God, La Virgin, & the Mormon Missionaries - Oct 26, 2015

BUENAS!!!  This week was super duper extra amazingly fun and good and happy! 

We found two awesome new investigators! Let me tell you a little about them! Sooooo, S. is a former investigator that we went to go stop by and see. We knocked on her door and she immediately lets us in, sits us down and starts talking. She has a lot a lot of problems in her life right now. She is super sick and does dialysis out of her home etc etc. Well, later on during the week we decided to stop by and to visit her. She invited us in, brought out cookies she had made for our visit and started to tell us that she has started writing a book to help others with kidney diseases. Then she said that she talked about us in her book. As we kept talking she told us that she has dedicated her book to God, La Virgin, her mother and the mormon missionaries! How cute is that!!! Then she brought us into the kitchen and she said she had made something for me. I had told her that I love the ceviche from her country (she is from Ecuador) and she whipped out a bowl of ceviche for me from the fridge! Susana is just the sweetest!!!! 

Also, we have started to teach M.! This was an amazing experience. We went to go stop by another former investigator who we were not able to find. We were lost in the parking lot and asked M. for help. She said she didn’t speak English so we started to speak Spanish with her. She was blown away. Next thing you know she is showing us pictures of her grandson and of her children and when we ask when would be a good time to stop by again, she told us to come to her house right then! haha! We got to meet her children and it was great! We stopped by later that week and taught her the restoration. It was SO COOL!!!! I was on exchanges so my compa couldn’t speak a lick of Spanish or understand what was happening. But, because of that she said that she could only pay attention to her feelings. When the first vision was recited, the spirit was, I cant even really describe it!!!!! IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AMAZING!!! When I asked if she would be baptized, she never really gave a specific answer but she said a lot of amazing things! She told me about how crazy it was that she had just invited two strange girls into her house that night without knowing who we were. She said that her family is pentecostal and that they are worried because she has not accepted Jesus. She knows she needs to, but had never felt anything in the church she goes to, pushing her to accept him etc. Keep S. and M. in your prayers please!!! 

Another cool experience was when we met M.! So, we were street contacting at 8:59 that night and we met this man. We told him we were missionaries and he said "Wait, let me go get my friend, he would love to talk with you!" So, he went and grabbed M.! M. just moved here from Dubai 2 months ago. He told us that this is the first time he has heard of Christianity and that he is super interested! We gave him a card and he read it and saw the picture on the back of The Book of Mormon. He wanted one so we walked to the car, opened up the trunk and gave him one. He was so excited to read it that he crouched down into the tail lights of the car so that he could start to read it! We gave him a pamphlet of the restoration and he asked us "Who is the gospel?" It was SO cute!!!!!!!!! The Elders have started to visit him and I heard it is going very well :) 

I love you! I miss you! Transfers are next week and I will let you know what happens :) Have a good week!!!!

Member Missionary Work For The Win! - Oct 19, 2015

This week was good :) So, some of the cool things that happened... 

We ate some amazing food!!! The members here can cook! 

We picked up a former investigator. We were teaching her at the beginning of my time here in Columbia but she was super busy and our appointments were just falling through. But, after helping her through a hard time they were having, she invited us over last week and she is investigating the church again :) We had a super good lesson with her and she is doing great! 

The highlight of the week was probably when we got a text on Sunday morning from M. during our studies. We had not been able to meet with her all week because she had been working and had been out of state. Well, yesterday she texted us and asked what time church was going to be starting! She came!!! It was extra amazing though because the members just ate her up! We hardly had any time with her because the members stole her from us! They asked her to sit by them, they shared their books, they got to know each other. It was SO awesome to see :) 

Also, we got to see M. and D. I don’t know if I have told you about them. They are our investigators who are very, very Pentecostal. This week when we stopped by we asked them if they had read in the Restoration pamphlet and they had. D. said that she liked it and she thinks that Joseph Smith was called of God! Her only concern was that she thought we worshipped him, but when we cleared that up she was all on board. They were going to come to church with us this week, but they had church Saturday night until 7 in the morning Sunday and slept in. But, we had promised that we would go with them to church and we did. The Pastor gave us a shoutout for coming :) So, we celebrated my 16th month mark yesterday by assisting the Pentecostal church :) 

I love you all!!! I am so grateful and I feel like I have learned a lot about the spirit this week! It is true that the spirit gives us love, happiness, joy, etc. But there are other things as well that can give us those feelings. But, the spirit is the only thing that can give us peace. I want to do everything in my power to live in such a way to always be worthy and be able to have that peace in my life. 

Love you Love you Love you Love you! 

- Hermana Mangum 

Progressing Investigators, Tag Alley, & Getting Proposed To :) - Oct 13, 2015

THIS WEEK WAS SO SO SO SO SO GOOD!!!! I wish you were all here because it is so hard writing emails and trying to get across everything and tell you about all of the amazing experiences I am having! I wish you all were here, experiencing it with me :) 

So, M., our investigator is doing awesome!!!! She is so so cute!!! We were able to visit her like 4 times this last week because she is trying to find a job and we are helping her with the translation. Funny story, we were at the library and I got a call from M. She was at a job interview and put me on speaker phone. I was translating what the lady was saying into Spanish for Miriam and then would translate M.’s responses. So, as I am translating, the librarian comes up to me and I got in trouble for being too loud. haha :) Ok, but back to M. She is doing amazing!!! We talked with her about the Restoration. While we talked about the first vision, she was blown away. She told us that it felt as if she had been there and experienced it herself!!! The next time we went back she told us that she had prayed! She accepted the invite to be baptized and said she would prepare herself for October 31st! We are going to have to push the date back, but please oh please oh please keep her in your prayers!!! 

Other amazing experience! So, we have been teaching this lady named B! She is so cute! She is moving to Georgia so we went by to say goodbye. Well, we asked her if she feels like she has gotten her answer yet and she said yes! She said she knows this is where God wants her to be! She told us that she has family who are members in Georgia and she has already set up with them to go to the church there!!! 

Next awesome experience happened while we were contacting people in the street! So, we saw this group of women outside throwing a party. We went over to them and we immediately feel in love. They were from West Africa and were very familiar with missionaries! They asked if they could pray for us and they grabbed our hands and said the most beautiful prayer for us. As we were talking, they told us that we were just glowing. Hermana Hicks started talking about the Plan of Salvation and while she was explaining it, another one of their friends came out. I started to talk to her. She told me that her son’s best friend had actually just left that very day to serve a mission in Japan. She talked and talked and talked and eventually started to cry. She said her son was so sad and that he could not understand why someone would leave their life behind for 2 years. She was hurting as well because this young man was like her son and she felt the loss as well. I asked her if she would like to meet with missionaries and have them stop by. I told her that by having them come by her and her son could see what their friend was doing in Japan and understand why he would leave everything behind for a bit to share such a wonderful message. We hugged for a little bit and it could not have been more clear that the Lord had put us in each others paths. I will make sure that the English missionaries update me on her and her son :) 

Yesterday we went to Baltimore for preparation day and I got proposed to on the street :) 

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

P.S. I am so sad because they are shutting Tag Alley down!!! :( 

Earth Has No Sorrow That Heaven Cannot Cure - Oct 5, 2015

HELLO FAMILY!!!! 

This week was super great and full of lots of cool experiences! I will share like 3 or 4 with you! 

The first one happened last preparation day. So, we were trying to find a less active’s house and it was just not happening. We could not find the apartment anywhere. I saw a man taking out his trash and decided to go and ask him. I started talking and talking, and he was not answering me. Finally I stopped, and he told me, “I'm deaf". He asked us to move into the light and he started to read our lips. We explained that we were missionaries and he told us that he has always wanted to be Mormon. We talked with him for over 45 minutes! He told us about his wife. She has diabetes and is in the hospital because her leg was just amputated. He told us that before we had come up to talk with him that he felt something and knew we were "spiritual people". He then explained the burning in his heart he felt the whole time we were talking. 

Second experience is when we went to visit Z. She is a member of the branch and we had made an appointment with her the week before to stop by. Well, we get there and you could just see how sad she was. As we talked she began to tell us about her father. She had just gotten the news that he was very sick and was about to pass. She has not seen her dad in 11 years and couldn’t travel back to Honduras to visit him. We testified of the Plan of Salvation, brought her some cheesecake and later that night found out the her father passed away. 

Then we found a new investigator. M. is so cute and we started to talk about the gospel and how it blesses families. The more we talked, the more apparent it became that family was a sore subject. She told us that her 4 children are in Bolivia. Her youngest daughter is 22 now and she was 7 years old when M. left and came to the states. She began to cry and cry and tell us how much she misses her family and children. 

Lastly, we have S. We were trying to stop by a less actives house and saw S. carrying a bunch of boxes out to her car. We asked if we could help, she said no and we got a conversation going. S. was moving back to West Virginia because her mom had just had a stroke. She started to cry and we gave her a hug. She told us everything. She told us that she didn’t want to leave her life and job and friends. She told us that she couldn’t feel Gods love. She told us that she was scared for her mom. We listened and shared scriptures and comforted her the best we could. Before we left she said that we were a miracle from God and that we were sent to help her. 

Although these were all very cool experiences, they started to get me down. Then, I heard about the Openshaws being talked about in the Priesthood session and I couldn’t get out of this hole I was in. I couldn’t figure out why there is so much sadness. I couldn’t handle seeing all of these people suffer. I wanted to take away all of their pain and didn’t feel like I was able to do it. I wished I could take it all upon myself and run away with it and not have to have them feel it. But, this morning, I got my answer. I was reading about Ammon. When the sheep got scattered by the Lamanites, the kings servants began to be scared and fear for their lives. Ammon, rather feel sad for them, rejoiced. I was like "wwwhhhaattt? why you happy Ammon?" Then it said that Ammon rejoiced in their afflictions because he knew because of them, he could win their hearts. He knew that trials humble us and help us accept Christ.

I know God is preparing these people and preparing us to meet them. I know that although it might be hard to see people struggle, that we have the message that can take it all away and bring happiness. 

Conference was the BEST!!!! 

My favorite talk was from Devin G. Durrant. Other that his name almost being Kevin Durrant, his talk was so good!!!! The scripture I am going to PONDERIZE is Luke 12:6-7 :) 

Other random little thoughts and things I loved from conference... 

"The Holy Ghost really does give customized counsel"

"Are we making our discipleship too complicated?"

"It will all work out"

"Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure"

"Having descended below it all, He (Christ) is perfectly positioned to lift us"

"We will stand out"

"The Saviors Atonement leaves no tracks or traces. What is fixes, it fixes"

I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!!!! :) 

Have a good week

P.S. Don't worry! The hurricane never came to us! :)