Un Bautismo!! - March 23, 2015

Helllllooooo Family ---

So... on Wednesday I hit 9 months!!! WHAT!? I can't even begin to tell you guys how much your package meant to me. I kinda had a hard day on Wednesday- I just couldn’t figure out how I felt about hitting 9 months and there was just too many emotions, haha- and your package could not have been more perfect!!!

Mom.... THOSE BANNERS!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness! I am going to have them hanging in my house the rest of my life! And that lavender stress ball... that will def def come in handy :) Hannah!!!!!!!!! Hermana Cardona and I have been jamming to all of the CDs you sent! We have been listening to the one that has the sassy little girl singing backup on repeat for about 3 days now! Max!!!!!! Your picture!! #HUMPDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just sat on my bed and cried tears of happiness! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are two pretty funny stories to start off my email:

#1... My black boots are just a little worn out and I have finally come to the conclusion that I will need to throw them out based off of what went down the other night! We pulled into our house and were heading in for the night. I was skipping down the street towards our apartment and, because my boots have no traction, I slid down the pavement, flew up in the air and landed pretty dang hard on my nalgas! I had to lay on the ground during studies the next day because I couldn't sit!

#2... I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired. soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sooooooooooooooooooooooooo sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired! Here is another little story to help you all understand just how tired I am. We were visiting an Hermana in our branch who is blind... and I FELL ASLEEP IN THE APPOINTMENT!!!! Hermana Cardona had to lean over and tap me awake!!! Thank goodness Guadalupe can’t see!

We had two really cool experiences this week!

We have a new investigator from Honduras! The elders told us about her and we went over to see her this week! Her daughter got baptized when she was 20 years old in Honduras and just got done serving her mission! This sweet lady whipped out pictures of her daughter and even took a picture of us to send to her!

While we were waiting at the church for people to come to our English classes (nobody came) these two girls walked into the church. They were waiting for the bus, but it was a little chilly so they asked us if they could come inside. We were just chit chatting with them when one of the girls said "I want to learn more about your church". So, we took her and her friend on a mini church tour! We had a brother from the branch there with us and he just threw up a lot of doctrine on them --ugh!-- but it was still a huge miracle! We got their numbers and are going to hand them over to the English sisters :)

ASHLEY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boy oh boy oh boy was this a huge huge miracle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a stressful week! I broke out pretty bad! haha! The baptism went super duper well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ashley, Franchesca and Gordano all got baptized! What was super special is that all of these kids come from returning less active families! Hermana Cardona and I were sitting by her parents during the baptism and while Ashley was in the water getting baptized, you could really feel the spirit. It was a beautiful experience! The next day at church her Mom was smiling, happy and even offered the prayer in Relief Society... she had never even said a prayer in our lessons! You can see a physical change in her! I am so happy for Ashley and that she was finally able to be baptized, because she has been waiting a while for this day! But, I think that the biggest miracle has been the change in her mom!

We also had baby showers, met six baby kittens, and saw the not-so-pretty side of Baltimore --

LOVE YOU!!!

Meeeeeeeee :)

People Know Our Family Around Here - March 16, 2015

I had another amazing week!!!! SO SO SO SO SO good! But, there isn't too much to write about! Sorry :(

This week we saw members, members and more members! We have had a really hard time finding new investigators and getting appointments with the ones that we do have, so we took advantage of all the open time to visited with some of the members that we haven't had time to visit. It was SOOOO fun! The people in this branch are amazing! It is so much fun getting to build relationships with all of these people, hear their life stories, and eat all of their amazing food! haha! That is something else we did a lot of this week... eat food!

We went over to one of the member’s houses this week and she taught us how to make cake. WHOO!!!! She is so quiet and we wanted to draw her out, so we asked her if she could teach us how to cook and how to crochet! We had SO SO much fun!!!! I LOVE HER! We took the cake and the gelatina that we made to some less actives that we have never meet and had really really good visits :)

I also made pupusas with Hermana Calderon this week! She had her friend from El Salvador over and it was so much fun! Su amiga showed me once and then I just got it down and was whippin’ those pupusas out like nobodies business! They told me that I must have El Salvadoranian (not sure how to spell that) blood because I was just toooooo good ya’lllll! We are going to need to recheck our family history work!

Our little 9-year-old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is hopefully going to be baptized this Saturday!!!!!!!!!! We have had a lot of problems with her getting the support she needs. But, Presidente Trimble talked with her Mom after church yesterday and she is on board! We were so excited to tell her that she really can be baptized on Saturday!!!! But we are still working some wrinkles out, so we shall see...

Craziness! Yesterday Hermana Trimble came up to me and asked me if I was related to... can’t remember her name... but she is Ivan's wife! She pulled up her picture on facebook and told me that she was her next door neighbor growing up!!! I think her name is Nicole!!! Then she told me that her really good friend was Max's 4th grade teacher and that they were talking and her friend said "I will never forget Max Mangum!" Then she told me that her family spent the entire night having a Mangum stalking party on Facebook and that she LOVES all of your art projects and your instagrams and you mom!!!!

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!  

La unica misionera que esta sirviendo de nuestra familia ahora :)

LENNON!!

More Baltimore shots :)

Understanding the Atonement - March 9, 2015

THIS WEEK WAS SO AWESOME!!!! I wish you guys could see the smile on my face right now! I am just so dang happy ALL OF THE TIME!!! Nothing extra special really happened this week, being the missionary is just the best :)

One of our investigators and her family came to church again this week! 2 weeks in a row!!!! We had such a good visit with her this week and she showed us a 2 hour video of her daughter presentation(the party that they throw when the kids turn 3 year old). Hermana Cardona and I just sat back, ate some tacos, and enjoyed the never ending video of the birthday party! When it finally ended, she invited us back to watch disc number 2 this week!!! haha!

Also it has been so amazing to see people’s fire and desire to return to the church REKINDLED! A sister that we have been working with, who didn't want anything to do with the church, just got a calling this week!!!

We visited our 9-year-old investigator and reset her baptismal date for the 21st! She is going to be baptized with some other kids in the ward! I am so happy for her and she is soooooooooooo excited!!!! We hope it all goes well because she wants to be baptized SUPER bad!

We visited the Relief Society President and SHE IS AMAZING!!!! Not only is she the most beautiful woman on the planet, she is the most inspirational one as well!!!! She told us stories and shared with us the things that her family is going through. We all just cried and it was the best visit!!! Mom, she really reminds me of you and I hope and pray you will be able to meet her someday!!!

We found 6 new investigators!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were trying and trying to find new people to teach because we have had a bit of a drought. So, during a never-ending weekly planning session we called up every single potential investigator that we had in our area book. We got rejected and yelled at a few times, but one lady was SO kind to us and invited us to come visit!!! When we got to her house for the appointment, there were 6 people there, sitting, ready to be taught! When we asked if they had any questions at the end, the only one they had was when we were going to come back!!!! :)

Nicholas, our ward mission leader came out with us last night and it was amazing!!! He bore the most amazing testimony and shared the most beautiful experiences with our investigator! Nicholas has such an excitement to be a missionary and to do missionary work now! SO SO SO awesome!!!!

This past week I have been trying to work on my faith because I feel like it is something that I struggle with sometimes. One of the suggestions in Preach My Gospel was to think about the atonement throughout the day. I really loved that thought and so I put it into practice! The picture in the ensign this month of the atonement is so beautiful.... so so so beautiful!!! So, I cut it out and hung it up! Then, mom, being the inspired woman she is, sent the most amazing talk on the atonement and the power that it gives us! Also, Hermana Orton had shared with me a really cool thought about the atonement: When Christ suffered for our sins, it was not like there was just a huge mountain of sin, pilled up, that he sat there and suffered for. When we imagine the atonement, we can picture it as a huge line of people. Christ took us each, one by one, and suffered our sins with us. The Atonement is very personal! Christ suffered for each of us individually and this week, I was able to feel the love of Christ so strongly. IT became more real to me and I know he knows me personally and the me loves me more than I could ever imagine! I am going to try and attach a picture from the ensign because it is AMAZING!!!!

Baltimore is warming up you guys!!!! It is so so nice out right now!!!! It isn't as sad anymore!!! People are more happy, street ballers are coming out!!!! 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

LOVE YOU!!!!

Lupey Loupine :)

I've Been Spotlighted - March 2, 2015

Hey family! 

Pues... Hermana Cardona and I are together again and we are having so so so so so much fun! I spent most of Monday and Tuesday stopping by peoples houses and letting Hermana Orton say goodbye.

And then on Wednesday, we packed up the car and headed out for transfers! Hermana Cardona filled me in on the drive back to Baltimore of everything that had been going on in Hagerstown. Crazy news! Axel, the kid that we met up in McDonalds and had the miracle lesson with... HE GOT BAPTIZED!!! What!? How awesome is that!?

The first thing we did as companions was head to the doctor who took a look at my jaw. He said that he just thinks that it is super swollen and put me on steroids and told me to only eat soft foods for 2 weeks. I have been trying to keep that last rule but it is super hard when people are feeding you dinners and I cant really request that they just give me yogurt. It hasn't gotten much better yet... but we will see :)

Well, this week we got in a car accident. I was driving and we were sitting at a red stoplight. We just got nailed from behind. Hermana Cardona and I just looked at each other trying to figure out what had happened. The light turned green and we pulled into the gas station across the street. The man who hit us pulled in and immediately started to apologize and told us what had happened. He had been on the phone with his wife. He has a phobia of going over train tracks. So, when he reached the train tracks he sped over them as fast as he could. He saw our car and tried to hit the brakes, but his feet are super big and he ended up hitting the gas even harder. haha! I was kinda in shock from it all and the car was ok. Our bike rack was bent and pinned against the trunk so it locked shut. We had some tamales in the trunk too! We got all of his information, the cops came and it all worked out good. 

The man who hit us realized that we were missionaries for the church and felt even worse! He started to say things like "Oh no! I stopped the work of God" haha! He was such a nice guy and we gave him the address to the church in Inner Harbor. The cops were super nice too and we had a good conversation. The story gets even better though. I know that I have told you guys about the helicopters that are always flying over the city. Well, it has always been a dream of mine to get spotlighted by one of them. So, I am sitting in the gas station filling out all this insurance information and what not, when I feel this light hit me, and I hear the unmistakeable, beautiful sound of a helicopter flying in the air above me. I GOT SPOTLIGHTED Y’ALL!!!!!!!  WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I was baskin in the splendid Baltimore helicopter 

light :)

This happened on Friday and my neck still hurts and my headache hasn't gone away... Hopefully I start to feel better soon!

Church was something else this week! So, it started at 9 and I was super nervous because I didn't think anybody was going to show. But, attendance at church was extra amazing!!! We had a less active family come that hasn't been in over a year. Investigators came! It was so so awesome! One of the members we work with brought a new girl with her. She has a 18 month old son, she is in her 20s. Our amazing member yanked her in for a day at church! I sat by them and translated everything for her and helped her out with her baby. It was testimony meeting and after a few testimonies were given this wonderful new investigator leans over to me and says... "I want to do my testimony". I was in shock  and told her that her friend could go up there and translate it for her. But, that wasn’t going to happen because the friend said she would just start crying and so I was asked to translate it. We made our way up to the front and she bore her testimony to the La Alameda branch. I was thinking she was going to pause and give me time to translate, but she just went on and on! She went on for about 2 or 3 minutes before she took a break and let me translate. I tried to do my best! It was a BEAUTIFUL testimony and I was SO impressed!!! To be honest, I didn't even need to translate it because the words that she said weren't the important part, it was the spirit of the whole thing. The spirit spoke to her while others bore there testimonies in Spanish and her testimony and her spirit spoke to the people in our branch! It was such a good experience to be apart of! I asked her if we could teach her some more about our beliefs and she said yes! We will see how it all goes!!!

Still freezing - my hair had icicles in it! And the trees are in pain!!

LOVE YOU GUYS SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!!!

THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR PACKAGES AND NOTES!!!

LOVE YOU!

LENNON

ps - Here are all the SNOW PICS I didn't send last week!!