Happy June!

Hello all!

I know, it seems like forever since I've written. It's been, what, a whole 4 days? haha. Either way, It's always exciting to hear from everyone. Sounds like things are going well. That makes me happy.

We had a GORGEOUS day on Saturday when we were at Kirtland, and that means lots of tours. Our first tour was a bunch of people from BYU and it was cool to see all the connections that we had. One of the girls is even living in my old ward, so she gave me updates on the ward members. Like who knew my old roommate, Missy, is on a mission!? I didn't! Whoops. haha. We had another tour later that afternoon with the elders serving in Parma and their family who is getting baptized in July. It was a fun tour and it was awesome to see how much they loved it. The 15 year old daughter--one of those teenagers trying to find herself in this world--even wrote on her comment card that she loved the tour and said thanks for helping her believe that God is actually there. :) Have I mentioned I love Kirtland?

I had another experience last week that was pretty neat. I've been really struggling my mission (well, my whole life) to recognize what is actually the Spirit and what is my own thoughts and how to tell the difference. It's becoming a little easier with time and just trust. But I had an amazing experience late one night. We were just getting on our knees to say companionship prayer for the night when the phone rang. It was 10:30..curfew. It was a number we didn't recognize. After some debate, we decided not to answer but we'd call back in the morning. After we said companionship prayer, I really felt like we needed to call the number  back right away. It was a woman named Sister Heard, who actually is a inactive member in my old ward, Euclid. For weeks, she had been searching and asking people and praying to find a reference for a picture she had seen when she had been taught by missionaries and it had been coming back to her mind. She finally asked a lady in Mayfield Ward, and when she didn't know the answer, she gave Sis. Heard our number and said we would probably know. I did, and we gave her the scripture reference in the Book of Mormon so she could read more about it. She was SO excited! She had really been searching for weeks to know the answer. She said "Not even an hour ago, I was praying 'God, you promised ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. I have been doing that for weeks. How long must I go on?' and now, not even an hour alter, my testimony is strengthened". When I told her what happened on our end, she said "WOW! God is definitely real!" It was a really awesome experience. I got her address and talked to the missionaries in Euclid and it sounds like she is coming back to church.

Other than that, nothing too exciting to report! I told you about being stuck in the tornados last email, but I forgot to tell you that two days after that we were at sites when another huge storm hit, knocking out all power. We had to get on the main floor on the visitor center and we all chilled there for a few hours until we could leave the visitors center. We ended up sleeping over  at Elder and Sister Edman's home, which was SO fun! We showered by candle light and then had an pajama ice cream party and family prayer. I never thought I would have an pj ice cream party with me, my comp, and my site's director and his wife! :) While we were at sites, we only had one light that was battery operated and it was right by the bathroom. We decided to push the piano up there near the bathrooms/water fountain and practice "This is the Christ" that a group of sisters were singing at zone conference the next day. Let me tell you, it was hard to play the piano with that kind of light, but it was so funny I have to attach some pictures :)

Well, I love you all! Dad, I'm glad you summited McKinley so fast! You're a super hero. Glad you are home safe. :) Have a great week everyone. Love you all!

Sister Maughan