Truly amazing how simple our message is...

Ok what is up with Timothie having foot surgery?  Im the only one that is allowed to get hurt! That’s my role as the oldest Brother…  Well I will be praying for her.

                But the week was good another one that just drained me physically and spiritually. We were asked to sit on the stand at church so everyone could see us and one of the speakers is a professor at North Carolina University and I was trying so hard to stay awake but i will have to say I fell asleep twice but I did a good cover by holding my scriptures and looking like I was reading something (with my eyes closed) and Elder Butts didn’t even see... so I'm just that good but I felt really bad because it was really good and I don’t like missing stuff in church…. That’s what happens when you’re working 24 hours a day and your head hits the pillow and then all of the sudden the alarm is going off… I LOVE IT!!! I really do it feels so good!  

                So I have a story about how revelation comes through the book of Mormon. Just this past Wednesday when we went to a referral's home, it just started good as soon as we pulled up to the house. He was outside and then as we walked up he was like “you want to come in?”. His name is Ryan and he is about 19-20 and has been around Latter Day Saints most of his life and just had a few questions. He wanted to know what we believed and we started talking about how Heavenly Father is truly our father and loves us and then about prophets and how God has all ways worked through a prophet. We talked about Jesus Christ and what he did for us and then the great apostasy and the restoration. The spirit was so strong through the entire lesson and it wasn’t even Elder Butts or I teaching we were just saying words and the spirit was teaching.  After we talked about Joseph Smith we asked if he had any questions and he said something but it didn’t make sense and he started thinking about if he had a question and what it was, so we sat there in complete silence for about a minute and a half as he was thinking (and I was praying… a lot) but then he asked why was it Joseph and not someone different? Then we asked him a question.  If he wanted to know if it was true and he said that he really did so we started talking about the Book of Mormon and how if we read and pray about it we will find that it is true and that means that Jesus is the Christ , Joseph was his prophet, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church once again on the earth. (how great is that?) and then everything after that came to the fact that he needed to read and pray.

It was truly amazing how simple our message is and someone that truly wants to know only has to read and pray… I just love it!

                Well there is my story for the week I really enjoyed it. Oh we also gave blood (second time on my mission) and I just love doing it, one thing is that it's service I can give while laying down and another you get free stuff after haha. Each time I give I feel perfectly fine after J

               Oh ya! The other day I saw my first lighting bug! It was really cool! And for being in NC  and this the first time ever seeing one elder butts was laughing about how fascinated I was about it so he caught it and as soon as he showed me he let it go…… It reminded me of the first and only fish I was able to catch: I'm still into it and amazed and then someone else goes and throws it away… hahaha   
                So that’s my week I hope you all doing good and and a lot of good things happen as well!! 

LOVE ELDER MAUGHAN             

Mexican burri-TOE

Howdie do yall day?

Well first off this week has been crazy! it is just funny to me how we plan to have certain things done and you know what? they just dont seem to happen! Life isnt it? well

Last Monday we went looking for an apt, and this monday we moved into a new apt. crazy fast right? but good news is that the floor isnt slanted and it doesnt smell of doggy poo poo...its a really nice apt and we love it. and we just found yesterday that our neighbors below us are avid smokers---and not of the regular lung cancer giving tabacco....but of the happy headed plant that grows in the form of many leaves...oh and its illegal....weeeeeeeed....we also learned if you close the bathroom door and then go inside it you can probably leave the bathroom pretttty happy. Needless to say looks like our neighbors need some good ol Church of Jesus Christ in their Lives to help solve some problems :)

Oh and other big news this week---well Ive been having some pain on my 4th toe and feeling some pretty hard bumps on there, I talked to sister doll and she told me I should go check to see if I have any bone spurs on that toe...so off me and Hermana Hoer go to visit the poditrist. After going to a poditrist and having her tell me that I did not have a bone spur but that it was just had a hardend blister, giving me a badage that makes my toe look like a Mexican burri-TOE and sending me on my way...Decided it was probably best to go for a second opinion...

Second opinion: Comes in, looks at my toe, tells me I have two bone spurs. weeeeeeeeee. what does that mean? Surgery! YIPEEEE! you know how I just love needles! So Friday I go in for some bone shavin on my toe. Im goin to the hospital, theyre putting me under and then knumbing my toe up, cutting it open and filing off the lovely bone lumps that have been growing on my toe. Then I wake up with a cool new shoe on. Its gonna be the hip happenin thing here in chicago, just you wait, surgical boots are gonna be in! everyones gonna be wanting to wear one :)

Oh and that means I have to be off my foot for at least 1 week...off my foot for one week in an area where I ride a bike everywhere????thank goodness for zone meeting tomorrow and the fact that they have an extra car for us to use this next week.

p.s. you know whats nice about cars? They have air conditioning.

P.s. you know whats nice about air conditioning? You can actually cool off a bit and not feel like your constantly sweating with the humidity.

So the bone spur adventures will continue next week when im done my surgery! :)

Another thing that happened this week....was that well we moved on monday and some elders came to help us..including our zone leaders....and while they were finishing putting some last little things in our apt we were putting our bikes in the bike room...we came out the same time they did and we left to go drop off alllllll the old sister missionary clothes that have been in our apt for who knows how long..on the way back from dropping the stuff off the zone leaders start talking and say "its really weird that you hermanas have a handicap bathtub" needless to say an interesting discussion was then insued..on whethere our bathtub was really a handicap one..."we live on the third floor in a building with no elevator. how is a handicap person gonna get up those flights of stairs to even use the so called handicap bathtub" we got to our apt and they told us to just go check...ya ya whatever. we get up to our apt and by this time have already let the whole issue pass through our brains to point that weve even forgotten about it. I need to wash my hands so I go into the bathroom and see something funny sitting behind the shower curtain. what ? I pull away the shower curtain and sure enough you know whats sitting in our bathtub?

a wheelchair.

what to do with it now? we have no idea. Yet.

The work here presses on and we are ready to see more miracles this week...The awesome new investigator we found this week, Ramon, well it turns out hes outside of our area :( but there was definately a plan of god invloved in all of this because prettys ure that had we not gone to look at the apt we would not have found him and neither would the other elders serving in his area...God is Great.

Mike-You graduate!!! WEEEEEE congrats! :)

  

but thats all Ive got this week! Till next! sure love you all so much!

paz y amor

Hermana Maughan

It was a good week and full of tender mercies!

Another week and another transfer over, and im staying in Roxboro for at least another 6 weeks and then it will be my year mark…. CRAZY!!!  It all has gone by so fast but im glad me and elder butts can stick together for at least another 6 weeks and its me birthday! I will not be a teenager any more, and that will be weird….. its going by fast.

This week has been a little slow a lot of our investigators have disappeared and we have been working really hard to find new ones and it really funny you know how everyone thinks missionary work is knocking  on doors  well I have only knocked on like 6 doors since iv been in Roxboro , there just hasn’t been time to knock haha (it’s a really good feeling) and I think everyone in Roxboro knows who we are now with it being such a small town and we bike and walk everywhere so that’s interesting  and lots of fun! And I really think a lot of good is going to be coming.

Yesterday in church a less active (well not anymoreJ) that I have been working with the entire time here in Roxboro just got a calling as a teacher! That was really cool and it felt really good and just as good as a baptism because her and her husband(he wants and it working on stop chewing and drinking coffee) are such great people and I been with them since he didn’t know if the church to be true to doing all he can to share the gospel to all he meets! There a family ill never be able to forget!

Sis woods is doing ok but still hasn’t been able to come to church because she all ways really sick, but will be praying really hard about her. And the work is going to just keep on moving forward! And now I don’t have my planner with me of last transfer so I can’t remember all the things that happened last week but I know that it was a good week and full of tender mercies!

Well I got to go I hope you all have a great week! and take care!

LOVE ELDER MAUGHAN

This week has been AMAZING!

Wow…this week has been crazy! With all the service and then the temple, then having elder

Scott come and talk to our mission... the week has just been crazy with the spirit! To the point that after we got home form meeting with elder Scott and it was a 4 hour drive.. we got home and I collapsed on the floor and past out. And it was really funny because I was talking to my comp telling him who to call and I couldn’t remember any of it. I was just out. We laughed a lot about that. Me and elder butts both have felt dead every night this week from just working  and just ready to collapse but still working hard, it was amazing and it has been wonderful! I can’t wait to tell you all about it on Sunday on and this time I get 40 mins and if I can make my call at 3pm my time that would be great!  I really look for forward to it and im not allowed to use the internet to talk to you L but im really looking forward to it!!:)

                I don’t even know what more to say other then this week has been AMAZING! And now that we have some time to go out and find the people that want to know the truth I know we will be able to show them the truth and help them to feel that joy! And that’s so cool that elder packer came to speak to you! You know that he was here a few months ago and talked to our mission.. did he say anything about it? He really is a great guy and he really has the spirit with him!

                I love you all so much and its so great to read your letters and next week ill tell all about everything just today is major writers block haha I love all so much and take care! I love you!

                ELDER MAUGHAN

Doing the work of the lord. :)

hey hey the bam awesome fam! :)

so a bit weird that youre hearing from me again on a thursday instead of a wednesday huh?? well all the libraries in chicago were closed yesterday for some training thing so we got the permiso to write emails today. so big cool thing is that i get to talk to you all on sunday!!!!!! YAAAAYYYY!!! :) and we can do a skype thing or a face time thing because the peoples house we are going over to have both :) so elder beck (the senior couple missionaries) said that the face time is better quality than the skuype. so which ever you wanna do! :) 

But this week has been good. me and hrma heor have done a lot of bike riding this past week and i didnt think my legs could possible be sorer than they were the first week i was here but they are. so now i look like a soaking, homeless girl who stole a bike and walks like shes been horse back riding for 5 days straight. pleasent sight right? yesterday we did like 20miles on the bike. and today its gonna be right up there too...

this week has been hard. we are both trying to learn the area and find new investigators. marcelino has dropped off the face of the earth and we cant contact him. he wont answer or return our phone calls and never answers the door. and he didnt come to church on sunday. i sure hope hes ok. and then the same with some of the other families that we were teaching here. they are just not progressing. so we are now on the hunt for some newbies who have been waiting. Hermana Hoer is awesome though, we have set our vision of what we want to see happen and what we see ourselves becoming (the good energy and attracting what we think thing)  and we are really very excited for the work we are preparing for.  the directions and riding the bike is actually going pretty well. we have only got lost a couple of times :) and its all a part of it thought right?

but my spanish--man i really do feel the lord helping me so much to be able to understand and speak as much i do now., I mean I have to be the one to call and confirm appts and we have english classes starting up today and the elders who made the ads were so nice to put our phone number on the ads so to say in the most simplest terms our phone is blowing up with spanish phone calls! and let me tell you something talking in spanish is hard enough and then talking spanish over the phone is even harder but im makin it through. and i know its all the lord. only through him am i being helped. :) thank good ness for miracles!

This monday I got invited to go to mission counsel which happens the first monday of every month and all the zone leaders meet with president and the assistants to discuss about how the zone is going and also about what is going to be focused on in the zone meetings for that month. so it was really cool to be able to be a part of that this month. only like 4-6 sisters get asked to come. we had a really awesome discussion on the doctrine of chirst which is 2 nephi 31. and its just amazing how kids our age can be talking like this about spiritual things and just doing the work of the lord. :) 

we dont have very many members feeding us here because we dont have very many members that live in our area so some recipes would be greatly appreciated :) I just have no idea what to cook... i know i dont want rice or beans.

oh and everywhere i seem to go seems to be at the time where our lease expires so guess what we get to look for again? yep a new apt! hahaha in the city man its hard to do it with a budget :) but this gives us a chance not to have slanted floors and dog poop ordors in our apt right? :)

I hope that everything is going good over there I miss you all tons and hope you have a great week! Talk to you on sunday family!!

Paz y amor,

Hermana Maughan

One of the best things in the whole world

hey there family!

So this has been quite a week! An awesome last week for Hermana Curtis! Its been pretty busy trying to get her all packed and ready to go and at the same time seeing everyone that she wants to say bye too but it was good. I got to know a bit more of the members in our ward which was really nice.

This past week we had a lesson with Marcelino. And he came to church but still not super progressing. Like the thing he needed to be progressing would be a date for baptism. Marcelino has been being taught since august and has been dropped 2 times due to lack of keeping commitments. So me and Hna Curtis went in for our cita con el y estabamos tratando a entender sus necesitdades y porque no quiere una fecha de bautismal.... entonces we asked him what was impeding him from being baptized and he said that he just wants to learn more. we asked him if he knew this church was true and he said that he teaches good things. we asked him if he knew the BOM is true and he said its a good book. we asked him if he had asked specifically to know if the book was true and he said no. we asked what he would do if he knew the BOM was true. he said i would be baptized. So we said OK. Lets get an answer right now. we all kneeled down in a circle and I prayed first and then hna curtis and then Marcelino. all asking to know if the book of mormon was true and to receive an answer. the spirit was so strong and Marcelino was literally overcome by the spirit that we set him with a baptism date for May 28th. He came to church again this Sunday and stayed for both la santa cena and Sunday school. and this next week hes gonna come for the whole thing...porque poco a poco. :)

Other HUGE thing this week is that IRMA GOT BAPTIZED!!! :) :) :) :) one of the most spiritual and awesome baptisms I have ever been too. I cannot even put into words. Like was just one of the best things in the whole world. Her uncle is a member and he didn't believe us when we told him that she was getting baptized cause of how much shes changed. he came and baptized her and then on Sunday her cousin who just got off a mission is going to come and confirm her a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints! :) YAAAAAYYYY!

Then biggest thing this week is that it was transfers....... I am now a trainer. Which is so crazy to me...I definately feel like I could stay junior comp for longer but this is gonna be really good. It will be an adventure thats for sure. Her name is Hermana Hoer (pronounced Her) so isnt that cool? Shes a her and im a man. and together were a herman haha.... and Im really excited to serve with her these next weeks. we are gonna learn this area together and learn together. and it really is amazing how much I already feel the lord helping me with my spanish and with my remembering where to go and stuff. Like even though this is so much responsibility and work and not to mention that I have HUGE shoes to fill I am calm and have this peace that is unexplainable but I know where its coming from and Im really being made to grow. 

I love you all so much! Till next week!

Paz y Amor, Hermana Maughan

 

I JUST LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!

Wow this week has been crazy! So much stuff and it all started with elder penny leaving in the middle of the transfer and I needed to find a ride down to the temple to pick up my new comp Elder Butts. His is a great missionary and only 6 weeks younger then me on the mission, but we are already really good friends and just laughing all the time it has been just wonderful. And ever since he has gotten her we have done a LOT of service so we are going to make our own company and so far the name is “Butts and Maughan Mormon Mulching Moving Window Washing Landscaping Game Corporation” and our slogan is “we’ll do everything except the way you want it” haha so let me explain:

Saturday: we mulched at the church then right after we went and helped a member wash widow for about 4 hours (that was long but he really trust us now)

Monday: he helped another member move 4 engine blocks and a lot of other stuff

Tuesday: we helped another member dig up his front yard

And then we also have done a lot of little things for everyone we meet o and the game part comes form the fact that in elder butts and my free time (which isn’t a lot) have made a Book of Mormon Risk game! Haha its really cool but that is our company and it is great! And I'm so glad Elder Butts is here the spirit is so much stronger and our lessons have so much more power! But so we where in a lesson last night and we are teaching about forgiveness and I start talking about praying and the power of it, when all the sudden I say something really random on the lines of “you need to pray about everything even those days you wake up and really feel like you don’t want to go to work, you need to pray” and after saying that I was like that was really random…. But then Bro Key (the investigator) is like well two weeks ago that happened to me that I really didn’t want to go to church….lalala…. and it really helped the lesson and for them to feel the spirit. It was wonderful and I'm so glad that the spirit can do such amazing things through me and all I have to do it open my mouth… I JUST LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!

So to day I just got back from the temple and that’s why I'm sending the e-mail now because its our p-day and it was so wonderful! The spirit was so strong and I cant wait to be home where I can go to the temple all the time! And another great thing that is going to be going on is this Saturday Elder Scott of the quorum of the twelve apostles is coming to our mission! I will be able to talk to a prophet seers and revelator! Its going to be amazing! I'm so glad I'm in the true church and I have the chance to meet some one with the same priesthood authority of the twelve apostles that Christ called when he was on the earth!  

I love you all so much and thank you all for all you do!

ELDER MAUGHAN