September 28, 2011

hola hola mi familia!

Man como estan? another week!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

paz y amor!

Hermana Maughan

September 26, 2011

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

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

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

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

ELDER MAUGHAN  

September 21, 2011

Hey there family!

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

Lessons learned this week:

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

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

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

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

4. The tortillas have gotten to me.

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

Adventure this week: 

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

 Big Miracle this week: 

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

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

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

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

Paz Y amor

Hermana Maughan

September 19th 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More Trees and More Meetings

Well there wasn’t much that went on here, I think everyone has power now and most of the trees are all cleaned up, and a lot of the week was cleaning that up and the rest of the week was a lot of meetings.  Like district meeting, and zone leader\district leader counsel (that is a meeting that all the leaders get together and talk about the mission in general and what we can do to help) then we had weekly planning and an exchange which I went up to Roanoke Rapides (we moved trees), then church and this week we have zone conference and then an exchange with the zone leaders and the week after that I have exchanges… I sure am learning a lot.

            Well guess what I did yesterday?...golf haha and it might look like we are going to start doing it every week haha and I'm slowly getting better and it's just fun, not too much stress unless I miss an easy putt or something haha then after we had a cook out (what you would know as a BBQ, but here BBQ is a type of food so when we have hamburgers and hotdogs its called a cook out) and it was a lot of fun we even might teaching someone soon because of it, his name is Nat and he has come to church once and has now gotten every Sunday off of work so he can go every week, and at the cook out we had a conversation about the plan of salvation. And he really enjoyed it and now wants to be taught. So that was really great.

            Um……. That was really all my week…. Haha sorry about the shorter letter but I would right more if I could think of something…….. well the church is still true haha and I love all of you still and I hope to have some great stories for you in my next letter…….I'm sorry haha

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

LOVE FROM ELDER MAUGHAN    

1 Year Today!

HI FAMILY!!!!!!!!

So isn't it so crazy that 1 year ago today I left for the MTC? Actually I would be just about off the plane by now.....weird. I cannot believe that it has already been a year!  So today for the celebration of being 1 year old, Hermana Noyes and I are going to be going to this cute little cupcake shop down main street and having a cupcake. haha

And I'm sure you all are wondering how this week has been in a new area? Just hangin on by your finger tips with anticipation right? riiiiiiiiiight. well...if i could sum up this week into one verb it would be: Laughing. Hermana Noyes and I have had an awesome week....full of laughter as I just keep pulling "stupids" or retry moments as my mom likes to call them. Hermana Noyes is an awesome person who makes it really easy to be obedient and love the work. Idk. its like stress free and yet were busy busy at the same time.

Things I've learned this week:

        1. dont try to pull a U-turn when there are cars behind you. pretty obvious right? well i had to learn that one the hard way. No worries, no accidents and not even one honked horn. just i wish i could draw the picture of what i did and put it on here.....

         2. Its really smart to bring your preach my gospel, scriptures, suit coat and nylons to district meeting. Actually they re essential. How I didn't have those things I don't know. Here's the story: So every month our zone here gets together for a combined district meeting where we make our zone goals for the month on the things we want to accomplish. and its at the stake center which is about a 20 min drive from our apt to the stake center....So Hermana Noyes and I had a great morning, studying and working out and we were sure to leave the house on time so that we wouldn't be late for district meeting. We get all the way down to Naperville and Hermana Noyes looks down and goes "What?! I forgot my suit coat! instead I'm wearing this! (striped white and yellow sweater)" so the conversation goes on and I tell her you know I brought mine, its in the back I just wont wear it so that we are like unified. She tells me it's OK that I can and should wear it....So I go to get it, only to realized that I set my coat on the table to grab the keys and forgot it on the table. at the same time of remembering that I forgot that I also came to the sudden realization that I had NOTHING for district meeting. Not my english scriptures not my preach my gospel---nothing. And right as I was about to say something I hear Hermana Noyes go "I forgot allllllll my district meeting stuff!" Oh boy, where were our heads that morning? Idk. Needless to say lots of laughter followed due to the fact that we both forgot the same things and realized it at the same time-when we were already at the stake center. But good thing from this story? yes there is one good thing----at least it shows that we are a unified companionship.

As for the miracles seen this week:

           1. Well on Saturday we had been running around trying to stop by and see some of these referrals we had received and visiting with some less actives and other investigators, just a busy day. and We were leaving one appointment and I saw the mexican ice cream/ elote truck. and I had the biggest craving for elote----(what is that? well ready for this= corn, butter, mayonnaise and chile. padres get ready to have some when i get home! ) and I asked hermana noyes if she had ever had one before she said no and honestly you can't be in the spanish program and not have had elote. so we went and bought one and it was yummy. talked to man for a bit and then went off. but in literally every area we were in that day he was there! Like every different part of town he would just happen to be driving his little truck around the neighborhood. the last time was right before we were about the head home and he saw us again and we just all started laughing at how many times we had seen each other that day. and then he asked us if we were from a church and one thing led to the next and we have a new investigator! :) God sure is funny....giving me the craving to have an elote.

            2. Importance of talking to everyone you don't know......church on Sunday there was this younger female and turns out that she had just moved from Guatemala to take a nanny job here in the states for a year. not a member....her boyfriend had given her a BoM before she left and she went to church like once over there and when she came here that's the first thing she did was find where the church building was and she just showed up. we invited her to come to noche de hogar that night and she came and then we had a picnic on Monday with the ward for labor day and she came to that as well and we meet with her tomorrow. I'm really excited she is wanting to learn more and really likes the bom.

         3. We have 2 baptisms on Saturday! Rosa y Andrew, they are 14 and 12 and moved from Mexico to live with their aunt and uncle and they are truly super cool. their baptism is gonna be awesome. Hermana Noyes and I will be speaking at it and I'm really excited.

        4. We have another baptism coming up next week of a man named Carlos and he has one strong testimony in the church. He's a single father with 3 kids-two of which will be preparing to be baptized on October.

 Ultimately this all sums up to this area is awesome. I feel like I have already been here for a while and that I just get along with everyone here in this ward....like I already know them, Idk how to describe it but its like kind of like the feeling of when you've been gone on a long trip and then you get back and you see your friends that you haven't seen in a while and its like things just pick up where they left off when you left...kinda like that. so I'm so excited to be here. The members here even know how to say my name....something little to know but every other area besides the city didn't know how to say it....so estoy feliz

(the mission office, and home are in my area hahaha) and Ive had the opportunity to serve in 4 out of the 8 hermana areas in the mission. crazy huh?

Anywhooser I better get this off. gosh I feel like there is so much more I could tell. but I just want to say this work is awesome. I love being a missionary. It is hard but it also seriously the best and most funnest thing ever. This gospel brings more lasting joy than anything else can or will. and I feel so blessed to be able to be the Lords missionary. This year, my mission has taught me more about who I am, my relationship with God, my relationship and the importance of family, and more about marriage than I EVER imagined I would learn out here on my mission. So any of you that are questioning whether you should go or not I have 2 words for you: DO IT!!!!!!! high chances you'll regret not going, but you will NEVER regret going.

 Love you all! tengan un buen semana!

paz y amor

Hermanita Maughan

Earthquake and Hurricane

So this week there wasn’t anything really big going on…… just my first earthquake and hurricane, so you know nothing to big… haha

                But I'm safe and doing really good. The earthquake felt like I was in a vibrating chair for only 20 seconds so it wasn’t anything big but still it was my first one. Now everyone seems to have forgotten about that because of the hurricane that hit. So we kept getting both sides of the story before Irena hit some saying it was nothing others making it sound like it was going to be the end of the world so we didn’t really know what to think, but then on Thursday night we were told that 4 elders from Greensville where going to spend the weekend at our house. The next morning they came and throughout the day we would get sudden gusts of strong wind and rain then it would go away and in the evening there was just a little sprinkle nothing too much and we woke up the next morning to the same thing. But right at 8 in the morning it just hit and it was high winds with a lot of rain…. So we were stuck inside just waiting Irena outside, nothing really happened to our house only a little leaking from the back door and our power going out (for 7 hours) but besides that we we did play a few games like; if and then, and trash can basketball haha.

                Now the next day was a little different… there was no church because there was no power and all the damage that had happened. The 6 of us had our own sacrament meeting and it was really spiritual as we all shared our testimony’s but then we got into our work clothes. Can you guess were we went?....... If you guessed the golf course then your right!! Haha the member that owns it really needed help as you can see from the pics. But we were out there the past two days just doing all we could to move these trees. It was a lot of work and it felt so good to do service. What made this hurricane so bad and caused so many trees to come down was that this storm was so big and moved so slow through our area that the rain was making the ground so wet and then the wind was just blowing and blowing. So the trees just came down all over the place. There were a few trees that went into homes.  It looks a lot better today than it did a few days ago. We were also so blessed to get our power back so fast. There are still a some people without power, but something that has been cool to see is how neighbors and strangers just help all they can sharing generators and food it has been really cool.

                So that was my first hurricane and it was very interesting but I am safe and just looking forward to help even more people. But boy, I tell you I'm a little tired. And the only thing that happened to me was my camera decided it wanted to stop working…. So im back to old faithful haha    

                I love you all so much and thanks for the prayers they helped so much!!

ELDER MAUGHAN