"I believe in dinosaurs. I also believe in God"

Hello hello! This week turned out just as well as we had hoped! (And it was just as hot and humid and nasty as we expected, but let's not dwell...) In fact, in many ways it turned out better! I'm just trying to decide where to begin...

Well first off, it was AMAZING to see Erin!!! That was a HUGE surprise! I don't know if you heard the whole story, but I didn't even recognize her at first haha. I recognized LouJean Wilson before her! But in my defense, when I first saw her, I was leaning over a balcony and who can recognize someone from the top on their head all the way up on the second floor!? PLUS I wasn't looking for her, haha. Okay, now I am just justifying. But it was an incredible surprise, and once I did recognize her, it brought me to tears. It was so great to see her and Justin and LouJean and little Bennett!! Oh my goodness that little man! Sister Schwanke and I have been (pretty continually) discussing how he is without a doubt the most beautiful child we have ever seen. The whole day was just amazing, getting to see them. I sometimes feel so spoiled to serve at a visitors center especially so close to home where I can see these people from time to time. But it always seems to happen right at the time when I could use it the most. Heavenly Father is way too kind to me.

We were able to see so many miracles this week it was incredible! The investigators that we have are progressing very nicely. We were able to have great lessons with Heaven and LaTonya, and we're hoping on resetting Heaven's baptismal date for next Friday. She is such a sweet girl, and she already fits right in. LaTonya is progressing well too, and even asked her  boyfriend if they could pray together every night, which is a bigger step than I can even express. We also witnessed an incredible miracle this week. Truly. There is a 15 year old girl named Georgie who actually reminds me a lot of Tabi (from Ravenna, if you remember her). They have very similar stories. Georgie has been coming to church every Sunday for years, and even all the church activities, even girls camp, EFY, and Youth Conferences. At one point she and her family were taking the lessons, but they never progressed too much. I have really wanted to work with her since I've been here, but for the most part, we have just been establishing a relationship and building trust, which I can tell she has appreciated. Well this week we got a text message from one of the YW she is really close with that said she and Georgie had been talking, and she wants to take all the lessons and be baptized! We had two lessons with her this week, and she truly is so prepared and so ready. Right now her date is for the beginning of September, but it could very easily be moved earlier.

I have been feeling an overwhelming feeling of love and gratitude, this week especially. We have seen so many miracles that I can't even count the number, nor could I put a lot of them into words. But I am so grateful to be a part of this work, especially here in Mayfield. I am very very VERY far from a perfect missionary, but I know that the Lord is qualifying me in my extreme weaknesses. Transfers are next week, and I feel like Sister Schwanke and I are both staying, but I could leave too and spend my last 3 transfers elsewhere. I hope I get to stay though, because Mayfield holds my heart. But then again, so does all of Cleveland, so whatever happens is what is suppose to happen!

Love you all so much! Stay as cool as possible! :)
Sister Maughan

p.s. the subject line was a sentence my companion used in a contacting situation on the street to segue from a weird conversation to a gospel one! hahaha

get ready to sweat. ugh!

It sounds like the weather in New York is pret-ty similar to what it is here (shocking!). We listened to the weather this morning and it was talking about being over 100 with the heat-humidity index. ewww...And it'll be that way all week. Yuck.

This was a pretty good week. We had an extremely stressful day at church yesterday. Church as a missionary is just not the same! We had 3 of our investigators come, but not at all the way that was planned!  Some traffic laws may or may not have been broken in order to get investigators to church...I plead the 5th. haha. Just know that it wasn't broken by me! Either way, stressful day, but overall successful. But Sister Schwanke and I were talking about how p-day is wonderful the day after Sunday, since we need a breather before going into the next week.

Our investigators are doing well. Heaven is really excited to be baptized, and she and her mom are doing great. Her date is for next Friday, but we found out in ward council yesterday that that is right in the middle of Youth Conference so all the YW will be gone...which causes problems since she is a YW! So we will probably push it to the first weekend in August...which is right after transfers. Sis. Schwanke and I hope that we will both get to stay, but if not, we've both been transferred right before baptisms, so it wouldn't be anything new. It's not about us anyway. We both have a really good feeling about this week though. We have a lot of time in our area, and our investigators schedules are opening up, and we have lots of first lessons with new people scheduled this week, so pray for good things! :)

It was a good week for visitors at Kirtland, too! Kirtland has been ridiculously busy this week due to Palmya Pageant. There were 1400 guests on Friday! But for me, I got to see Peter and Kristie! It was great to see them and to give them a tour. It was a lot of fun to give a tour to someone you know. That's funny they sent you pictures... I love those pictures taken while talking on tour...they're so attractive...not! :) I also got to see the Mikas last night! They had taken a tour from Sister Debenham actually, and we were there for an investigator fireside that I was singing at, so it was good to see them. But the other visitor we had this week is kind of an interesting story. We came in from a tour and saw a whole bunch of sisters lined up near the couch, just waiting for something and talking. I was curious to find out who they were waiting for, but instead I went to get a drink of water. When I was walking back I saw a man standing by himself in the back of the room, so I went up and introduced myself to him. He looked a little familiar so I was trying to figure out how I know him, but I went and introduced myself anyway. He introduced himself as "Elder Costa", and then I realized who it was. It was Elder Claudio Costa...of the Presidency of the Seventy! No wonder he looked familiar! It's weird to see General Authorities not in suits, haha. But we talked for a long time. His area of stewardship is Brazil (and more) and I told him about Scott leaving in a few weeks for Belem! He told me all kinds of facts about Belem (including how to say it haha) and said he actually organized the first stake in 1990. We talked for quite some time, and he said he's gonna keep an eye out for you, Scott! Then I met his wife and they both left. Apparently that is who all the sisters were waiting to meet and he had snuck in the back. I felt bad, because I was the only one to talk to him, but that was not a coincidence. It was a neat experience :)

Well I love you all, and I will talk to you next week! Stay cool!
Sister Maughan

"Help us to face with cheerfulness the opposition of our fatigue"

Those were the words that Sister Schwanke used in one of our prayers one morning, because we are SO TIRED!! All the time. I don't know what it is, but somehow, this transfer, both of our bodies are just shutting down. ....Getting...so....tired.... But it's okay! We still go and do! We work hard and by the end of the day, we're usually wide awake and unable to fall asleep, haha. What a cruel cycle. Missions really wear you out good.

This week was a pretty good week with everything going on. On Thursday night, we got to go to "This Is Kirtland" with Heaven. She's doing great! She loved the play and really felt the spirit during it. Plus, she is really connecting with the Young Women in the ward and that fellowship is key for her. She came to church yesterday in a dress and she was all embarrassed to be wearing a dress, but she looked so pretty :) We're going to have to move her baptismal date back a bit because we are teaching her at a slower pace and are teaching her mother, LaTonya at the same time, but we're planning on a date for the beginning of August. Keisha is doing well too. She has a testimony of the gospel and knows it is true, but gets really attached to missionaries, so we were a bit worried when Sister Mayer left. Thankfully, it's not too bad this time around. She didn't come to church yesterday because she slept in (which is quite a feat considering church is at 12:30 pm...) but she's doing well, nonetheless.

I had a great birthday this week! Sis. Schwanke had decorated the apartment so it would be a celebration when I woke up, so that was really sweet of her. We weekly planned for the morning (yay....) but then the Gervasi girls came and "surprised" me at the apartment and we went to Panera for lunch. They are the funniest girls! We had a great time, and I'll definitely have to send pictures when I bring my camera next time. We had appointments all afternoon, and then went to Messegees for dinner/birthday party! Mom, you did a good job coordinating with Sister Messegee, hehe. We had a great dinner, homemade cheesecake with raspberries (YUM YUM!) and then opened up those DELICIOUS cookies you had sent! They were great mom. Thanks :) Then we headed to the play with Heaven and it was a great way to end the birthday :) Thank you so much for everything!

Speaking of birthdays, Emma Smith's birthday was yesterday! So the community put on the annual Emma Hymn Festival yesterday in honor of her! It was held in the Kirtland Temple and was neat to learn more about her and to sing some of the hymns that she wrote, or to commemorate her life. I've really gained an amazing appreciation for Joseph Smith and his wife Emma and everything they sacrificed. It is always an awesome experience when we get to sing in the temple :)
Well, in the words of Sister Schwanke via post-it note in my scriptures, "I yove you yots and yots", and I will talk to you next week! Love you all!

Your favorite 22 year old missionary,
Sister Maughan

It's not actually my birthday this week, right?

Hello hello!

Happy Independence Day everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July celebration! It sounded like you all had great plans to celebrate the fourth, and it sounds like the weather is great too. We had an amazing day yesterday! There was a flag ceremony in the morning in Kirtland to honor the senior couple elders who have served in the military, and then we had a pancake breakfast afterwards. It was quite the festivity! 


Once things slowed down a bit, Sister Schwanke and I went to the Kirtland Historic North Cemetery, where several of the early Kirtland Saints are buried. It's right next to the Kirtland Temple, so we spent a little time there. It was great to be there when things were calm and it was warm and just peaceful. I really loved walking about the cemetery too, as morbid as that may sound. I had never taken the opportunity before to visit, so now I can cross that off the list of things I needed to do while in Kirtland! We then had an awesome pday with our zone playing ultimate frisbee and eating kabobs that the elders had made! How kind of them :) Anyway, it was a great day.

This week has been pretty crazy. There were a lot of meetings this past week in Cleveland, so we had to be at sites A LOT to cover for those sisters who had to be in Cleveland. So we had very little time in our area, but we have had some amazing experiences at sites though. You meet the most amazing people. We took a lot of people on tour this week who were from the Community of Christ church (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). They are so great! A lot of them had come up to see the annual production of "This is Kirtland!". It's a musical put on by the Kirtland stake each summer, and it is FANTASTIC! It was so powerful and I loved it so much. It's definitely one of the highlights of summer here in Kirtland. 

But I digress. We've been able to take lots of tours because of people coming to see this, and also those who are headed to Palmyra for the pageant. What a good time of year! Also fun fact, this week we gave a tour to a woman who had 25 kids! yes...twenty five. Crazy, eh!? She had 5 of her own, and then adopted 20. They are all between the ages of 3 and 31. They were adopted from Maryland, Vietnam, Bolivia, Marshal Islands, and Haiti. She had amazing stories and the kids were so wonderful. She had written a book about their journey to adopt all of these children, and she gave us a autographed copy of it. I'll have to read it post-mish. But the best of the story? They have all been sealed...all 27 people in that family :)

Thank you so much for all of the birthday emails! It's weird, because it really does not feel like my birthday is this week. Minus the package the I got on Saturday that is sitting on our table at home. But it should be a good birthday, we'll be spending some of the time with the Messegee family, so that's about as close as we can get! The only thing I really want for my birthday is to set some solid baptismal dates and find a family to teach!  I'm glad ya'll are having the sisters over that night too, you'll have to send me some pictures :)

I love you all so much! Thanks for all your love and support. Miss you!

Sister Maughan