Hola a todos :)
A lot of good things have happened this week. We have had a week filled with meetings and teaching people from all over the world! Super cool!
It started on Tuesday when we went to go and visit a menos-activo en nuestro grupo de Espanol. She lives in the basement of another members home. It was POURING outside and when we got to the door there was a young man standing under the porch. He was a sales guy and was waiting for the rain to let up. But it didn't!! We started talking to him and he wanted us to give him our "sales pitch" or in our terms “our door approach”. It was really funny :) The member inside saw all of us waiting under the porch for the rain to stop and so she invited us in. We started teaching Andre (the young salesman.) He is from Slovakia! He had perfect English, just a heavy accent. He is 19 years old. He had a ton of questions. And we loved answering them. Mostly his questions were: where we came from, what is our purpose, what happens after death, how do we have faith, etc? I had my Plan de Salvacion rompe cabeza conmigo. How perfect! So i whipped the puzzle out and we taught him the Plan of Salvation. He was a stubborn one though! Man! He fought everything the best he could. It was getting really frustrating. But it actually just ended up strengthening my testimony. EVERY time I teach the Plan of Salvation, I become so filled with the spirit. I gain a greater understanding. I feel God's love for me. I become less and less afraid of death. There is nothing to be afraid of. This life is not the end! It broke my heart that Andre believes when we die we are just in the ground and nothing happens. There is nothing more to life. If that was the case, what is our purpose on the earth? Why are we here? What a depressing way of thinking! Oh how grateful I am for the knowledge of the Gospel! How grateful I am to know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who does have a plan for us!
We also visited the cutest Taiwanese couple in our ward this week! Alan and Enya :) Enya invited us over for lunch at her house with a non-member friend of hers. We went over and her guest was the cutest little Taiwanese girl! Her name is Patty (these are obviously their chosen american names). We had an awesome lesson with her and enjoyed a very very delish Chinese meal. Patty said she was interested in learning more! So yesterday at church Enya asked if we could come over later that night to teach Patty again! We were so excited! So we went over and Patty's boyfriend, Daniel (also Taiwanese) was there. He is in town visiting. We had such an amazing lesson with them! Lennon you will understand this... It felt like a lesson from The District! haha! But really! Everything just went so perfectly! Enya and Alan were awesome! They bore testimony and were strong witnesses! THAT is why member referrals and member being present at discussions are soooooooooooooo important!!! We taught them about faith. Neither Patty nor Daniel know if they believe in God yet. They asked us if we have ever lost faith before and how we got it back. What a profound question for people with broken english with essentially no religious backgrounds. It was awesome! The spirit was really strong! We stopped in the middle of the lesson and asked Daniel to say a prayer and ask God if He was real and if He loved him. Daniel had never prayed before! And he agreed and did it! And did it in the most beautiful broken English! Oh, it was sooooooo cool! After he said that he felt peace and very relaxed :) We explained that that is how Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost talk to us. It was really really neat! At the end of the lesson, Patty said the closing prayer! She, too, had never prayed and it was beautiful! Such a beautiful prayer! I wanted to cry! This is what missionary work is all about! We will be meeting with her again this week and helping her move into her new apartment. She wants my help with some interior design! Yay! :)
We had 2 great lessons with Elsa this week. She was supposed to get baptized this Saturday. She felt ready, but her family wasn't going to be able to come... and Hna. Stratford and I felt like we needed to wait so her family could be there. What a great missionary opportunity for them! She is now getting baptized on August 30th :) I can't wait! We have another baptism coming up next week on the 23rd. Our amazing Miguel :) Good things are happening with the Spanish group!
We had a great zone meeting this week. We talked all about happiness and how we can help ourselves become happier and more positive missionaries and how we can help others feel this way too. There were some great quotes that were shared that I want to share with you guys!
"Challenges can feed us. Struggles can deplete us." PERSPECTIVE!
"Sometimes Christ will calm the sea and sometimes He will calm the sailor."
"Concentrate on the basics of the gospel! It is the basics that bring us simple and complete joy."
I had fun seeing Sister Cardon too :)
I know these things are true! I am trying to apply them better in my life right now. I hope you all know how much I love you! How grateful I am for your sweet and supportive words of encouragement. It helps me soooooo much! I will be keeping all of you in my prayers this week! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!
Con Amor,
Hermana Mangum Sr.
WE HAVE 30+ MOSQUITOS IN OUR HOUSE EVERY NIGHT WHEN WE GET HOME!! HERE IS A PIC TO SHOW YOU AND A SELFIE TO SHOW HOW WE FEEL ABOUT IT.
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