Companion Changes

Hi Mom and Dad!

Well I’m not in a trio anymore.  One of my companions, Sister England was transferred. She getting close to the end of her mission and it’s not odd to do a 6 week transfer near the end of your mission. So now there is just the two of us.  Me and Sister Field.  She is the sister I knew from LDSBC before my mission.

It’s so crazy that school has already started! And I can’t believe I’ll be home before the end of the school year.  One of my comps who was a lot older than me, told me once, one day you’ll look around and realize your one of the old missionaries.  Well, I think it might be getting there.  It’s very odd.

School starts this week here.

So Mom and Jess starting seminary again?  Did you ever look at the institute manual for LDS history? That is really fascinating.  Teach the background and why the revelation was needed. That's what makes D&C interesting :)

I met a guy from Tennessee this week. So southern.  I miss the southern accents.  As we were walking away he was like "Check out Numbers 22, Story of the “talking donkey." Haha, I love Los Alamos

Me and Sister Field - Valles Caldera hike

Valles Caldera hike with the Los Alamos Sisters - Sister Wright and Sister Field

Today we did a group hike with the Los Alamos Sisters.  We hiked the Valles Caldera.  Which is a super volcano.  Very Pretty! :)  We went way up into the mountains. Which is way too far for most of the other missionaries.  It is very close to our area.  We have one of the prettiest areas in the mission.

Valles Caldera

We've been mostly working really hard to find new investigators. 
White Rock is very small and with the increase of missionaries, there are less teaching opportunities.  I really don’t want them to close my area, but if we don’t find new people, it might happen :(  I do believe that whatever happens will be what the Lord wants for the area, but I just wish there was something more I could do to help it along.  We continue praying and doing all we can.  I think it will happen soon, but it’s until then that is stressful. 

The ward is okay with missionary work.  Really nice and trying to be more missionary minded without trying to be more missionary minded.  It’s very odd, but oh well.  We keep trying.  We have tried a few different things that haven’t been done in the past but the ward is big into "Not adding anything new" so often these are unsuccessful.

We don’t do visiting teaching here.  The problem is, this ward has no less actives.  It’s a very odd problem to have. Very odd.  So since we don’t have less actives we try and visit members.  Not very successfully because they are so busy.  That’s why we are always looking for things to do.

This week we were able to do some service.  The sister in the ward where we used to live is packing her house and we helped her pack up all her trains.  Tons of trains!  There were some really neat ones.

Service helping to pack trains with a sister in the ward

Tonight is bible study.  We are going to talk about the story of Joshua and Jericho.  

Dad, I think your talk will be really good! It’s a fascinating subject that I haven’t had the opportunity to study very much yet.  Maybe that'll be something for this next few weeks.

You know what we never ever get and I really want and it needs to be one of our first dinners when I get home! Take out pizzas :) greasy and yummy :)

Love you!
Em

Walking and walking and walking.

Hi Mom and Dad!

How are you?

Sorry for the short email last week.  On P-day last week we went to Bandelier National Park.  Always a great time. :)

Bandelier National Park - July 2014

And I bought the cutest book. I’m debating whether to mail it home or just pack it in my suitcase for the next 9 months

Dad I’m glad that you are having fun in utah! 
Not gonna lie, a vacation sounds really nice right about now.
We are doing a lot and a lot and a lot of walking and attempting to talk to people. 
It’s alright, but it does get a bit monotonous sometimes. We have to contact somehow. So we walk around and try to talk to people who are already outside.  Not that it’s very effective, but that’s what we do.

Hopefully we find some new people to teach soon, because this might be a really long week

It’s been really difficult and stressful. The area is super small, so if the members don’t give referrals to you, you don’t have people to teach.  It’s really different than down in El Paso or Las Cruces where you teach and talk to dozens of different people all of the time.  I’m used to it, my entire mission has been slow and hard, but my companions aren't.

At least trials are meant to make us grow and it seems to be working, I think :)
it’s funny, on a mission, for your first 9 months, you don’t know any of the older missionaries, but then as soon as you are halfway, suddenly people you served with, people you know are starting to go home and plan for school and marriage. It’s very strange. 

When I first got out an Elder told me that you know you’ve been on your mission a long time when you start to dream about being home and it’s weird, or when you panic because you lose your companion.  It’s started :)

I think I have another transfer in White Rock, but who knows....

We don’t have any plans today.  We were going to go hiking with a family in the ward today, but one of their kids started throwing up, so we decided to stay home.
We did go up to the new giant store they just opened in Los Alamos. It actually has things! Like clothes!  I got a skirt! :)

And now we have about 4 hours to email. So just a slow nice day.

Yay Elder Paynter!!!! That’s sooo Exciting! One of the families here had a son go into the MTC and a few weeks ago, the daughter was talking about how he is already in Ecuador and getting used to the language, and I was like "Um, didn’t he spend 6 weeks there?" yep.

I know time has flown! Even at the slowest days, it seems to be going fast. And it just gets faster and faster.   Plus we have 2 conferences and Christmas in between now and the time I’m home. :)

You ask about how I have grown. Psht, things that used to scare me to death, don’t bother me at all anymore. In the past 4 weeks, it seems like I have been pushed so far that even things that shouldn’t have been affected have changed.  I noticed it when we went to Bandelier last week.

We went as a district my second or third p-day in White Rock. When we climbed the ladders, I was sooo scared.  Then last week, I just zipped up the ladders, no problem.
It’s very strange. It’s as though my entire mentality has been slightly altered.

Yes we have been affected by the Ordain Women stuff.  One of our recent converts heard about it and was asking us all sorts of questions. And we had to do some in depth explanations of the priesthood and basically re-teach it. It makes it a bit stressful but yeah, we had a good discussion about that.

It’s really hard to watch the people you’ve taught and put so much effort and love and time into struggle and fall.  They are still plugging along, but some days are better than others.

Sea World?! Ooooo! That sounds wonderfully hot and sticky.  Whenever I tell people I’m from Florida, they always mention the humidity.  The slashing and water sounds lovely.  I was vaguely hot when we went hiking as a zone and some of the Elders were joking about falling in the river and accidentally going for a swim. :)

I want to go swimming soooooooooo badly :/  The first day I’m home we are going to the beach!

I love you!
Em

Baptism!

Hi Mom and Dad!

I love being a missionary and wouldn't trade the experience for anything!  Sometimes a little bit (or a lot) stressful but without a doubt worth it!

I hope your week has gone really well!  It has been a little crazy with weather here too, we had hail one night so bad that we had to go home early.

It sounds like you had a lot of fun for the 4th :)  We got to go to one of the greatest firework displays ever! So all of Los Alamos is scientists.  Imagine mad scientists, like John Ricklic setting off homemade fireworks.... it was pretty cool!

It also sounds like Dad and Jess will have a great time traveling and getting to see people! There are a lot of amazing things to do on the drive from Florida to Utah. I’m sure you will have tons and tons of fun.

Yes I got the package! Thank you! Love it! 

Tom, who we have been teaching for quite a while, was baptized on Saturday!  Yay!  It was so awesome! Now we have to find someone new to teach.  Life is a bit slow here, but it is going, which is great :)

This is Tom and his friend Dallon. Tom has been going to seminary all year and Dallon leaves on a mission today :)

My new companions are Sister England from California and Sister Field from Utah. 
I actually knew Sister Field from before the mission.  We both were in the dorms at LDSBC and we were in the same singles ward.

Life has been a little stressful here in White Rock. It was really hard the first few days, and super stressful with new companions. I’ve been used to companions who are really good teachers, but now suddenly I’m Senior Companion and it’s all up to me.  You know how I love that!?  I feel like I’m constantly playing whack-a-mole with really really weird comments in lessons.  And really really long drawn out stories about who knows what.  It’s a good learning experience right?  Wait, with my previous companions, I was probably the one with weird comments. Hmmm....

Stress is sometimes a good thing. This transfer will really be a stretching experience. This could be a really interesting couple of months for everybody :)

On Sunday night we did our MTC class, which I basically had to do all by myself. And afterwards I was talking to the Los Alamos Sisters, and I just broke down crying because of the stress.  Luckily there was one of the Bishopric in the building and he gave me the most amazing blessing that I’ve ever had and it definitely helped a lot. 

Don't worry, things will be alright :)  It probably isn't as bad as I paint the picture.

Haha! I love the Harry potter party! Potions, A care of magical creatures adventure scavenger hunt.  What great memories I have of those parties.  Have Jess look on Pinterest for ideas. 

Hopefully things will start to pick up. :)  We could use some more people to teach and visit.

Here is my address for our new apartment.

136 Longview #6
Los Alamos, NM 87544

Love you! 
Em

Crazy week with lots of news

Hi Mom and Dad!

How has your week been? 
It sounds like things at home are going well!
I’m so glad you are having fun in Ohio! 
And I’m glad that they liked the presents!

Family in White Rock

This week has been nuts here in White Rock New Mexico. 
We have sort of been crazy all over the place.

The member we live with, her son is really into the world cup and his whole family is over a lot upstairs watching the games.  It makes studying difficult, but it’s funny to know that that’s what you are doing at home as well.  :)

This week has been a bit crazy for us as well.  My comp has been sick, so we’ve been stuck inside a lot.  Which leaves me with a lot of time to read my scriptures.  I’m trying to drag myself through Psalms..... I’ve fallen asleep so many times: /

So because she was sick, I had to go on splits. And then had to teach several classes by myself.  You know that’s my favorite thing to do. :(
At least I’m not dead.

Today is p-day because tomorrow is transfers. My comp, Sister Grigg is leaving.  We’ve been together of three transfers, which is kind of a long time.

Then there is another twist we moved!  We lived with a member, but she is downsizing, so we are moved into an apartment last weekend! Yay! It was a lot of work but turned out alright.  We had went and looked at an apartment. Super nice. We had hoped we would get in.  Otherwise we would have been living in Los Alamos, which is really far out of our area.  Done that, not fun.

The Mission brought up a bunch of furniture and a bunch of ward members helped us move.  We put some of the young men in charge of building shelves and desks, it was hilarious, until one of our investigators showed up and helped :) Love them!
Here's the shocker, So we finished bringing things up like the plates and mops and such, and My comp and I went down to help with some of the big furniture.
We went around the back to the trailer, and we both just stood there for several seconds trying to figure out what was wrong.
So all of the mattresses and box springs were lined up in the back. And there were a lot of them. Too many.

So apparently Instead of just getting one new person, I’m getting two. I’m going to be in a trio.  Oh Joy. It doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen.
So that will be tomorrow’s excitement. :/

Dad, when you were on your mission were you ever in a trio?  
I think this is going to be an interesting transfer... I’m a little nervous.
I really don’t know how a trio will go.  The third person could be a visa waiter or have to leave early for some reason.  I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. But trios usually don’t last longer than a transfer.  I guess we shall see :)

I’m not sure what my new address is yet, but on the other hand, we don't have a mail key either, so I won’t be getting any mail until we figure out how to get that.

You should just send stuff to the mission home until we figure it out.

4400 presidential Dr. NE Suite E
Albuquerque, NM 87109

On another exciting note, our car got broken into this week.  In White Rock. The safest, family oriented town I’ve ever seen in my life. 
Now the driver door won’t open from the inside :(  

Sis. Grigg thinks it’s so funny that one of my new comps is going to have to open my door for me....

Oh well, Life goes on :)

Dad, When were Grandma and Grandpa Mangum Mission presidents here? 

There is a woman in the ward who joined about 20ish years ago in Las Cruces, and she wants to find the missionaries who taught and baptized her.  Thanks in advance for the address!

I did get the CD. Thank you So much! It’s just what I needed :)

Love you!
Em

PS: The pic is us at dinner last night and we were giving a dinner message to 14 kids :) 

Busy few weeks

Hey Mom & Dad!

Sounds like summer is going well :) It sounds like a lot of fun!  Seminary graduation was a couple of weeks ago here and right after it was one of our fireside activities.  We had a TON of people, or at least that’s what my comp said.  I was sick and she wouldn't let me come :( So we went on splits and I got to stay home with the neighbor and her daughter.  We played Uno. 

Sounds like someone with some potential.  We do have a few of those.  We are really excited.  We are teaching a couple of boys about 17-20ish age.  I expect them to be baptized in the next few months.  There is the boy who has been going to seminary for a few months.  Hopefully he will be baptized at the beginning of July. And another Boy who we have really high hopes for, but the situation is kind of complicated.  Pray for Tom and John :)

Are we doing anything fun for P-day today?  Not really, just cleaning.  We didn’t get anything at all done last week because we spent all day running all over Taos, so today is a catch up day :)
Maybe a nap!

Have I had any adventures? hmmmmm.  Not sure.

Finally here are some pig pictures from our p-day several weeks ago.

No, I don't think i'll go for a ride!

Sister Grigg is really excited!

We had our musical fireside on Sunday.  The Mission President was there and the Stake Presidency, both President Miller and one of the Counselors of the Stake Presidency spoke.  We sang and it went really really really well.  According to my comp we had 8 investigators or non-members from White Rock there!  We sang Joseph Smiths first prayer to the tune of Come Thou Fount. I did the Tenor part. 
I will try and get a recording of it on Thursday.  And the other song we did.

Then we had Zone conference in Albuquerque.  Super sleepy, haven’t had much time at all the past few days for anything other than running form one huge thing to another. Oh well :)
The next transfers are in two weeks. We don’t really know what’s going to happen. Could be interesting: /

I did get the dress :)  I got a lot of compliments. Thank you!
And thank you for the cookies :) Yum

I mailed off the birthday presents. They should get there Saturday. :) Finally, only a month late

So tonight is bible study and ummmmm, I’m actually not sure what we are doing for the lesson. Should probably figure that out. Usually Monday is our planning day, but yesterday was spent all day in a meeting... blah.
We’ll probably do something with remote control cars that my companion has and the Holy Ghost.  Is there any story in the bible that talks about being in good situations or having the Holy Ghost that you can think of?
We might also try something about prayer.  That is always a good topic.

Dad, how easy is it to find a cord for something?  I found a super nice digital picture frame and got it for free because the cord is missing.   We are going to look around at some stores and see if we can find anything :) 

How is summer break going?
All of the kids are out and running around White Rock.  It’s very much summer break here :)

Love you!
Em

Interesting Week!

Hi Mom and Dad!

This week has been long. It was a good week, really long, but really good. It was interesting. At the beginning of the week I was still super sick. But then I started to get better, just in time to get word that one of the people we visit needed people to help her move, emergency.  So that’s what we spent the last few days doing. Just organizing and helping her pack her car and getting things all sorted into piles.  I think we have a lot of work in front of us yet.  But we love the service opportunities so it is all good!

But this morning we went hiking.  It was super hot and REALLY intense. We made it back alive :) Just barely. Then the stomach stuff came back.  I think its stress related.  I don’t know.  There are a lot of crazy things going on, I think it’s just the normal missionary stress that just adds up, with an occasional explosion of absolute crazy stress.  I think it’s just adding up but you know I’ll be alright.  Remain positive and remain happy.

Kylie is going on a mission?  Awesome! That is so exciting!

It sounds like Jess and Mom will have fun at the Beyond 5 concert and that Dad and Warren are going to have an amazing time at the soccer game. :)

The longer I spend on a mission the harder and harder it is for me to remember what is going on and what happened each week. I can’t believe that I’m 8 months in.... wow. 

We have been able to build the teaching pool back up a bit! It’s actually really exciting.  We are hoping to have a few new Baptisms soon!  We are so excited about some of our new investigators!  They are all new and we are so happy and hope they continue to progress :)

It is really interesting in missionary work. Occasionally you lose a bunch of people but within a few weeks it always seems to be that you find a bunch of new people :)

Tonight at bible study we are just doing some games :) Because this week is finals.  If Jess thinks her classes are hard.  They are nothing compared to what these poor kids go through.  Smartest place in the country, if not world, their classes are super intense.  A lot of the kids are really smart (genius parents) so they have to make the classes harder, and everyone else has to study for hours and hours a day to try and keep up. Physics is a required freshman class.  I never even took physics because the school wouldn’t let me because I wasn’t in calculus.  So we are thinking super simple and low-key tonight!  

Any fun summer plans for you guys?

Um, this week has been a bit rough, but we did have an interesting dinner with a member this week.  Did you know that to counteract the Fluoride in an entire thing of toothpaste you’re supposed to drink milk?  At least according to poison control.  Little kids make life interesting :)  Yeah, occasionally crazy things happen when we are at dinner, Like a 3 year old eating an entire jumbo thing of toothpaste.  It’s the same 3 year old that hit me in the face with a basketball.

Love you!
Em

Loved Talking To You!

Hi Mom and Dad!

I was really nice to be able to talk to you guys!
It seems odd that I’m that far into my mission that I only have one more phone call left.

The work is slow right now :( 
We lost a bunch of people, so we have to work on bring back up the teaching pool, which happens sometimes in missionary work.

Haha! That’s too funny about your dinner conversation with the Elders.
Sometimes i feel like that when my companions says something a little off.  :)
It’s a little terrifying sometimes when you realize you are now becoming one of the older missionaries....
Ahhh!

Haha! Seems odd doesn’t it.  :/  Although at the end of this transfer I’ll be half done with my mission..... Time is flying...

My comp is kind of panicking a little because she goes home in October. If summer is starting then than means it’s getting close.... 0.o 
I’m not sure I want to train yet. It sounds scary. 
I’m not a very good teacher though, and it would be probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.  :/

That’s funny that the Sisters went over to Mary's house? That’s awesome! Trust me, Missionaries LOVE it when members invite their friends over and introduce them to the missionaries :)

That’s awesome missionary work Jessica!  There is a boy here who we are teaching who is coming to church and wants to be baptized all because his friend gave him a Book of Mormon over a year ago.  He has been going to seminary for months now :)

You never know, just keep inviting and asking... I’ve heard tons of conversion stories from all sorts of different people. Almost all of them though, are very very religious in their own way :)

Yep :)  That’s all you can do.  I had to talk to a sister missionary about this recently.  Sometimes they just aren’t ready yet. But someday they will be. :)  It may not be for several years, it may not be until the next life but at some point in time they will get the chance to choose or reject the gospel. Until that time you have to continue to do the best you can. Always loving them and being a good friend and a good example. Never give up :)

Well, this week has been interesting.  Not doing anything super exciting for p-day.
We were going to hike, but since I am sick....
This week was the first time on my mission that I got sick. 
Not Fun.
It’s some sort of weird stomach thing that makes it impossible for me to keep anything in my stomach.
Everything I eat just goes straight through me. :( 
My comp made me stay home all Sunday while she went on splits.  First time having to stay home sick on a mission.  Let me tell you, really boring. On the upside, I think i've lost about 10 pounds.  

I was tired of sleeping all the time, so I insisted we go out.
Right now we are at the library.

I did get my hair cut.  If that counts as fun?  Just a little bit of hair got cut off. 
Still not sure how I feel about the new bangs. I am trying to grow it out longer. And I hadn’t had it cut at all on my mission until about an hour ago. :) 

Seminary sounds interesting for you Mom.  The end of the Book of Mormon is really super interesting. Really bloody and nasty. But interesting.

We are doing bible study tonight.  Again, nice to get outside after a couple days inside and in bed.  Not much to do in a small apartment.  Tonight we are just watching some of the Old Testament movies because its finals week. Finals week in Los Alamos is slightly ridiculous. The youth have been doing nothing but homework for weeks now, so hopefully it will be a nice break for them :) 

Yes we have a huge church building for only one ward, but it is the craziest busiest ward I have ever seen.  There are some sort of meetings or activities every single night.  Some Tuesdays we have to fight for our section of the gym.  All the activities makes life so much easier for missionaries if we have things that we can invite people to.  And sometimes people actually come. Imagine that....

Pig riding last week was funny. I’ll have to send some pics next week, because right now they're at home :(


Love you!
Em