We be in Kirtland!

Why hello!!

So first of all, I'm very sorry that it has been so long since I have written. Trust me, this was not by choice. It has been TWO WEEKS since my last p-day. And let me tell you, I have never been so happy in my entire life to have a day where I can actually breathe. These last two weeks have been quite the whirlwind of everything. Let me start from the beginning...

Our flight to Ohio was pretty good. It was nice to talk to you all in the airport for a little bit. It's good to hear that everything is going so well for everyone! On that note, I LOVED getting letters from everyone! When I first got to the mission home, that's where I got the card from Mom (p.s. I LOVE the blog! It looks amazing! well done *Ü*) [note from mom: the card had a photo of this blog on the front] and the postcard from Eric. But yesterday I got letters from all three of my brothers! Let me tell you, EVERYONE was jealous! I mean it. I can't tell you how many people said "I just wish I could get a letter from ONE of my brothers!". Booyah. Who has the best family? I do.

Anyway, we got to the mission home, and truly, everyone was numb. I think that everyone at one point during the night thought to themselves "what the heck am I doing on a mission!?" It was pretty overwhelming. When we first met President and Sister Sorensen in the airport, I don't even know if I could describe my first impression, and after spending a night with them, I still don't know what to say about them. I guess the best way to describe them is one word: intense. That night they bombarded us with all kinds of information. For hours. 6 hours if you want to be technical. They didn't even let us head downstairs to get ready for bed until 11 PM! So much for being strictly obedient. Needless to say we didn't sleep much that night, since we didn't get to bed until midnight, and then had to be up and out of the house by 6:30...and 10 girls had to shower and get ready. sigh. It's okay. sleep is overrated anyway.

We took a tour of Kirtland that day, and we got to go to the Kirtland Temple with Karl Anderson, Kirtland scholar! It was really powerful. We also went with him into the N. K. Whitney store into the school of the prophets, where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared. We had the opportunity to kneel in the school of the prophets and there make a covenant with the Lord with what kind of missionary we promise to be. It was really powerful. We get to go in there and do the same thing when we go home and evaluate our mission.

We finally met our trainer at transfer conference around 11 am. So I guess it's time to tell you about my companion. Her name is Sis. Lee. She's from Louisiana, has been out 6 months, and has been in our area the entire time. She and I are very different, but we get along fine. Gotta learn to love everyone, right? :) We are serving in an area about 20 minutes from Kirtland. It's called Chardon. But our area is primarily Burton and Middlefield. We don't even live in our area, technically. We live in a member's garage in a real small apartment. So small in fact, half my bed is in the kitchen! But the boys would like that, since it makes breakfast in bed pretty simple :) Just kidding. I like it though.

Our area is pretty nice. Here's your fun fact for the day (if people have even read this far in the letter. Maybe I'll make it bold to be more exciting). Middlefield is the fourth largest Amish community in the world! hahahaha how awesome is that!?! We get the "buggy crossing" signs, the parking lots for buggys and horses at Walmart, the Amish restaurants, the Amish taxis, the Amish children, the Amish houses/barns, and my personal favorite is when you are driving behind a horse drawn buggy. hahaha. it's hilarious. I really admire them though. They are pretty amazing. It makes for a good story to say I serve in an Amish area :)

Because we live 20-25 minutes away from Kirtland, we go into sites on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays from 10 am until 8:30. (For the record, if anyone I know comes in one of those days, they can just ask at the front desk for me and I'll come down). The other days we are just in our area proselyting. I really like it. I LOVE working at sites! Making calls can be pretty intimidating, but I'm working through my fear, and I've already had some awesome awesome experiences.

And I absolutely LOVE Kirtland, and giving tours. I was truly thrown into the whole tour thing. My first day at sites, we had just put our stuff down when we were paged and said that we had a tour to give. I hadn't even gone through everything! Then we walked down the stairs to preset the movie, and it's a tour of 35 people! ::gulp:: But Sis. Lee and I said a prayer, and after the prayer I ended up giving half the tour, like a normal companionship. I did every other room, trying to remember all the information I had learned. Did I mention that tours can be around an hour!? That's a lot of time to make stuff up. But Sis. Lee was so impressed, and one of the guys in the tour asked me how long I had been out, and when I said it was my first tour, he was shocked and said he had guessed I had been here for at least half my mission! I was glad he said that.

I don't like feeling like a greenie. Sis. Lee says she doesn't think I even need a trainer, which is TOTALLY a lie, but I appreciate her saying that. But I really did just jump right into tours. Almost all the other greenies on their first tours just bore testimony, but the Lord knows that I wanted to get started right away, so I think he's magnified my memory, and that's been really helpful. It will be even more helpful since now I have a 200 page book all about Kirtland to basically memorize! Better get started on that one...

Anyway, this letter is starting to get REALLY long, so I better wrap up before the last person reading this falls asleep (hi mom!) haha. But I love you all, hope things continue to go great and I miss you!

Love,
Sister Maughan

'Real' Photos from the MTC

As you can see, Melissa has 'settled down' a lot since beginning her mission...! *Ü* We received a CD of photos from her this week, and here are some of my favorites:

Heading to Kirtland!

We're not expecting an e-mail from Melissa this week but had an even better treat: Melissa was able to call us this morning from the Salt Lake City airport as she was waiting for her flight to Cleveland! It was WONDERFUL to talk to her. She sounded so happy and excited about the prospect of being a real missionary out in the field. She loved her Visitors' Center training during this past week and is thinking that it is the perfect mission assignment.

Thanks to those of you who work or volunteer in the MTC and kept tabs on her -- she loved her time there.  She was so happy to see Eric for a few minutes last night at the MTC and to chat with her other brothers (and parents) this morning. Rumor has it that she mailed a CD of photos home, so I'll put some of those up when they arrive.

We're looking forward to having her back in the Eastern Time Zone and only a day or two away by mail! If anyone is heading along I-90 in this part of the country, be sure to drop in to Kirtland and say 'hi'!

VC+TRC+RC=SLC!

How's that for a lot of abbreviations! It stands for Visitors center plus teaching resource center plus referral center= salt lake city!

This week we began our study of historic kirtland and the visitor center training in general. I've decided...it's hard!! When we were with our other district just learning the basics of the missionary work, it was hard enough to take what we had learned about teaching to the needs, and asking questions, and talking to them and not at them AND remembering all the doctrine and then putting it in a lesson that also led them to baptism and making that all sound good. Now I have to remember all that, memorize all the information about Kirtland, and then somehow apply all THAT information, plus all the lessons that are not usually taught (lesson 5: laws and ordinances, i.e. temples) and then figure out how to put that all together while giving a tour and smiling the whole time! phew!! It's a lot! 

Thankfully, it's all coming together pretty well. I'm amazed how much I have remembered from all our Kirtland information. We have about 5 packets, 10-20 pages each that really need to be memorized about all kinds of facts. I'm picking it up pretty fast, and with the additional reading from church history books and our heritage, I'm getting pretty good at information about the Newell K. Whitney store and home, Joseph and Emma's experience, and the School of the Prophets (held in the NKW store beginning Jan 1833 and ended April 1833 when they had to go out on missions again. Most significant was March 18, 1833 when the first First Presidency was organized with Sidney Rigdon and Frederick Williams as counselors) BOOM! How's that for skill!? hehe. just kidding. It's fun though. 

We've gotten a lot of practice too. Although the elders in our district left this past Tuesday, the district younger than us (who actually leaves before us--rude) came into the VC room (with all the kiosks that play fun videos, and with a cardboard cut out of the Christus statue) and we did a tour for them. It was nice to get that practice, especially because last night we had the TRC when we had volunteers come in and act as investigators! It was a lot of fun, and really quite powerful.

Tomorrow is going to be a huge day for us! We have been gathering referrals from missionaries all week and tomorrow we are goign to the Referral Center and are going to be working the phones and calling people. YIKES! scary, but exciting. And then, as if that isn't scary enough, tomorrow afternoon/evening we are going to be at Temple Square proselyting! Yowsa! I'm excited though. It'll be good to be doing really stuff. Talk about conquering all your fears in one day! It's going to be a busy day tomorrow! Hopefully I won't be too nervous and at some point I'll stop sweating :)

Hm, let's see. that's about all the exciting things that have been going on for me recently. It's really fun to be with all the sisters, we have a good time. I can't remember if I told you before, but therea re 10 girls going to Kirtland, 2 to Independence, and one to LA. it's weird to be around so many sisters! It's been nice to have a change. And we've been bonding a lot, even outside class. Mostly gym. For my birthday, I got these exercise cards that you shuffle and it has all these exercises that you do and you get a different work out every time because of the shuffling. What a GENIUS gift! I've been using them everyday since I got them a bit before my birthday, and the last 3 days the sisters have been doing it too. We look so funny as we work out together, and it's entertaining to see all these sisters doing fun little exercises. It's great to work out and feel healthy.

Well, I guess I have no idea when I'll write next. I'm back to your time zone (minus you, Eric) Tuesday morning. We leave the MTC at 5 am. I don't remember what time we get into Cleveland. I'm excited to go though, and start round 2! 

Love you all, good luck with everthing! love love love.

Sister Maughan

p.s. Tell Grandma and Grandpa that I ran into Sister Brown, who was the Chicago mission president's wife when they were temple president. She LOVES them! It makes me so proud to be their granddaughter whenever I meet someone who knows George and Chloe :)

A Few MTC Pics....

Yay! Real snail mail letters! (Well, at least she wrote to her brothers...!) Melissa included some pictures that I scanned to put here. She looks pretty official to me. *Ü*

nylons?! NO MA'AM!

So first the subject line, NO MORE NYLONS!!! they just announced it. We don't have to wear nylons anymore, they want us to wear lots of bright, professional colors, don't even want us to wear full length skirts and the skirts only need to come to cover my knees when sitting. HALLELUJAH! Seriously, i didn't know that I could hate nylons this much. So, any interest in sending some more no show socks? :) tan or black, either one ;)

 

Things are really really good this week! I have had a wonderful week. Things continue to be great with Sister Hansen. beyond great actually. We got called into the branch presidents office last saturday and when we were in there he asked me to tell him what I loved about sister hansen and she did the same back for me. When we finished, my macho branch president was crying! he said he had never seen a companionship with so much love and unity and with such a strong spirit that it was radiating. He's been here 3 1/2 years. It really touched us. I love that girl.

 

The reason we were called into his office was because he called me to be the coordinating sister for the zone. The calling is basically zone leader meets RS president. haha. It's the only leadership calling that I will be able to get on my mission, but I'm good with that because it really does require a lot of time! We got a whole bunch of new sisters in the zone this past week and there's a lot that has to  be done when a new district comes in. I love my calling though. Despite how long and time consuming it is. It's fun to be a part of something bigger.

 

This week we have been doing a lot of teaching. It's been fun to work with sister Hansen and actually teaching the lessons. We've been doing well and it's been great to get practice. We're going to be teaching Alex Hill this week! Tuesday actually. Should  be fun,but also a bit intimidating because he's going to be able to run home and tell all of you about how I am doing! yikes! haha. Our district leaves for St. Louis this coming Tuesday. We're so sad, because it's going to be weird to have them go. They've become a part of our family away from home. We have some really great elders, so it's going to be weird without them, but our VC training begins on Wednesday, so I'm excited to see what that is going to be about.

 

So...my birthday. I know you are all dying to know. Well, it was GREAT! I had a wonderful birthday, one that definitely does not compare to anything I've ever experienced before and never will again. Most of the day I didn't even remember it was my birthday, except for the fact that 230598234698034 people sent me TONS of candy! I think some people are trying to fatten my up! hehe. It was great though. Mom, your packages that you were worried I wouldn't get before Wednesday actually arrived last Friday after I wrote your email. I had to sit around with two packages and Sis. Hansen wouldn't let me open them until Wednesday! rude! just kidding.  I absolutely LOVED the earrings and charms. Thank you so much! And Eric, how the HECK did you get that package of M&M's inside that bottle?! It took like 8 of us to try and get it out and by the time we got them out, it was just a bunch of little pretzels sitting in chocolate debris! haha. No worries, I still ate it :) And yes, Carolyn made brownies! She is now a favorite of every elder in my district. hehe. I took some pictures I'll send them sometime.

 

Speaking of pictures, no I don't have a way to upload and send, not that I have time in the MTC anyway. But  I did print off a couple of pictures and sent them home just a minute ago. I think before I leave the MTC I'll send a package and I can send a CD with all the pictures that I've taken while here. I need to figure out what to do.

 

Oh! back to the birthday! i got to see April! It's fun to see her. We've run into each other a couple of times. It's weird to think we're both missionaries. Also, Christina Early came and had lunch with me for dinner, and Angie and Emily came and had dinner with me! it was quite the party! I really did have a great day. And thanks to half the ward for sending dear elders! it was nice to feel so loved. I don't have time to write a lot of people back, but will you definitely say thank you?

 

hm...okay. I don't remember if I had anything else to say. Eric, I'm so glad that you have work off on Sunday. Scott and Craig, thanks for the dear elders! They made me want to cry. Mom and Dad, love you both so much and thanks for raising me right. Love you all so much! have a good week!

 

Your favorite sister missionary,

Sister Maughan

"we begin by saying 'in the name of Jesus Christ......"

I have a feeling that I am going to have some angry members of the family, since Eric and Mom both said that they were going to write long emails before my p-day on Saturday......oops! Surprise! p-day is on Friday! Hahaha it's not my fault! We got to write last saturday because they didn't want to have us go 9 days without writing our family so we got half a p-day on Saturday afternoon.. But for the rest of the time that I am in the MTC it's on Friday.. so there ya go! But don't worry, I appreciate the emails anyway :) Since you didn't get the chance to write me an email, I recommend DearElder.com.. It's fantastic.. plus I'll get it that day, and I truly recognize now how awesome it is to get mail! So dear elder it up! 

Anyway, life this week has been good.. But there really isn't that much exciting stuff to tell you, since every day is the same thing.. We essentially rotate through class food class bathroom class sometimes sleep class.. that's it.. Every day is the same.. But it's been a lot of fun! 

I love my district, they are so fun and we have a lot of really good times together.. Especially the sisters in the district.. We're all going to Kirtland.. We all teach each other and just have a lot of fun together, especially make mistakes, hence the subject line.. haha One of the sisters was teaching me how to pray and that is what she said :) It was pretty entertaining.. I also love my teachers! They are so awesome and inspired and excellent teachers.. Although I must say, my personal favorite was a sub that we had who was from Australia/New Zealand and had a beautiful accent, beautiful smile, adorable dimples, and the most awesome hair.. hahahaha.. Sorry, but even though I'm a missionary it doesn't mean I'm not still a girl!! hehe.. Sister Hansen and I decided it was a good thing that he wasn't our normal teacher because we really would not be productive at all and would only drool all the time :) 

Speaking of that, things with Sister Hansen continue to be great.. I love that girl so much and she's been absolutely wonderful to be with, and we really do feel like sisters.. 

I woke up this morning feeling pretty sick and having a hard time getting out of bed and I suddenly thought: whoa.. I'm on a mission and this is going to be a hard 18 months! But if there's anything I've learned this week, it's that even though this is going to be hard, and sometimes it's going to kick my butt, it will TOTALLY be worth it.. I have no question in my mind.. I've never felt so strongly that I was doing the right thing.. I thrive on it.. I have a purpose.. And even though I have a LONG way to go before I can even say I'm decent, I'll get there.. and this is still right.. Sister Hansen told me that I was destined to be a missionary.. I laughed, but maybe she's right, who knows.. I guess we'll see what I say about this when I get to the field, but all I can say now is that I love being a missionary!   

Speaking of the mission field, I leave for Kirtland July 20th.. We have a week and a half left with these missionaries and then the last week is spent with all the visitor center missionaries learning how to conduct tours etc.. We even get to spend a day up at Temple Square working with the missionaries there.. It reminds me of nursing school, going into the hospitals and working with an experienced nurse so that we can learn.. haha.. But we don't get to go to Temple Square until the Saturday before I go.. So we've still got a ways to go.. I'll keep you updated for sure!    

P..S.. did I tell you that in that third packet I got, it said I was going to the Peru MTC?!?!?! haha.. It's not ironic anymore, just funny :)  Anyway, time is almost up. Hope everything is going well at home! Is everyone back from their travels? Love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and write you next Friday!--Sister Maughan

sistaaa maughan!

Hello family! Yes, I know, this is exciting as it is officially the first email from me as a missionary.. And let me tell you, this is definitely the perk of my day! I've been waiting to email for a while, so this is pretty exciting..

How are things in the outside world?! I hear Ghana is playing the US today in the world cup.. Can I just say that is making me SICK?! That is the game of all games I would love to see.. oh well...... I saw some pictures of graduation from the Brooksbys, that was really nice to see.. I love the picture of Dad and scott hugging.. tender! And thanks for sending me pictures of me going into the MTC! if you get the chance, would you be able to print out some of those pictures (or all of them haha) and send them to me? With maybe a pair of shorts (like the black fabric ones) or you know, anything else?! Oh yes.. look at me.. already needy.. haha.. What's a sister missionary got to do..

Speaking of sister missionary, things are going really well here! It's already been a crazy experience but I love it so much.. I am having a great time! My companion is great, which helps a lot.. Her name is Sister Hansen.. She is from North Ogden Utah.. She's wonderful, and we find that we have a lot in common.. We both for instance like to have fun and be happy, which is probably why when we were at a big meeting with all then new missionaries, an elder tapped us on the shoulders and said "You are the happiest sister missionaries I've met" SCORE!! haha.. It was really nice of him actually.. Sister Hansen is struggling a little bit with homesickness, but other than that, things have been great.. As for me, I'm surprised how amazing things have been. Since the elders took my bags and brought me to the main desk, I have felt SO calm and peaceful.. It feels so right to be here and I feel so good.. I'm amazed how right it feels, and I am so glad that I feel this way.. I can already tell that I am learning so much and improving a ton!

I was made senior companion wednesday night, so that was kind of a special honor.. Not that I have any idea what I am supposed to do as a senior companion or what differences there are between that and jr! Maybe I should look that up......haha.. It's amazing how many people I see and know on this campus.. Everywhere I turn I see people that I know, it feels like.. I saw Alex and Tony within minutes of each other this morning, and I see Angie and Christina Early a lot, especially because this week is Missionary President Seminar. 1/3 of all the mission presidents in the world are being replaced on July 1st, so they are all here all week to be trained.. It's kind of annoying because of schedule is all messed up and we are not allowed to go in the main building except for food, but it definitely has it's perks.. For instance......On the way to write this email, I turned to Sis.. Hansen and said "um hi.. That's Elder Nelson".. haha.. It's true.. We walked right by him.. Every single General Authority has been here this week.. Last night we had a special devotional that was given my Elder Oaks, but Elder Nelson, Bednar, Christofferson, Holland, Oaks (duh), Anderson and Scott were all here.. so, you can probably imagine the spirit of that meeting... Not that the spirit isn't palpable everywhere else, because it totally is.. It's helping me feel better about my mission call change..

SPEAKING OF WHICH! I have a crazy story for you! there is a sister in my zone who has a brother that lives in Ohio.. In April, He went to the Kirtland Temple and was really dissappointed, because they didn't talk about ANYTHING that happened in the Kirtland Temple, just about the building and how it was built etc. So when they left they were disappointed with the spirit and everything, but then just as they were leaving they saw PRESIDENT MONSON go into the Kirtland Temple! So, shockingly enough, they turned around and decided to do the tour again! While they were there, someone asked President Monson if there was a reason he was at the Kirtland Temple and he turned to them and said "I want a better feel of this place so that I will know exactly what sisters to send to this mission".. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! May I remind you that this was in April, as in when my call was changed?! How cool is that! It makes me feel a lot better about everything.. Not to brag or anything, but President Monson totally thought about me for a couple of seconds.. 'chea. Point-- Melissa.. Just kidding..

Anyway.. there's this big scary blinking red timer on the side of the computer screen that is blinking and telling me I don't have much time left.. It's kind of giving me an anxiety attack, so I better go! Hope things are going really well! Craig, I hope that you are thorougly enjoying Arizona, Scott, I hope you are partying it up since it's SUMMA, Mom-enjoy the Arizona heat, Dad-thanks for the postcard :) and Eric--hope Alex gave you that hug I told him to.. Love you all! --Sister Maughan p..s..Sorry for the weird format.. Apparently whenever you push the period you get TWO dots, and you also can't do spaces between paragraphs.. whatever.. Love you!