Hermana Lennon Mangum: 2 Overly Amazing Weeks in a Row

HOLA!!!

I would like to start off my email this week with some AMAZING news: THE ATLANTA HAWKS ARE IN FIRST PLACE IN THE EAST!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were doing some service at the Bishops Storehouse when Elder Riddle said "Hermana Mangum... I have got some news that is going to make your entire day!" He told me that he was talking with somebody and they said "You are not going to believe who is killing it in the east. The ATLANTA HAWKS!!!" Elder Riddle responded by saying "There is an Hermana in my district who is going to be VERY happy" WHAT!? Apparently they had a 14 game winning streak! WHOO HOO!!!!!!!!!

Ok. Now we can talk about my week here in BaMo.

It has been amazing!!!!!! I do not know how I was blessed with 2 overly amazing weeks in a row... but I was!

We are teaching a 9 year old girl whose parents have had a hard time getting out to church here in the rama. She is SO cute! Well, we have started visiting them and the family is starting to come back to church! We set a baptismal date for A this week for the 1st of March. She is the reason the family has decided to come back to church. She kept asking them if she could be baptized and why they had stopped going. She is the cutest little thing and it has been a blast getting to go over and spend time with their family. Her mom is crazy with the food! When we tell her we are full, she says "Ok. I will wait here until you guys aren't"! The Elders aren't helping the situation either! They have been egging the families on! They told one Sister in the ward "Las Hermanas are too skinny... you need to fatten them up" I threw up 2 times this week from all the food.

Our investigator M is still going strong and has been such a miracle!!!!!!!! This week she said that she knows Joseph Smith was a prophet and said that she would be baptized. Her only hang up is that she doesn't want to leave the church she goes to right now because she has lots of friends there and they have become like her family.

On another note, the men in our ward aren't allowed to play futbol at the church anymore because they are destroying the church. So, the branch has decided to play volleyball instead!!! WHOO HOO!!!! This week it was super duper fun! I have forgotten how to play though! Can you believe it has been 2 years!? I blocked a few of those said men - haha - and I hope my volleyball skills slowly start to come back to me.

This week we also visited a member we didn’t know in the branch. We went over to find her and it was so amazing! She told me that her and her husbands goal is to come back to church! Her children have been asking why they don't go and that it is time for them to come back! She came on Sunday and it was SO AWESOME!!!

Also this week I had one of the hardest moments of my mission. Yep. By far the hardest one. We had to drop an investigator that was no longer progressing and it about did me in. We were on exchanges, I was with Sister Parkin again!!, but she doesn't know any Spanish so I had 3 days of being literally the ONLY person talking during the lessons. It was tiring! But, back to the situation. We get in there and the lady just starts to talk about how happy it makes her when we stop by. She probably said it close to 15 or 20 times. I kept looking at Sister Parkin and she was giving me encouragement and telling me that I could do it. Then, our investigator said something that just made me start to cry. She said "You guys know that I don't know how to read. But, I can recognize and your names and I know when you are calling me. It makes me so happy and I get so excited to answer!" I broke down. But, I continued because we knew it was the right thing, but a terribly hard thing. It was so hard but she understood why. We gave her the address of the church and she stuck it in her wallet. She asked if it would still be ok if she called us and asked how we are doing every once in a while. I just started to cry when we left. Crying like a baby because I love her so much and also because it broke me in two to think she can’t read. Never did I think that illiteracy would affect so many people and so much of my mission.

We also visited P again this week and when we got to her house there was a man there that I had never seen before. We had brought a member named Teresa with us and she is VERY quiet. Well, the man just went off about Joseph Smith! He was calling us crazy and if I ever tried to respond, he would just cut me off. Poor Jordin, I mean Sister Parkin (kind of crazy that used to have classes at Timpview together and now we are out preachin’ the word!) was sitting there and had absolutely no idea what was going on - it was all in Spanish. I was worried about P and what she was thinking. Then, Teresa, the quietest little thing went to town! She bore her testimony and it was one of the most powerful moments in my mission. Then, P told the man "I KNOW these things are true." So, the lesson went from dang scary to turning out pretty good :)

I am sure ya’ll remember me talking about Z! He is one of my FAVORITE people! Well, we were visiting his wife and he walks in. I asked why he hadn't come to church and he told me that he felt bad so he didn't come. I made him promise me he would try again, and you wont believe it.... HE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!!! He went to Bishops Storehouse on Saturday and he got himself a suit and tie. Everyone was amazing and so welcoming and loving. He doesn't know Spanish so we all translated and had some amazing talks with him! He said he had so many questions so I told him to write them all down. He did.... he has a list of 23! Pray for me this week, we are going over to answer them all!

Tito was baptized!!! This was def def the highlight of my week!!! This man has completely changed his life! He was taught by the Elders. It was amazing to see him do a 180 with his life! After he came up out of the water he just started to say "YES! YES! YES! GRACIAS SENOR!" It was one of the sweetest experiences. The elders talked to Hermana Orton and I right before the baptism and asked us if we could give talks. YIKES! I was so nervous! No time, zero preparation, but, Tito was crying at the end so I must have done a good job :)