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!