"my conscience sometimes sounds like Snoop Dawg"

It's so good to email after a crazy week! Because it has definitely been a crazy week! I'm not even quite sure where to begin...

For starters, this week we got dropped by 7 investigators in 48 hours. 6 of which were supposed to be baptized this coming Saturday. Hadn't planned for that one! BUT in my opinion, I didn't really feel like these people were quite ready yet and there are other people out there, and apparently the Lord agreed with me and so he has moved us into finding mode! Ahh...always a treat. :) 

Nah, it's okay. It's hard, but we're actually finding some new investigators. We found two new investigators this weekend. One is named Alberto. He is SO funny! We were reading the Book of Mormon with him and he was reading outloud and said that he prefers to read in his head because then he can change the voices in his head, and his "conscience sometimes sounds like Snoop Dawg" hahahaha! Oh my gosh I wanted to die when he said that. I love my area! haha. But Alberto's main goal in life is searching for truth, so we have a lot of hope for him.

Kirtland is definitely starting to get so much busier now! This past Saturday, we had 290 people come through sites! We even had a bus tour of Restorationists, and several groups of Seminary kids, two from canada and two groups from pennsylvania and Baltimore. I LOVE Kirtland when it starts to get busy again! 290 is actually a slow day during the summer, but for now, it's like a drug for us. We just want more and more! It's fantastic :)

So I want to tell you an amazing miracle I've seen at Kirtland. We obviously take SO many tours and even though I have some freakish ability to remember names and faces, it's still hard to remember specific tours, especially from last summer. But last August, Sister Lee and I took a tour of a woman named Rebecca and her two children (all members) and her Catholic friend John. This was one of the best tours I have ever taken: it was fun, the spirit was really strong and everyone was engaged in what we said (the 10 year old boy even wrote on his comment card "this was the best. day. ever"). 

For some reason, I really felt a connection with everyone, especially with John. At the end of the tour, we collected the comment cards and John had not left his phone number, but to make a long story short, I called the missionaries in Pennsylvania and told them to stop by his home. Remember, this was back in August. I called to follow up with those missionaries at the end of September and they said that they had stopped by a couple time, left some notes, but were never able to get in touch with him. I was disappointed, but figured that maybe it would happen later.

Okay now fast forward to the end of February. I had been trying to get in touch with Rebecca over the last few months to get information about a referral that she had left, and FINALLY got in touch with her. I got all the information I needed, and just as we were getting off the phone, I felt like I needed to ask her about John. I didn't have his card anymore, or any of his information, but I had just remembered. We talked a little bit, and I asked if I could get his phone number and if it would be okay if I called him. 

I called him right away and he answered on the first ring. I introduced myself and we talked about Kirtland. He told me that he LOVED Kirtland, and it really had made an impression on him and he had wanted to come back the next month, but thought maybe we'd think it was too soon!! I talked with him about those feelings he had, and if he wanted to make that a permanent part of his life. He was quiet as he thought about it, and I started to bear testimony of the gospel and read him some things from the Book of Mormon. He told me he had a copy and I committed him to start reading about it and praying about it. He told me he would because he wants to know it's true, and he said I could send the missionaries. 

I sent the referral, but also called the missionaries to tell them to get their butts over to John's house asap!! haha. I told them I would follow up on their lesson in the next few weeks. Which brings us to this past Saturday....

Saturday I called the elders to follow up on John. They made an appointment and went and taught lesson one. This is what the elder told me: "Sister Maughan, in the 19 months I have been on my mission, I have never been in a more powerful lesson. The spirit was so strong. At one point, as we were reading the Book of Mormon--apparently the section you had already read with him over the phone--he stopped. We sat in silence for just a minute. We asked John how he was feeling and he started to cry. He just started to say 'it's true. It's all true.' " !!!!!!! John is now in Florida for a few weeks, but when he gets back, he's going to be baptized. I am so excited for him, and I am SO happy!! This is the most amazing work!! I am SO lucky to be serving here, and especially at a call center with the opportunity to share my testimony and the gospel not only in Cleveland, but all around the world. I LOVE THIS WORK!! :)

Scott, I am so excited for you to get your mission call on Wednesday!! Then you and I can do this work together :)  I'm so excited to hear where you are going!! But no matter where it is, it will DEFINITELY be where you need to be. Which will probably be San Diego. haha :)

I love you all so much! I'm sorry this email is so stinkin' long, but I wanted to get it all in. Have an amazing week, and happy spring!! :)

Love,
Sister Maughan