9' of water and 5' of mud in 1 house - September 23, 2013

Dearest Family of the Universe!!!! 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PICTURES!!!!! They made my day... no week... no entire mission!!! haha!!! I loved them sooooooooo much!! I printed them off :) I loved the ear muffin, shine bright, kleeshan, and phoebe ones!!! (and lennon's fat ones... i guess that's all of the pictures... haha!) PLEASE GIVE PHOEBE LOVES FOR ME!!!! Those pics you sent to me of her in mom's bed made me so so sad!!! I hope she gets better!!!!!! (and I hope your coughs go away too! haha!)

This week has been crazy!!! We have been doing service non-stop! It has been awesome! One home we spent a lot of time at this week got 9 FEET OF WATER AND 5 FEET OF MUD in their basement!!!!!!!!!!!!! They had all of the water out and most of the mud when we got there, but it looked SO bad! Their home is ruined! They had 12 dump trucks full of mud!! We shoveled and shoveled and shoveled and just dumped it in the street. They had the road blocked off. It is unbelievably terrible in some places! I will send some pics! Besides shoveling out mud, we tore down sheet rock, and cabinets and worked hard! There were 4 Sisters there. Then 3 elders showed up later in the day. The home owners name is Nick. He is probably in his late 50's early 60's. His voice actually sounds a lot like Todd Franks'!  Hermana Cropper and I were working together in the boiler room clearing mud out.  he was awesome! super nice guy and was really grateful for our help!  We worked in his home from 11-6:30 with a half hour to eat lunch. I have NEVER BEEN SO SORE IN MY LIFE! I really thought I might have sprained my back... it hurt soooo bad! But it was really fun to be covered in mud! haha! We went as a group to eat at Bucca di Beppo after. It was so fun!!! We were all muddy, but our waiter was so impressed with us for helping that he gave us our meal half off!!!! TENDER MERCY! haha :)

This week we also helped a hoarder... it was terrifying! I have never seen so many things in a home before in my life. it was disgusting and I couldn't get out of that house fast enough! haha! And there are streets that are indescribable. Sister Engstrom took pics of one near our house. We also have been helping the city at dump sites. We tell people what they are allowed to dump (no electronics or paint, etc.) The first time was pretty fun! We did it with these 2 guys, one was a cop, he was SO nice and funny! Kind of reminded me of Uncle Eli. We had fun with them! Everyone was really grateful we were there and helping too. Not a lot of people came to the dump site on the second day... so it was boring. But we went dumpster diving... haha! And I found a wooden louisville slugger that a former Colorado Rockie had signed, (darren holmes, he was a pitcher) Pretty legit! haha! And another sister... Sister Koller (who's family might have been in gma and gpa's ward in Payson! he was the stake pres!) she found a rain stick! I used to have one when I was a kid - I think we bought it in Las Vegas on a vacation. SO we had fun with it!! :) We went to Wendy's after that day of work and this guy saw all of us in our yellow helping hands vests and was so impressed with us so he bought all of us chocolate frostys! It was sooooo nice!!!!! :) There are so many good people in the world! :) Hope this food thing keeps up :)

This week we also had dinner with a family who invited their neighbors over. They are 2 guys in their 20's. Their names are chris and brandon. They were sweet!!!! SO nice!! Chris is back in school studying in some sort of seminary and is very religious. Brandon is very religious too. We had lots of fun with them and had a great conversation. They were awesome! The elder's gave them each a Book of Mormon and they seemed like they were really interested in reading it. It was a fun night!

We also did service at the place called Attention Homes for Youth. They were having a fundraiser and wanted our help setting up for it. It was mardi-gras themed. It was pretty fun and they gave us really cool masks. We took pics of together that I will send you! And it was Broomfield Days on Saturday! It was a party! I didn't know how big it was going to be! They had a parade and tents with vendors set up everywhere. We got asked by a couple in our ward to help out with the car show! We were so excited!!!! I love this couple! Kathy and Rick :) We got there at 6am and helped out until about 3.  There were some AWESOME cars!!!! Max - I was thinking about you the whole time! I took tons of pictures!!! So I will send them to you, buddy! 

Mom- I got your package! THANK YOU!! I have worn the skirt 2 days in a row :) I love it so much! and I am wearing the Suzie Turner shirt today :) And I love that you are fb friends with SIster Engstrom!! I told her to do that :) I had her look up my blog and we watched the video of me opening my call! it was fun!! :) I was with her last night when she got on because she wanted to show me all of your art stuff! SHE IS REALLY  IMPRESSED WITH YOUR ART!!! When she got on, you had just fb stalked her and she loved it! She thought you were going to think she was crazy for having liked a bunch of your stuff the other day. haha! I told her you probably loved it! :) I love the Engstrom's so much! They are an awesome couple! They took us to get DQ the other night and it was so much fun! This is actually the last week before transfers!!!!!!! Can you believe it!? I can't! It is flying by! I have been gone for 2 1/2 months! that is cray cray!!! But I am really hoping I get to stay in Broomfield and with the Engstrom's for one more transfer! I will find out on saturday!!!! So on Monday when I email you ,I will let you know whether I am staying or getting transferred to a new area!!! Crazy!!! 

Also... Sad news... Kathleen canceled on us this week... her daughters play got rescheduled for that night. But she did sound like she wanted to reschedule! So we are hoping that happens this week! I just have to tell you all how much my testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown since I have been out!!! I LOVE EL LIBRO DE MORMON!!!!! I have a hard time putting it down in the mornings after our studies are over. It is so good! And filled with so many wonderful teachings and examples! I wish I would have read the Book of Mormon A LOT more before my mission! I want you to know that I know it is true and I am so grateful to have it as a guide in my life!!!! I hope you are all doing a daily scripture study! I know it will bless you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! TE QUIERO :)

-hannah :)

Craziest Week You Can Imagine - September 16th

Hey fam!! Ok, I have a feeling this letter might be kinda crazzzzyyyy... I just have so much to say, and not a ton of time... so I will do my best!! First off- thanks for you emails this week! I appreciated everything you said, all of the great pictures- chalk the block looked amazing!!- and the updates on everyone back home. Glad to hear Kollin is starting to do a little better, and SO happy for Jean!!!!!!

Now... about the flood!!! The pics you sent me were crazy!! The road you sent me is actually pretty close to where I live, and I drove by it and saw the actual cars in the picture! It is crazy looking! We literally drove on that road the night before!!! 

So, like I said, Broomfield didn't get hit too bad. LOTS of rain, especially yesterday! A few basements got water in them, but hardly any. Most of the disaster has been in Boulder! We have been going up to boulder every day helping people. It has been such an amazing missionary opportunity for us!! Our entire zone (about 22 people) have been going up to homes up in the mountains and helping people there. They got hit pretty bad! We have been ripping out wet carpet... WHICH IS SO HEAVY!!!!! And shoveling 6" high of mud off of driveways and porches. And hauling furniture out of homes. All of the families we have helped have been amazing. 

One family we helped, their entire basement was absolutely destroyed!! It has broken my heart!! Water was literally 2 feet high. We ripped out the carpet when the water had gone down to about 4 inches or so. We hauled out furniture too. Their teenage daughters room is destroyed. All of her clothes are ruined. And the dad is a musician and all of his equipment (worth thousands of dollars) ... ruined! And in the mom's office, all of her paper work and photo albums... ruined!! I took all of the photos out and I wanted to cry! All of their memories... SO SAD!!! And they also had 2 ORIGINAL EAMES LOUNGE CHAIRS!! Holy cow!! I wanted to bawl when I saw them covered in water! Those chairs are pieces of art! (here's my design side coming out... haha!) The whole thing was so devestating. The Letham's (the family) were amazing. They were really struggling... but were so strong, and so grateful for our help. We tried to make it fun... their daughter turned on music and we went to work and worked really hard! (I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO SORE!!) I think the mission should pay for all of us to get massages :) hahaha) The Letham's neighbors are actually mormon. The daughters are best friends. So they came and helped too. They bought us dinner and then we took pictures with the family and  we sang Army of Helaman to them. It was pretty awesome! 

We went back the next day to finish helping and the water had risen a ton! It rained a lot that night and the water went back up to about 18 inches!!!! I just feel so bad for this family and all of the families who's homes and their things have been destroyed!!

We took another picture in front of the huge mud pile we shoveled! But I unfortunately don't have any of these pictures... A sister in my zone does and she is going to email all of the pictures to us. So hopefully next week I will get them to you :) 

Another family, not members, bought all 22 of us subway sandwiches and cookies and coke. SO nice!! This is really just such a wonderful and amazing missionary experience!Everyone is so nice and grateful for our help! I am really excited for this next week!!! I am so grateful for this opportunity! I did not think at all that I would get to do anything like this on my mission.  We are having more success now, in the last few days, than we have had in the month we have been here. I know we are affecting lives, and planting seeds about the gospel. People are so grateful for our help. I know that I am supposed to be here to help, and I am so grateful I am! This is what I love to do! I know the gospel is true! I have seen the impact it is having on the lives of the people in Boulder. 

So, MOST IMPORTANTLY, this week we met with our very first investigator!!!!! YIPPEE!!! (Mom, you still haven't told me if you know sister deckers family... do you??) We met with Kathleen at the Deckers home. We ate lunch together and got to know her, and then we felt impressed to teach the second lesson about the Plan of Salvation instead of the Restoration. Kathleen's husband left her last year as well as her 2 kids who have autism and aspergers.... So we felt like the Plan of Salvation would be a better route to go. Kathleen comes form a very devote Catholic family. But she isn't really active, just started to going back after the divorce. It was great, Sister Jarvis also comes from a divorced family, so we were really able to relate and testify to her about the strength of the gospel. THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG!!! Sister Decker was crying, it was soooooo amazing!!!! Kathleen told us when we got there that she was happy to help us and let us practice the lessons on her, implying she has no intention of really being an "investigator",  But at the end of the lesson she wanted to meet with us again and she wants her kids to be there! We are SO HAPPY!!! So we are going to meet with all of them on Friday :) YAY!!!

I am having to type sooooo fast!!!! haha -I hope you guys are all doing well! And to answer you question mom, I can print, but it costs money... so i would love it if you sent me hard copies of some of the pics of colorado and of you guys. I was laughing pretty hard about the story to told of the pedicure lady!! hahahaha! I’m glad jill is giving you massages! That is awesome!!

Ok.... I think that is everything... I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE :)

Con Amor,

Hannnnnnnnnnnnnah :)

This actually has nothing to do with the floods this week - we helped Sister Allred (who we used to live with) scrape her popcorn ceilings - YOU KNOW I AM A PROFESSIONAL AT THIS - MOHICAN HOUSE GAVE ME A TON OF PRACTICE!!!

You have probably heard it is RAINING A LOT!!!!!

Don't worry, I am a good driver :)

Skies look like this EVERYDAY!!!

Doing the Lords work :)

EMERGENCY EMAIL HOME - September 13th (Floods!)

Hey Mom!!! 

President wanted us to get on and email home to let our families know that we are ok! Don't worry! It is really bad though!! Broomfield actually did not get hit too bad. But Boulder did!! Like super bad! Sister Engstrom told us 4 people have died and that over 550 people have been rescued by helicopter already! Bridges have been broken, dams have broken, water is EVERYWHERE! But, this is a wonderful opportunity for us to SERVE!! We spent the day in Boulder yesterday helping people take things out of their basements and vacuum up the water. Most of the basements have 2 feet of water! I used a Wetvac in One of the homes we went to yesterday! I’ve got SKILLS now- haha. I started talking to the lady, her name is Sister Stewart (she's 83). I told her I was from Provo, and she said she has family who lives there. She started naming off the names and guess what? Frosty Hansen is her nephew!!!!!! I said I KNOW FROSTY!!! Haha! So, please call him and tell him! :)

Today we are going back to Boulder and will spend the day helping people again! This really is such a great opportunity for us as missionaries, and I am so grateful to be apart of it!!! It feels so good to be a help!!!!

Don't worry about me!!! 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO!!!!!

Hey everybody - September 9th

Hey fam fam!! First of all... THANK YOU FOR THE PACKAGE!!! It made my day! The treats are amazing!! I'm eating some caramels right now as I am emailing you :) And the scarf... I LOVE IT!! You all know me so well!!! Thank you so much!!! 

Second of all... Remember when we had the sister missionaries over for dinner and then I went on splits with them? Remember Sister Wachlin? She might be serving in another ward now. Well, guess what!? She said she had a sister serving in the Denver North Mission. Well, when the mission got split, she was put into my mission and we are currently serving together in the same zone! I see her all of the time! I didn't even make the connection until this week! We were doing service at this really cool place called Bead For Life in Boulder and I was talking to her, and then it just clicked in my head! Small world! I know the church is true when connections like this happen! It really is just amazing! How great and amazing is it that Heavenly Father has planned out all of these small little details for everyones lives!? It is awesome!! So, I think you took a picture of me and the sisters when I went on splits... could you find it and send it to me so I can show my Sister Wachlin?? And I will take a pic with her and send it to you so you can show her sister!

Mom -  you were asking if we are part of the JustServe program and we are! It is so neat!! I love it! That is what we were doing at the Bead For Life place. We have to get 10 hours of service done each week. It is a pilot program they are testing out in our mission. It is awesome! The Bead place is really cool! It is a company helping people in Africa. They make necklaces and bracelets and tons of different things out of the paper beads the women in Africa make. I help sort the beads and do stuff for them! We also volunteer at a place called Precious Child where we sort clothing that gets donated to the less fortunate. It is great! They play really good music at both of these places too :) Haha! At BFL they play the Ingrid Station on Pandora or Mumford and Sons! I LOVE IT! It is a tender mercy from Heavenly Father :) Haha! Speaking of music... I asked Lennon to send me some music, I gave her some requests. She never responded though... so I don't know if you all are working on sending me some, but will you please!? Also, does Mindy Gledhill have a church CD? If so, will you send it to me?? THANKS!!!

It has still been a slow week... but it was better than last week! We have an appointment set up for Wednesday with a lady named Kathleen. She is neighbors with the Decker family. (Which, he didn't have pres. green as his president. he came in right after, so i don't think you served with him... but you might know his wife's family!! The San Fernando's! He was a stake president while you were serving. Sound familiar???) Anyway, I am really excited for our appointment and hope it goes well!! PRAY FOR ME!!

And this week we met with another an awesome family in the ward! They are new converts as of 2 years! The Drake family! Sister Drake was watching TV one day when an “I'm A Mormon” ad came on. It was the one about the Harley Davidson guy. She was interested and so she ordered a Book of Mormon and 2 missionaries came with it! Haha! They started taking the discussions and then got baptized! Great story! They are hilarious! Sister Jarvis and I went to meet them one night and we stayed FOREVER talking to them! It was so fun! I love the relationships I am making with families and people here! It is amazing! Another family I just absolutely love are the Kaisers! I think I told you a little about them. They are just so awesome! Sister Kaiser is amazing! And reminds me of you, Mom! They are so sweet and make sure we are always being taken care of! I also love the Engstrums! (They are who we are moving in with today!) Sister Engstrum and Sister Kaiser are actually sisters. They are just such awesome people! I am so excited to move in with them! They had my package and were so cute when they gave it to me :) 

So... I have a couple of questions for you all... and comments :)

1. Have you sold the Explorer & Lennon are you remembering to make payments on my Civic??

2. How did Jenna Johnson do in So You Think You Can Dance?

3. Thank you for working on the skirt mom! 

4. MOM- get on FB and friend Sister Jarvis' mom!! NICOLE JARVIS- we want you all to be friends! :)

5. Where is Gpa from in Iowa? There are some Iowa connections here and I need some info to see if there are people they may know in common :)

6. That is so cool that Courtney put her papers in!!! Keep me posted on where she gets called to!! 

7. That is so exciting about Coach Cooke having her baby!! Send me a pic of him! Also, I hope she is doing ok! I will keep her in my prayers! 

8. Pdays are always a little different... one week we played bball at a church, last week we played football and played water balloons games with the YSA ward in our stake. And today we are going to play mini golf :) As far as regular exercise, Sister Jarvis and I go for a walk or run every morning! 

9. THAT STORM LOOKED CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY!!!!!!! I can not believe it!! WOOOOOOOW!!!! I am glad you are all ok!!! I hope the rest of Provo is!!!! Way to go BYU!!! 

10. Thank you so much for all of the pictures this week! You all look SO beautiful!!!!!! I LOVE the pic of Lennon and Max in the piggyback!!!! I took a pic on my camera so I can look at it through out the week :)

11. Thank you for telling me about the Roberts funeral! What an amazing family!!!!!!! I wish I could have been there! It sounds like it was so spiritual! How amazing to have Elder Anderson there. Thank you for sharing the 3 things they talked about! I wrote them down so I could work on them too :) 

The Gospel really is just soooo amazing! It blesses peoples lives tremendously. I really don't know how people can survive not knowing about the Plan of Salvation! Knowing that there is a purpose for our lives and a plan for after is so comforting during those hard times! I am so grateful for the chance to share this amazing plan with the people in Colorado!!! 

I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOOO MUCH!! Thanks for being so awesome!!!!!!! 

Love,

Hannah :)

PDay Fun

Good thing I used to be on the golf team at Timpview!!! JK

Fun times!!

Me and a mushroom :)

My week - September 4, 2013

Familia!!!!! So first of all, the reason I didn't write home yesterday was because all the libraries were closed for Labor Day... So I get to write to you today! Yay! Thank you for sending the package this week! Can't wait to get it! :) If it is possible, could you get my patriarchal blessing and shrink it and laminate it and send it to me so I can keep it in my scriptures? I would love you forever if you could do that!! Haha! 

Also, I am glad you guys were able to find the YouTube video of that song! It is a sweet song! A lady in my ward named Sister Kaiser (she is absolutely amazing, btw, and I think mom and Sister Kaiser would be great friends!). She filmed us singing at the Luau and asked for your email and is going to try and send it to you in the next couple of days! 

MOM- there is a family in my ward called the Deckers. He served in the same mission as you but a year later! His president was Green too! His wife is actually from Argentina and she thought maybe you would know her family because her Dad was the Stake President! Their last name is San Fernando. They were in the same ward as the Green's. I hope you know them! That would be so awesome!! We had dinner at their house on Sunday and she made Argentine empanadas! It made me feel at home :) 

This week we had dinner with a family named the Gray's. He is a chiropractor and he re-aligned all of the missionaries! I was super nervous... haha! But I did it and it felt amazing!! haha! My neck truly can turn further! It is crazy cool! 

We also went on exchanges this week. Sister Jarvis (not related to Hadley btw) is the Sister Training Leader. So, every week I go on exchanges with Sister Cropper (her companion is the other STL) and we were in the CCM together! So she loves it when we are companions and so do I. We went and found some former investigadores together (they are in a spanish area, so I get to use my Spanish when I am with her) in Boulder. I am actually on exchanges again right now and am emailing from Boulder! We found and talked to some formers in Spanish! We were terrified, because each of us has only been out for 3 weeks, but it was great! The Latin people are way more willing to listen to you and way nicer! We were really happy after and decided to tract in the area because there were tons of Latins there. It went great! 

Then we went to dinner... the family who fed us was so strange!!! I guess the weirdest thing happened after they said the prayer.  the family has a tradition that they all kiss after they pray... so they all kissed on the lips in front of us. The Dad was kissing his 12 and 9 year old daughters on the lips... and one daughter pulled away faster then he wanted and made her kiss him again... IT WAS SO UNCOMFORTABLE AND NOT APPROPRIATE! I was pretty mad actually... it was so gross!! 

Also this week, we had to do a little biking... it is so hard in a skirt!!!!! The elders needed our car to get to a meeting so we borrowed their bikes. It was quite the adventure and I was so sore for days after! haha! So grateful to have a car for  most of the time! 

Last Friday we had a training meeting in Fort Collins. We were there for a couple of hours. It was great! I got to see Ally! I love her so much! But crazy thing... a blood vessel in her eye popped, she doesn't know how, and her eye is SUPER red! She had to go the ER, but looks like everything will be ok! Thank goodness!! After the meeting we went to Cafe Rio which was the greatest thing ever!! Made me feel at home again! There were SO many of us there! Eyes were definitely on us!! haha!

We also went tracting this week in Broomfield... It is so much harder in an English area! I was terrified and made sister Jarvis talk the whole time! haha! One guy answered the door and the apartment REEKED of pot!!!! He was funny, though, and we talked briefly and then left. A couple of minutes later he yelled from his apartment, "JESUS COME BACK TO ME!" I just wanted to get out of there!! haha!

Anyway, today, like I said, I am in Boulder on exchanges. We got a referral for a Spanish speaker from the Dominican Republic. He works at a grocery store. We went and found him and talked to him in Spanish and it actually went really well!! It made me really happy and excited to really be able to speak Spanish! I study every day, but it is hard to remember to speak in Spanish when you don't have to. Sister Jarvis and I are trying to get better at that!

This week was actually pretty hard! It felt like every visit we had set up fell through, people wouldn't let us in, and we have no real investigators. It really was rough! But on Sunday things started looking up, and the past 3 days have been good! Thank goodness! I needed it! We actually have a potential investigator from the Decker family! I hope it goes well! We are going to try and teach her this week! I will let you know how it goes next Monday! It will be the first "real investigator lesson" that I will have ever taught on my mission! Please pray for me!!!!! 

Well I think that is about it with my week... I am so sorry to hear about the Roberts family and Kollin Galland! SOOOO SAD!! I will definitely keep both of them in my prayers!! I hope Kollin is able to recover quickly! I will pray for a miracle! Keep me posted on him! 

I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Love your amazing sister, daughter, and host sister,

Herrrrrrrrrrrrrmana Hannah Mangum :)