Hermana Hannah Mangum: I have a surprise for you…. December 9th, 2013

Hey Hey Everybody --------

I HAD 3 BAPTISMS THIS WEEK!!! What!? Yep! I am not lying! So the Elder I told you about last week who broke his arm, had to go home on Monday to get surgery. He got 24 screws in his arm and a plate... It was a bad break! So his companion got moved to Fort Collins and we took over their investigators! We have felt pretty stressed out trying to visit everyone we are teaching and everyone the Elders were teaching. And they had 3 investigators set for a baptismal date. So let me tell you a little about the family....

John, Josh and Angel got baptized. John and Angel are cousins and Josh is John's best friend. John is married to Becky. She hasn't wanted to take the lessons yet. She wants more time. They just moved here from Wisconsin. So their crazy story is this... They had a very upsetting and tragic thing happen to one of their family members. The same day they found out was the day the missionaries found John. The missionaries approached John and he decided to talk to them. Well, John and Becky and the kids, and Josh and Angel decided to move to get away from all of the mess in Wisconsin. They moved to Greeley. The Elders working with them in Wisconsin knew one of the Elders serving in this mission and he called him and asked if he could send someone to visit them. Turns out his friend in our mission was serving in Greeley and in their exact ward boundaries!!! Can you believe the miracles of the mission? So absolutely completely coooool :) So he went over and started teaching them and set them up with a baptism date.Then last week was the broken arm week, so we started meeting with them and went over everyday and have built a great relationship with them! And we had their baptisms on Saturday! They are really great people! Becky is really starting to warm up to us too which is awesome! I really think she is going to let us teach her soon!

So the baptism... Saturday was just the craziest beyond craziest day! We had a Mission Conference (which i will tell you about later) and my companions had a meeting after the conference, we had a dinner appointment and the baptism as well. We were racing around!!! The baptism was supposed to start at 7:00. We got there right before and we got a lot of members from the ward to come and support. But... John, Josh and Angel were an hour late... Yep. So everyone waited for an hour for them. So the baptism didn't start until 8:00... Becky and the kids came and so did Josh's mom. She was visiting. (John is 24, Angel is 21, Josh is 18). Becky LOVED it! She was crying. and taking pictures... no one knew how to tell her she probably shouldn't do that. John had to be baptized 4 times! He would not bend his knees... So after 3 tries, he got on his knees but his elbow almost stuck out. It was a miracle he got all the way under that time too! It was pretty great.

And then as the bishop was giving his talk and welcome after, the drain in the font started making all kinds of loud noises!! Lesson learned: Don't drain the font until after the everything is done! The noise was so distracting! But it was funny! And John, Josh and Angel could care less about that kind of stuff! So that's good. They kept saying things like, "Lets get this done!" "I just want to get baptized!" "I don't care if it is noisy, I am sure when Jesus got baptized it was quite." haha! (there was a ward christmas party during the same time as their baptism and our ward mission leader was trying to get them to change the time because it was going to be noisy). Talk about a ton of distractions. But it was such a beautiful experience and I love them so much and am grateful I have the opportunity to teach them and be their friends!

So like I mentioned, we had a mission conference on Saturday. The entire mission got to come to it. So there were 200ish missionaries there. It was amazing! Craig C. Christensen from the Presidency of the Seventy came and spoke to us. It was amazing! He is an amazing man! He just inspired me so much to just be the best missionary ever. He talked a lot about the light of Christ and compared it to gravity. And said, without gravity, we are nothing. We couldn't exist. It is what holds us done and in place. The Light of Christ is the same way. We all need it and with out it we are nothing. Everyone had the light of Christ in them, but need to use it and let it radiate from us. It was pretty cool. After he spoke they opened it up to questions and then we closed by having 4 missionaries, chosen at random to come up and bare their testimonies. President Brown picked who he wanted the 4 to be and Elder Christensen called them up. No notice before hand. And yours truly was picked... I was so nervous!!! When he said my name I turned to Sister Smith and said, did he just say my name? And he did. And mine was the first name he said, so I was the first to go up and bare my testimony. I was so nervous! But I survived. I just made it short and simple :) Ha! It was SO fun to see everyone there! My old Boulder Zone! I miss them!! I can already tell that Mission reunions are going to be the best! I can not believe how many life long friends I have already made here! And I have a year left! It is pretty great!

So quick update on Sam and Naomi. We went over a lot this week. I don't think Naomi is going to be able to get baptized on the 4th. It will probably have to be pushed back. We had a hard time meeting with Sam this week. But when we did it was good. He is such a nice guy! We haven't set him with a date yet. We had our zone leaders come and give them blessings. When they gave Sam his blessing, Naomi started crying. And looked at us and asked if we had told them anything about Sam. We told we hadn't, and she said, "Then how did they know to say the things they said? It fit him perfectly." She was really freaked out. But in a good way! The spirit was SO strong! They were crying and shaking. They told us that they feel such a different feeling when we are with them and they want to feel that way all of the time. So I still have hope that they will get baptized.

Yesterday we got a phone call from Naomi saying the Mary (the grandmother) was rushed to the hospital becuase she was having problems breathing. Mary is 94 and has the tumor on her lip. When she got to the hospital the doctors said that she also has pnemonia, a bladder infection and her kindeys are failing. It doesn't look good. We went to the hospital yesterday to visit her. She looks so terrible. It breaks my heart. Their family is praying for a miracle, but I just want her to be put our of her pain. She is 94, and I really don't think she is going to make it. But I believe in the Plan of Salvation and I know where she will be and feel total peace that she has led a good life and will be happy there. Keep their family in our prayers! Pray that whatever Heavenly Father's will is will happen.

Well I believe that is about it. This is the last week of the transfer. I find out on Saturday if I am staying or going. So I will let you know on Monday :) It is FREEZING here! We haven't gotten as much snow as you, but we did get a lot. It is mostly just freezing cold! I am going to buy some wool socks today! My toes can't handle it. Haha! It is like a high of 6 degrees here most days! And gets below 0 every night... yuck!

I love you family!!!! I hope you have a great week!! XOXO

I am having trouble sending pictures.The ones that went through are pretty random. I will catch up with baptism and other pictures next week :)

-Hermana Mangum :)