hermana Maughan

Pete

Hey family! :)
Oh I love P-days. I love getting on here and getting to read your emails and then write and tell you about the week I've had. And let me tell you it has been a good one! :)
So first of all---humidity is gross. its like sweaty man. just gross. and then because of the humidity it brings out some....creatures. that I'm not to fond of. mosquitoes. centipedes. pincher bugs. spiders. see the common theme here? all gross things. things that bite. whether your sleeping or not. in your bed or even in the toilet. and all of the sudden you end up with red itchy bumps all over your skin.  that's been the arch enemy this week----bugs.

BUT!!!!! one thing that Illinois does have that is cool......
so its like 9pm getting home from a long day of work~ and its starting to get dark outside you think you cant see and then oh wait. flash of light. is someone taking a picture? another flash of light. does my dress have static? another flash...no wait. just a second......its a firefly!!!! :) I saw my first firefly! and you know what else i did? I caught it! and put it in a jar and his name is Pete. but then we remembered the missionary white handbook states that we cant have pets, so we let Pete go. and i think i know why its in the book. because when you have one pet--every other bug wants to be your pet. hence. the  Suzy centipede in the toilet later that night. and Jeff the pincher bug in our sink the next morning.

So enough with the bugs--missionary work.
Lupita now has a date to be baptized! July 30th. :) she is seriously so asombrosa. She loves reading the Book of Mormon like no one else that I know. She is starving for the words in the book. and she recognizes how this gospel has been blessing her life and is making her a better person. I love teaching Lupita. She's pregnant and waiting to find out if its gonna be a nino o nina. :) estamos muy animada por ella.
Fransisco is getting stronger and better every time we teach him. He likes going to church now and has even started reading the Book of Mormon to one of his workmates during their lunch break. :)

On Sunday at church I had two different members tell me that I have the face of a Mexican. I just have to think its from eating all those tortillas. hahahaha. and you know what I think is gonna be weird?... having church in English.
Um we have just really been pounding the streets this week looking for some new investigators who are ready to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. :) We have just taught some really awesome lessons this week and even had Jackie a young woman come with us on Monday. it was a lot of fun :)

So that's the update this week! hope all is well! :) sure miss you!

Couple shout outs this week:

Happy birthday to Libby and Brother! :)
Congrats Celine on your baptism!  I'm so happy for you:)

It is important to be doing the things that make us spiritually full all the time

Good Morning Peeps! :)
Adam and Steve--good one. hahahahahahahaha Chris never ceases to crack me up laughing.

So down to buisness this week-- well we have this investigator-Lupita and she is seriously so amazing. we have taught her 3 times and oh my gosh. I love her. on our second visit with her we taught her the plan of salvation and left her with a book of mormon and 3 nephi chapter 11 to read. we came back and asked her if she read. She said un poco (a little) and when someone says...oh i read a little...its like key for "no i didnt read but i dont want to tell you that i didnt read cause I know I should have...." So the next question that comes is how much is a little? what did you read? and she goes on to tell us perfectly what happened in the chapter and that she loved it and all the things she learned from it and then she said that in the first verse it talks about the people of Nefi and she was like "who are the people of Nefi?" so she told us that she looked in the summary to see if there was any explanation and nothing so she started the book from the beginning and proceeded to tell us the story of lehi and his family with nefi the son--turns out she read the first 3 chapters...and she only read a little. Hermana Reyes and I sat there with our jaws probably on the floor...took a while to pick em back up and remember how to speak spanish again. She is seriously someone who is white already to harvest. we taught her about baptism and she loves learning from us and is preparing for her baptism. shes coming to church this Sunday and she had no idea why she came to America....well i have a very good idea as to why..... its called the church is true anyone?

Then we had a crazy day on Thursday---we went to a come back apt which is where when you contact someone and they tell you to come back and they ll listen to you. and most of you are thinking well that means that they wont be home, and most of the time its true but we went back to this apt and they were hardcore evangelicalism's and their pastor from their church "just happened to be there" at the same time our apt was. Let me just tell you I have never had to defend the church so strong before and we refrained from bible bashing because that just gets you no where, but they wouldn't let us pray and so there was just some major testimony bearing going. It never ceases to amaze me at how I have these experiences where I have no thoughts in my head, I have no idea what I'm going to say and yet I open my mouth and its filled. with perfect spanish and the people understand with more than just their ears. We then went contacting and no ones letting us in door after door slammed in our face. We go to the next door and you know what happened? nothin. You see where I'm goin with this? I hadn't asked Hermana Reyes where she wanted to go. and you know what she said? The gro-cher-ery store. just kidding but we go to this last door and they let us in...start talking to us and asking us a lot of the same questions that the last apt we had were asking all over again and more strong testimonies and man. Can I just tell you by the end of the day I was plain exhausted. I know that I am not a priesthood holder but I think how completely wiped I felt was something like how priesthood holders do after using their awesome power.... what a spiritually full feeling. My mission is sure teaching me how to be spiritually full so much so that I can notice the days when I'm not as full as others. when i haven't been as focused in my studies, or done those things that make you spiritually prepared for the day. with how crazy this world is becoming it is important to be doing the things that make us spiritually full all the time.

Yesterday we had an awesome zone conference! man I love those. we have em every other transfer and this time it was focused a lot on the inspiration we receive from prayer and the importance of it. It was very uplifting and spiritually filling. :) SO prayer=important. if you want to receive inspiration then you have to pray for it! :)

Then last night there was a huge gigantic storm here as I'm sure that mike already knows all about :) but there were winds of over 75miles an hour and just like huge raindrops...tornado and all. So like last night we got out of our cita and it was just pouring! in running from the door to the car (which is seriously only like  47seconds away) we were completely soaked. through all the layers of our clothing... So adventure today is that Hermana Reyes and I were sitting here doing our emails when we both stopped and looked at each other and said I'm having the strongest feeling we need to go to the airport. There is someone there who needs us... So we packed up our stuff and drove to the airport...terminal 3 arrivals.......walk into the arrivals and wala Hermana missionary just sitting there all alone stranded in the airport.... OK so maybe it wasn't inspiration and more like a phone call from president telling us to go get her but none the less we have a trio for the day! :)

Today for preparation day we are going to the stake center and playing some broom hockey :) should be fun...oh and i think you would be happy to know my foot is in a shoe! :) I have a doctor apt tomorrow and it should be my last one. my toe is alright..just the heat and humidity sure are not my friends when it comes to having slim and slender feet and ankles and having silky smooth hair...:) gotta love Chicago weather! :)

Well that's the update! :) sure love you family!
oh and p.s. Vicki Adair! I sent you a letter like 3 weeks ago and I just got it back in the mail because it said that you didn't live there anymore. and so i don't know what your new address is so that you can get the letter :)
sure love you all!
paz y amor, Hermana Maughan

Trust in the Lord

Bloom Where we are Planted

~There was a lot going on last week with transfers and everything and my mind was elsewhere but I wanted to say Thank You for the "mystery" person who had flowers sent to Hermana Hoer and I last week, telling us to Bloom Where we are Planted. We had quite the day that day and getting those flowers sure made our night! :) So THANK YOU!!! They were beautiful!

So from this last transfer I was really sad to leave the city. I love it there, the people, the work, the ward, the bike, the rain, like every aspect of my last area but I know that I have moved to Arlington Heights for a reason. and that Hermana Reyes is supposed to be my companion again. Basically its really a cool feeling to know that we can just work. no greenie, no training, no senior junior comp feeling since we've been out to same amount of time, its just like a go and do and work work work! :) Our area is pretty big-not as big as Rockford but still pretty big....we live 5 minutes away from the temple. and so we drive everywhere. You know how big of a fan I am about driving. And I feel like the state of Illinois makes up the craziest things with driving...express ways, tollways, no lanes, fit where you can, no speed limits, do what you want when you want, random round abouts kind of driving skills going on here. The cops have seriously so much other stuff to worry about that driving and speeding isn't one of them.

So this past Friday I get out of the shower and look down at my unstitched toe and it looks kind of funny so i bend down and look a bit closer.....hmm you know why it looks kind of funny and {{}}different? well its split open! ahhh!! call sister doll and get to drive our little car down to the city to see the doctor and guess what? he's out of town. so this rep came in and bleh adventure with the dumb toe yet again. its still pretty swollen I cant wear shoes for too long before I start to look like an oompa loompa but i didn't have to get it restitched thank goodness. no more needles please. but i get to go back next week and that should be my LAST doctor apt!

But just this past week we put 2 investigators on date to be baptized for July 16th! One of which is Fransisco and he is pretty cool. Every time we go teach him I feel like I'm teaching Irma all over again. Gang buster, 3 kids before the age of 20, sincere desire to change and repent and loves how the gospel makes em feel....I love teaching Fransisco. He told us yesterday that his goal is to be prepared to get baptized sooner than the date we have...mind you that for the past 3 months the sister missionaries have been working him and trying to teach him that there was even a God. So the fact that hes now praying (9 times a day he told us), reading every chance he can and telling us hes so excited to be baptized--basicamente un milagro. Just so so so awesome!

Funny story--So the other day we were going around and having all these citas and stuff and knocking doors and you know doing missionary work--WELL so we go visit this older sister in our area around like 2pm so just after lunch...were talking to her sitting on these very very comfy couches, theres a nice breeze coming in the window, and all of the sudden the spanish turns to mumble jumble and my eyelids start to weigh heavier than any other part of my body~~next thing I know Hermana Reyes is waking me up from missionary snooze land! I TOTALLY FELL ASLEEP! oh my gosh I was SO embarrassed!! Cannot believe I did that.

But a REALLY cool thing happened after that! We went to one of our investigators house and had the plan to teach him the importance of coming to church and instead it ended up being recognizing the spirit. It was a really good lesson and then it kind of started turning into a battle of words with the investigator and the member and I just had the prompting to open my mouth. I did not know what I was going to say. no thoughts. and yet i did just that and opened my mouth. and you know what? it was filled. with spanish words. and it felt just awesome. Sister Reyes is from Mexico and so she speaks spanish really well and she knows all the things that i have problems with in my speaking skills and she sat there completely stunned because the words coming out my mouth were perfect spanish! It was a very spiritual moment and I completely felt like I was being a mouth piece for what the lord wanted me to say. Love love love it. :)

My allergies are having party days here let me tell ya! there's like pollen that just floats in the air, it looks like um borbujas--bubbles and yet its the deadly enemy of my nose and eyes... weeeeeeee

Gourmet dishes Ive had this week: Cow tongue tacos with rice and beans, and Cow feet tostadas with chile and platano. yummmm you know you want some! :)

I sure love all of you so much! Trust in God because when you do great things happen. :)
paz y amor, Hermana Maughan
 

 

BIG SUPRISE

Hey howdie hoe family!

Happy 9 Months! :) so crazy that I have now hit this part of my mission. It all seems to have happened so fast and I cant believe that its already here.....just crazy crazzzy. p.s. the things im sending is to help me not count the days but make the days count and let you two worry about the counting down days part ;)

Well yesterday I went to dr and you know what he did? removed my stiches! A shoe is now on my foot! mind you that its swollen...I look like I have prego cankels. but nonetheless, a shoe is on my foot! :)

And transfers happened this week. BIG SUPRISE. Ive been transfered. I am no longer working in the downtown city. Now Im in the suburbs of Chicago, Arlington Heights-right next to the temple. I am also no longer training. My companion is Sister Reyes---name ring a bell?? well it should. we were companions in the mtc the first week and then she moved up to the advanced class. But now we are serving together in the field and both celebrating our 9 months together. I really wonder what this transfer will hold. Im no longer on a bike which makes me really sad...but its good. there is a reason for the change. I may not know what it is but there is one. If the only reason I was in the city was to find Irma than it was worth it. This transfer will be full of adventures just a different kind-Hna Reyes has been in this area for 6 weeks and Im the senior companion and also the driver :/ well see how long THAT lasts.

Not gonna lie the change took me for a loop-no pun intended. but I really felt like I was just getting to know Hermana Hoer and we were doing some great things and talking to some cool people in the city. But there is something else to learn and someone else who needs me here. It will be good. Nothing like the life of a missionary. :)

The weather here is plain nuts! No building here in the city has a thing called aire conditional aka air conditioning. which I dont understand. houses in az have heat and ac and yet here chichage actually really needs the heat AND the ac and the buildings dont have ac. just crazy. So its been HOT these past couple days. hittin the 90's and just keeps climbing. This year Illinois skipped spring and went straight from winter to summer. weeeee for sweating. and sweating and sweating. :)

Thats all I've got to report this week- :) hope all is well! sure miss you all very much!

Paz y Amor Hermana Maughan

p.s. I finished the Libro De Mormon hoy en espanol! :) :)

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

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

holy cow do I have a ton to tell you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya!

paz y amor,

Hermana Maughan

Chicago, Chicago, I just want to say...

They do not lie when they tell you that missionary work is work. The spanish is sooo hard. I have such a burning desire to help our investigators and I want them to come to Christ soooo bad but its really hard to know what to say when you don't even know what has been said in the conversation....but its good.

• Wednesday night we teach an Enlgish class
• Thursday is planning for the week day
• Friday we had a lot of appointments.
• Saturday we did some major contacting
• Sunday went to my little little spanish branch and whew this spanish is a doooosey...after church it was choir practice and then we went and did 21 contacts that day!!
• Monday I bore testimony about reading the Book of Mormon
• Tuesday was also a good day full of contacting and walking and working with recent converts

My love for this work and these people have truely grown and I just want to have these people know what I know and come unto chirst sooooo bad.

But today me and Hermana Layton are doing some shopping for winter clothes as we should be getting some snow this week--AHHH!!!! IT IS SERIOUSLY SOOOOOO COLD HERE!!!!!

I lLOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL and I cant wait to hear from you!

Paz y Amor,

Hermana Maughan

P.s. to all my friends--my mail has been very slow this week...alls I got was my letter from my bro...have you all dissapeared?? I really like mail and I really like all of you so write me letters!