Peace and Blessings - November 17, 2014

Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :) 

It was such a goooooood week :) But it was COLD!! Sorry that all of the pictures I am going to send are of us being cold. Our heater is broken and we are freezing!!

I am gonna start off my letter by telling you guys an AMAZAZAZING miracle that happened. About a week ago, we got a call from the Hermana’s in Frederick telling us that they had gotten a call from a guy named A. He told them that he lives in Hagerstown so they handed him on over to us. This week were able to contact him and set up an appointment at McDonalds. haha #chickennuggets Well, we were sitting there in McDonald's when A walked in. He walked over to us, shook our hands, sat down and said "So, I just finished reading first nephi and I want to be converted". uhhhhhhhhhh.... I was so shocked and baffled and oh me oh my!!!! Then he said "could you guys teach me about the plan of salvation?" So we whipped out the plan of salvation pamphlet and taught him right then and there. A is 18 years old and has been dating a girl who is LDS since he was in 8th grade. #LDSgirlfriends :)  

Lets see... So we also found out that Y is dating the son of one of our investigators. Craziness :) We had some really good appointments with her and she came to church this week! 

We went over and did service in a ladies house. We cleaned out her basement. I cannot even describe it, fam fam. Sweet baby baby. She just kept saying that she isn’t a hoarder, she is just really good at shopping :) It took us about 4 hours to do it and we threw out about 20 big black garbage bags worth of stuff. She still has heaps and mounds of junk down there that she is going to keep, but at least she was throwing some stuff away :)

Now on to L. We got some sad news yesterday. We found out that he cannot be baptized because he is on parole. We went over to visit him and it absolutely broke our hearts. I just have no idea how we are going to tell him. Last week we had told him that he needs to start reading the Book of Mormon and that there is a promise in chapter 1 that he needs to find. We walked into his house and he whips out his Book of Mormon. He had underlined and highlighted the promise! Then he took us into the kitchen and showed us that he had had his mom buy him some yams because he is going to make some and bring them to the branch Thanksgiving dinner. Then he went over and asked his mom if she would start coming to church with him. Then he told us that someday he wants to be a missionary. Then he told us that we are his best friends, that he loves us and that we have changed his life. He told us that he is going to make a rap about us. He opened up and told us more about his past. Then he told us that he wants to be baptized because he wants to be forgiven of everything that he has done and  everything that he has seen and everything that has happened to him. The whole time this is happening I am just thinking about the news that we had just received. I just started to tear up and tried to suck the tears back up into my eyeballs and absorb them into my body. Family, what do we do? This poor kid has been through so much I cant even describe it. He wants to change with every fiber he has. How are we suppose to tell him that he cant be baptized right now? How are we suppose to tell him that he needs to wait? I just started crying when we got home last night and Hermana Cardona and I ate a whole bunch of candy. #copingthebestwecan We are just gonna keep on visiting him, keep helping him change and come to church, make him a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints just without the whole baptism part for a bit :) 

This week we did a whole lot of contacting in the streets and had a lot of cooool experiences :) We talked with 71 people!!! Mom, I thought you would like to know that Hermana Cardona is keeping me safe :) We were talking with this lady when a guy came up to me and wouldn’t leave me alone. He kept asking for my number and wanted me to write down my name etc. etc. Hermana Cardona turned around and yelled at him, telling him to back off and he walked away. hahaha. #copcompanion 

Estoy tan feliz! La obra missional me ha traido tanto felizidad. Puedo ver milagros cada dia y ver la cambia que la iglesia y el evanglio hacen en las vidas de las personas.

I love you guys! Thank you so much for everything that you do! Thank you for your letters this week mom :) They meant so much!!! 

Peace and blessings

-Hermana Mangum 

Prayers Answered - November 10, 2104

Family! Como esta??? 

This week was full of L! Basically everything we did was for him. We went over to his house every single day! So.... like I said in my letter last week, L had his court date this week. I was scared out of my mind. I did NOT want that kid to get locked up, but, at the same time I wanted what was best for him. If he needed to be locked up to learn a lesson, I understood. He came with us to futbol on Tuesday night because it was going to be our last night together. It was fun, but we were all really sad. The worst part was when we had to say goodbye and could only give him a handshake!

Wednesday morning could not have gone any slower! We had district meeting and then we booked it over to L’s! His sister told us that she would be there and let us know what had happened at the trial. We were jogging to the door when L walked out!! Hermana Cardona and I both were in the early stages of having a heart attack! We both were in complete shock and oh my, that is definitely one of the moments I want to replay when I get to heaven! He told us that his court date got rescheduled! His lawyer hadn’t had time to read and review his case so it got postponed until December 3rd! I cannot tell you guys how lucky this boy is!!!!! He would have been locked up on the spot! He has really messed up! Every single kid that went in that day got sent to jail. He is the ONLY one! Now he has an entire month to act as good as he possibly can! He can get himself out of the school he is in and change his life around! Prove to the courts that he is changing! 

We were visiting with him on saturday night and his sister was telling us that earlier that morning he had been running around trying to find and wash all of his Sunday clothes. He had his outfit all picked out and ready! Soooooooooooooooo cute! It was the primary program and he really like it! He also came with us to a concert that was held at the church. It was Jenny Oaks Baker! The crazy amazing violinist! It was AMAZING!!! Also, we set a date for him to be baptized!!! November 23rd! He has got a lot of changing to do! But we are here to help him! For a kid who acts so confident, he is not that confident. His biggest concern with being baptized is that he doesn’t want to do it in front of a lot of people. We have also struggled big time with finding him a friend. There are only 2 young men in the ward and their personalities could not be more different than L's. So, that is something that has really been worrying me. We have the BEST relationship with him! We really are his best friends! But, what is going to happen when we leave? I am really worried but I dont know how or who we can call on to help!!! GAH! We also wish that we could be teaching the whole family. But, their family situation is very crazy and interesting and everything else. So, maybe L can be an example to his family. I guess we will just have to see....

Cinthia took us out and bought us winter coats this week! How sweet is that!? It was such a fun night! She gave us each $150 and tried to get us to spend all of it.... but there was no way in heck that that was going to happen! I am so amazed by how sweet and generous and loving and amazing everyone is here! An Hermano in our ward works at Wendy's and gave us Frostys the other night. I love Hagerstown! I love our branch! I love being a missionary! 

WE had some amazing experiences while street contacting this week! That has to be my favorite part of being a missionary! Getting to talk to all of these people, hear their stories etc. When I get back to Provo, I might just have to go out and talk with people on the streets for fun. 

Lets see.... oh. So, we are doing good with L, but none of our other investigators are progressing! It is taking its toll on me. I don’t know what to do.I feel like a bad missionary. I don’t know what I am doing wrong and why they are not coming to church, keeping appointments etc. Ugh. I don’t know. I feel like.... I don’t know! I feel like I am doing something wrong :( 

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love...

Hermana Mangum :) 

I have a Heaping, Whopping, Plump, Grande Ole Testimony!!! - November 4, 2014

Familia! Whats up whats up whats up!?

Sorry I was not on yesterday. We had our Mission Conference, so my pday was switched to today.

WHAT A WEEK!!!

To start off my email I will tell you about an amazing miracle that we had this week! We had a dinner appointment with Hermana Trinidad. About an hour or two before, she called us up and told us that she had invited a friend from her Zumba class to come and eat with us. So, we got to the Trinidad’s house and her friend was running late, almost 30 minutes late and we are starting to get nervous and were wondering if she was even going to show up. But, she got there, carrying 3 ginormous bags of manzanas! She gave them to us and we then enjoyed a great dinner! She is amazing! SO cute and SOOOOO funny! After dinner we asked if it would be alright if we shared a message. We read in John 14:26 about el espiritu santo. You guys, it was awesome! She told us that when she woke up that morning she had a feeling that she was going to learn something. She knew that we were an answer to that. Hermana Cardona and I both had the prompting not to ask for her number or set up an appointment, just let things happen on their own. At the end of our dinner appointment she asked if we could do this again... only next time it could be at her house! Whooo hook  Our appointment is for tomorrow! She said she wants her husband to be involved too... but isn't sure how to bring it up. She said maybe I will say "I gave those bags of apples to a friend of mine. Remember when Adam and Eve ate an apple. Some missionaries are going to come over next week." bahahahaha

We had a few amazing experiences with L this week. We visited him almost every single day because tomorrow is his trial. During one of our visits we watched The Lamb of God.... it made him cry! L started to cry! The spirit was very strong. He wants to change SO bad and it really got to him being able to see what Christ went through for him. Seeing that Christ died for him! We also taught him the Law of Chastity. I aint gonna lie... it was a wee bit awkward teaching a 15 year old boy to live the law of chastity. I am just praying that everything goes well tomorrow and they just put him in house arrest.

OUR MISSION CONFERENCE!!!!! Oh my goodness was it amazing! To start it off they told us to write down two questions and promised us that we would receive the answers. My first question was about how I can help our investigators understand the need to be baptized by someone holding priesthood authority. W just seem to be struggling with that. We invite them to be baptized, but they either say that they have already been baptized or that they have already found Christ and been saved. My other question was how I can strengthen my faith. Both of these questions were directly answered! Say what!?

Those who spoke talked about 3 different types of missionaries. Ones that are fearful (ME) Bold (What I want to be) and the ones that are overbearing. What we need to have, to change from a fearful missionary to a Bold one is FAITH! As you all well know, I have 0 confidence in myself. none, nada, zip. I have always wanted to gain confidence in myself, but, it is something that I really struggle with. Yesterday I had the thought that I don't necessarily need to be confident in myself... but rather be confident and have faith in Christ. Be confident that Heavenly Father will bless me and strengthen me; that I will be able to help our investigators and address their concerns, that I will receive the gift of tongues etc. etc. They also talked about GRACE, or the ENABLING POWER of God. Elder Perkins(from the Quorum of the 70 who came and addressed us) read the scripture that says "It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" and told us that sometimes we misread this scripture. This is not chronological... Grace is with us always. I could go on and on and on and on and on and on and on about the conference but I need to have time to read all of your emails. Just know that is was LIFE CHANGING!

Lastly, we had an unbelievable experience with M and N last night. So... Hermana Cardona and I had stopped by about 2 times during the week and they were not home. We felt that something was wrong and tried calling them, but no one answered. We saw that their lights were on on sunday so we pulled over to check on them. M told us that they had been in a car accident. A 17 year told girl had hit them on the 40. She hit M's side and completely totaled the car. N (who has mental disabilities) got so scared that she started to cry and went into a seizure. The policemen told them they are lucky to be alive. We were in complete shock and had the prompting to ask if the elders could come over and give them a priesthood blessing. They agreed so the Elders went over with us last night and all I can say is WOW! I have grown to understand and appreciate the priesthood so much on my mission. I am so grateful for Elder Young and Elder Johnson, and that they are worthy and ready to serve those around them. N has had a lot of pain in her neck from the accident. After the elders gave her a blessing, she turned to them and said "Thank you. I feel better now." and she repeated that the rest of the night "I feel better now."

Sorry... I feel like this email is all over the place. Just know that I have a heaping, whopping, plump, grande ole testimony!!!

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

Hermana Mangum :)

SORRY - I WILL SEND PICTURES NEXT WEEK :)