Best! Christmas! Ever!! - December 29, 2104

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Talking to you guys was the best Christmas present I think I have ever gotten! The whole conversation, at first, left me a little sad, especially saying goodbye, but after about 5 minutes I got over it and was beyond grateful for the opportunity to Skype you guys. Thanks for your amazingly sweet words and advice, I am so happy that I am here in Baltimore! Hannah, you said it perfectly, it left me excited and ready to work harder than ever :) 

And your present, I am speechless….

Well... we already got to talk about how my Christmas went. We had a great morning with Maria and her family! I got to talk with my w o n d e r f u l  family and eat pancakes with bacon! After we talked, the Elders came over and we played some really fun games- deer in the headlights and spot it (I suggest that you purchase both of them).

I really cant think of much else to tell you guys other than our trip to the temple. It was a miracle in and of it itself just getting there! We went with some of our investigators. We had to have 2 cars to get us there, and after having ride after ride cancel on us, we finally found people ready and willing to take us. One was Ofelia, a great lady in our branch, who helped us out and brought her entire family... so that was really cool! Then, Joel, who is 19 years old took Hermana Orton and me, along with whoever else fit in. Joel lives in PA, had plans that night, and needed to work at 6 in the morning the next day... but drove the hour and a half to Balitmore, picked us up, and drove us another hour out of the way to the temple. There are some pretty amazing people in this world! I didn't really how much people sacrifice in the church. Growing up in Provo... there was always a church in walking distance and the members aren't really expected to do too much because there are so many. Here, it is quite the opposite. Por ejemplo, the Young Woman president and Young Men President are husband and wife. They take on so much responsibility and sacrifice so much. It is so amazing and such a testimony builder :) The temple was amazing and our investigators were just in awe. One told me that he felt like a little kid at Disney land and kept trying to choose his favorite tree. The lights were amazing. He loved everything and was telling us how beautiful it was! Another kept telling us that they were going to be baptized and then they are going in and getting married for eternity! :) It was adorable!

As you know, we have used up all of our miles for the rest of the month. So, we are using the good old buses and the metro again. It has been quite the learning experience. Last night, we had a lesson and we took what we thought was the correct bus, when we got off we decided to take the metro down and it ended up taking us about 2 miles away from our appointment. We had to book it over and looked like messes when we got there, but, our appointment was impressed that we had walked all that way in the cold and the rain. It ended up being a great lesson and on the way home we realized that we just could have taken the “9” bus right to her house! haha Someday we are going to get this! We also saw a man getting a shave in downtown Baltimore at a construction site...that was hilarious. But that is about it for the week!!!! 

I love you guys so much! I love my Savior and the opportunity that we had to celebrate His birth, His life, and all that He did for us this past week! I am grateful that I am here in Baltimore, dedicating myself and my time to learning more about Him and helping others discover Him as well :)

Looooooooooooooooooove you

Lenny Lou, That’s Who :)

Adventures Galore - December 22, 2014

FAMILIA!!!!!!! 

What a jam packed crazy week! I have SO much to tell you all, but I don't want to spend forever writing! I need to read all about Hannah coming home! 

Monday:

We went to Tag Alley for Pday and it was so much fun! You all know how much I love graffiti :) I was in heaven! While we were chilling out, this guy went over to this door that you could not even tell was there because it was painted right into the graffiti. He typed in a code and started to go inside. Apparently there was a building behind everything! Elder Riddle yelled at him and asked what he was doing. Turns out he works for the graffiti warehouse. He let us come inside and took us on a VIP tour! It WAS SO LEGIT!!!! I felt so cool! We weren't allowed to take pictures, so you will just have to take my word for it on how col it was :)

We had an appointment with one of our investigators later and we taught the law of chastity. She told us that if she has to get married to her boyfriend (they have 2 kids together) then she doesn't want to be baptized. She doesn't believe in marriage. So, we just asked her to pray and see if it is what God wants for her. We bore testimony of the blessings that would come.

Tuesday:

We had zone training at the church and a crazy miracle happened. While we were sitting there, we heard a knock at the door. One of the senior couples went out and saw that there was a girl outside. She had walked to the building looking for help. She had been planning on taking her life and didn't now where to go, so she walked to a church. She is only 16 years old. The senior sister talked with her and the story was just amazing! I am happy to report that this young girl is now meeting with the sister missionaries :)

Wednesday:

We found this lady while contacting in the street an she invited us to come back to her house! She is pretty young, I would say 20s and has 2 kids. Her ex is in prison in Mexico and she is all alone here. She is stuck here with no family. So sad. When we were leaving, we asked if there was anything we could do for her. She asked if we could  come back and teach her how to write her kids names. I tried not to cry! We are going to start going over and teaching her how to read and write. Being here in Baltimore is really changing me. It really makes me recognize my blessings and wow... it just really puts everything into perspective.

Thursday:

MY 6 MONTH MARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am a third of the way done! WHAT!? So... this was probably the most interesting day of my mission! It was a “car fast” so we had to take the busses- that adventure could be an email all on its own! When we come back and visit here as a family, we have to take the busses! hahaha! We had some discussions planned and made it to all of our appointments on foot or by public transit. Some of the people we are teaching have some very interesting beliefs- like believing in God... but that He is dead. Well, it was 7 at night and we were still in Baltimore... not only were we in Baltimore, but we were in the most dangerous part, without a car! We called the Elders up and they came to walk us to the bus stop. We waited for over an hour and a half for the bus to come and get us... just to find out that it had stopped running for the night. So, we hopped on a different one at around 9:30... got to our stop and then walked about a mile to our house at 10:30 at night! Things are not supposed to go like this! It was quite an adventurous day! Let’s hope it doesn't happen again.

Friday:

I went on exchanges with Jordin Parkin from highschool! It was so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crazy huh! But all of the work was in English.... and I am gonna be honest. I didn't really like it and I felt really weird... I was happy to get back to my Spanish work the next day! But, it was soooooooo fun being with Sister Parkin.

Saturday:

We had the branch Christmas Party and it was a blast! The food was off the chain and I LOVED the music! It was s hard not to dance!!!!

Last night............... WAS AMAZING! ! ! ! ! !

We went to a Porque Yo Creo Fireside in Frederick and took one of this areas former investigators with us. At first, she really wanted nothing to do with us. But, we sang and had fun and by the end of the ride we had gained her trust! Then, she opened up to us and told us why she had stopped the lessons awhile ago. She didn't feel the spirit as strong as she had when she started, she had some doubts etc. But, she recently read a talk by Elder Utchdorf and it helped her a TON. She asked us a lot of questions and the spirit was definitely with us because I was whipping out scriptures and answering things with such confidence. It was an amazing experience and she wants to meet with us again :)

But... it gets even better. I am sitting in the chapel in Frederick and in walks in... L!!!!!!!! His mom went and fought and got him released!!!! I was in shock and thought I was imagining the whole thing! He had gotten off of house arrest the day before! He seemed pretty sad, not really himself, which was understandable with what he had just been through. But, IT was amazing!!!! Merry Christmas to Lennon!!!!

I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!! I HOPE THAT YOU JUST HAVE THE BEST CHRISTMAS!!!!! WE HAVE SOME CRAZY FUN PLANS FOR THE WEEK AND I COULDN’T BE MORE EXCITED!!!!!! I CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU GUYS IN 4 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hannah - YOU'RE DONE TODAY!!! - December 15, 2014

HANNAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE GOING TO SEE MOM AND MAX TODAY!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE BEEN FREAKING OUT ALL MORNING!!!!!!!!!!! HOW ARE YOU ALREADY DONE!? HOW DO YOU FEEL????? IT DOESNT SEEM REAL!?!?! FAMILY... HOW ARE YOU HANDLING ALL OF THIS???? WHAT IS COLORADO LIKE???? HAVE YOU MET ANYONE YET??????? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I don't even feel like there is any point in talking about my week because there is much bigger and more important things going down today! WHOO HOO!!!!!!!!! But, I will give you guys a quick run down :)

So much happens here errrrrday and it is just so hard to describe it all to you! It is hard for me to describe what Baltimore is like, what the people are like, the experiences I am having and the feelings that go along with all of it. I wish you guys could just be here and experience all of this too! I am go excited that in a year you all can come and do what you are going to do today with Hannah! I can just imagine us walking down the streets of Baltimore, talking about everything!!!!!!!!

This week Hermana Orton and I had to teach President and Sister Richards the entire Plan of Salvation, in 10 minutes, in English (I can’t teach in English), in front of our entire zone! Well... it wasn’t amazing. But, considering all of the circumstances... I feel like we did ok :) haha!

We had some great miracles this week! M and her family are one of these miracles!!! M was a referral from the Elders and we stopped by this week. She let us right on in and was BEYOND kind to us! Wow! We had a great lesson on the spirit and it really could not have gone any better :) We stopped by the other day for only 5 minutes and she had started to read the restoration pamphlet and everything! This woman is prepared y’all :)

Another milagro :) We went over to teach R, she had been taught since August and we decided that we needed to be really bold with her. Her daughter wants to be baptized but something was holding R back. Well, we found out this week what it was. She thought that after baptism, she wasn't allowed to dance anymore! hahaha :) We cleared that up really quick and she immediately accepted the offer to be baptized! The date is January 11th! We have a few other hoops we need to jump through, but now she is excited as can be! We even told her we will have a dance party after her baptism!

The other night we stopped by the road in a forested area and found a tree branch. We made it our Christmas tree and decorated it during our lunch hour the next day. Thanks for sending everything to make the snowflakes, Mom!!! We are feeling festive :)

Hmmmmmm.... what else should I tell you guys about??? Everyone... EVERYONE here makes fun of how tall I am! At first I thought it was kinda funny but now... I am ready to take out the next person who says anything to me. Every other second someone is saying "Que Grande!!!!" "Is every person in Utah as tall as you?" Everyone stands up and comes to measure themselves against me. The men tell me that I give them "pena", which basically means it hurts them that I got the height and they didn’t. haha - jealousy!! But this is the worst one though: this ladies little son kept handing me a bottle of advil during a lesson and she said to me "Maybe you should take some. They might help you shrink." SAY WHAT!? But, it is ok. I just needed to vent to someone and let it all out!

I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am excited to talk to you next week!!!! Have fun with Hannah!!!!!!!!!!! I expected to hear E V E R Y detail :)

Hermana Mangum, Jr. (soon to be Sr.)

A Whole New Wooooooorld!!! - December 8, 2014

Wow!!!! From Provo, Utah to Baltimore, Maryland! Wow!!!! 

I don’t even know where to begin or how to describe Baltimore! There are constantly helicopters flying over the city.  They shine their lights down at random spots... it is suppose to help lower the amount of crime. There are so many sirens going off all of the time that we made up this game- we have to guess if the siren is a cop, ambulance or a firetruck before we see it. hahaha! Hermana Orton is winning right now :( There are lots of rats. I took a picture with a dead one and I will send it to you guys. Elder Johnson told me that it doesn't count until I have kicked a live one! haha! Also, last night we saw like 3 or 4 wigs just laying in the street! hahaha! There is this dirt bike gang and they drive around Baltimore doing wheelies. There is a fried chicken place at EVERY SINGLE corner! We have to be out of Baltimore at 5 o clock, and we have to have the members and people we are visiting walk us to our cars. I AM IN HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

So, something that I learned this week is that the gift of tongues is real!!!! #eldondelenguas It really has been such a miracle! My companion doesn’t know much Spanish at all. I was very scared because both of my last companions were AMAZING (helps having parents from other countries!) I knew that this was really going to push me! But, I think that this is exactly what I needed! I have grown SO much! I have so much more confidence in my ability to speak spanish now! I am just speaking! I haven’t been afraid! I just go for it and the words have just come to me! I know that I still make mistakes, I know that I lack quite a bit, BUT I have really gained the confidence this week to try and I really feel the Lords help and answers to my prayers! Last night even, Hermana Orton told me that I was sleep talking in my sleep... but I was sleep talking in spanish! haha!  She said that I was teaching the lessons.

The area that we cover is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!! HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Baltimore itself is too much to handle let alone all of the other areas that we need to cover! It has been pretty stressful! Hermana Orton has only been here for 6 weeks and doesn’t know the area well yet... so it is basically like we are opening the area up all over again! Craziness! 

I bet you are wondering about L... and I have information. So, Wednesday was his trial date and also the day that I came to Baltimore. I asked Hermana Cardona to call me and to let me know what happened. Although, to be honest, I knew that he was going to get locked up. She called me later that night and let me know what had happened. He received 6 years of lock up! He is not getting released until he is 21 years old. I broke down... I broke down really bad! I started to bawl and my poor companion probably thought that I was crazy! I just cried and cried and cried. They had told him that is would be 6 to 9 months... and he is going to be in there for 6 years!!! I felt so broken for this kid. I was a little confused and sad about being transferred right before Christmas... but now I know why. I don’t think I could have handled being there. I know that God has a plan for him. I know that he knew what was going to happen and put me exactly where I needed to be.I also know that this is the plan that he has for L. And as hard as it was and is to hear, I know that it was suppose to happen. Maybe if it only happened so that he can get away from things for 6 years, I know that it is all apart of God's plan for him. I am so grateful for L. He has changed my life and will forever be apart of my life! I wish I was able to comfort him and I hope that I was able to help him know and understand God's love for him while I was there. I hope that he is relying on that love while he is going through such a HUGE trial! I have to figure out how I/we/the missionaries can still help him. There has to be a way!

I love you guys!!!! 

OH MY SWEET BABY HANNAH ARE YOU GOING HOME NEXT WEEK!!!!!!?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT !?!?

I LOVE YOU! THANK YOU FOR YOU EXAMPLE TO ME! THANK YOU FOR BEING SUCH AN AMAZING MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!! GIVE EVERYONE A BIG OLE HUG FOR ME :) 

love...

Lennon :)

I am sending a thousand “goodbye” pictures! 

First Vision and Prayer - I BELIEVE!! - December 1, 2014

Hey everyone:

This week was BANGIN!!! Miracle after miracle. Fun experience after fun experience! But, I am gonna start off my email with some sad news.... I am being transferred... right before Christmas! I am not too happy about it because I finally feel like things are happening here in Hagerstown. Our investigators are golden! My spanish was improving! The branch was getting more involved etc. Also, I am gonna miss everyone like crazy :( I have grown so close to these people and you all know how well I handle saying goodbye. Just look at the picture of me saying goodbye to aunt Beckie and visualize that going down in Hagerstown this wednesday. But.... I AM GOING TO BALTIMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am soooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok... my week!

We have a guy who comes to futbol every Tuesday and we asked if we could have his # and share a message. He said yes and asked if we could teach him english. We saw him basically everyday this week and we would teach him english and then share a message. Well, we were sharing the message of the Restoration and it was just insanely good!!!!!!!!!! We were sitting across from him in the RS room at the church. I start to recite the 1st vision and OH ME OH MY he just stared at us... he was completely entranced and just in absolute awe and wonder. He NEVER broke eye contact with me as I shared about Joseph Smith, just listened intently. After I finished sharing, we just let it be silent... let the spirit do its thang... and he just said "wow......" It was one of the strongest experiences we have had yet in Hagerstown. WE also taught him the el plan de salvacion at McDonalds. The Golden Arches will always remind me of "De donde vine?" "Cual es mi proposito en la tierra?"y "De donde ire despues de esta vida?"

Mom... YOUR COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!! GAH!!!!!!!!!! I am embarrassed to tell you, but they were gone by Saturday! Hermana Cardon and I went CRAZY on those bad boys!! WE still talk about them and how much we miss them. Add pumpkin chocolate chip to our bakery list!!!!!! 

It snowed here this week and when it snows they don’t let us use the car :( So, Hermana Cardona and I had to walk 4 miles or so to an appointment in a snow storm... but it was super fun! When we got to their house we built some snowmen :) 

We also had a very spiritual experience in trying to locate one of our investigators. We had not seen them in days and they were not home when we arrived after many tries. We were getting really concerned that something was wrong. So we drove to a random parking lot downtown, stopped and prayed. We just asked Heavenly Father to lead us to them. We said that we were worried and just needed to know that they were alright. We finished praying and sat there, waiting for an answer. But nothing really came. So, we decided just to drive off. As we are pulling out of the parking lot, we look across the street and THERE THEY WERE JUST STANDING THERE!!!!!!!!!!!! We started screaming, rolled down the window and yelling!!!!!!!!!!!!! We slammed the brakes, parked the car and ran after them! We told them the whole experience and they were just in shock!!!!!!!!!! PRAYER! ORACION!!! It is so POWERFUL!!!!!!!!!! 

Thanksgiving was good! We played basketball in the morning with the branch and I schooled em! Just kidding... but it was really fun! L and I played 2 on 2 and we killed the guys we played against!!!! A 6 foot while girl and a little 5 foot puerto rican boy won 14-2 (counting by ones) against some 20 year old guys :) We had dinner at the Marroquins. It was really good and super fun. But, I missed you guys a TON and just wanted some buttermilk pie and bread pudding!!!! 

So.... it was a CRAZY good week! So many things that happened that I don’t have time to share with you guys!!!!!!!! I LOVE hagerstown! I LOVE the people here! I am SAD I am going. But, I am EXCITED for my new adventure in Baltimore! I hope that you guys had an amazing Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you so much 

OH... check out the video "El es la Dádiva" or "He is the gift" It is AMAZAZAZAZAZAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You should share it :) 

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!