Busy few weeks

Hey Mom and Dad!

Hope all is going well and you are feeling better!

Aww! it looks like you guys had so much fun!

It is getting a bit warm here.  I haven’t had to wear a cardigan the past few days but apparently its going to get cold and rainy again this weekend.

We made it to and from Albuquerque safely, which is good.  Good prep for all the driving i’m going have to do this summer :)

It was good. Just a really long drive. 

So, Sister Hunt and I had been before but the other Sisters hadn’t, and the Las Cruces Sisters area had been closed and they usually drove,

So we called and texted the APs to find out who was supposed to drive.  They never answered never called us back, so we were like "oh well” and we drove.  

Yesterday we got our miles for the month and we were like oh no. That is most definitely not enough miles to cover the trip to ABQ.  So we called them again and finally they answered and they were like "the other sisters were supposed to drive"

Ah well, mission dynamics….

Interesting a HUGE group of missionaries is going home.  President said he is going to have to shut 20 areas.  and most of them are Sisters going home…

Not much is really much is going on with the work.  We are on the hunt for new investigators....again.  All of the people we are teaching suddenly vanished.  

But hey, Matt got baptized!  It was the most well attended baptism by non members that i have ever been to. Yes, we had a baptism this Saturday!  it was amazing! :)  Our investigator Matt was really excited for his baptism and spirit was so strong and he invited a ton of non member friends and family who all came.  He is doing great! Still progressing amazingly.  I have never met someone who recognizes answers to prayers as quickly and readily as he does. Its a gift that i am always striving to develop. 

He texted us this morning and said  "I got Sundays off from now on, but i wont get my promotion anymore. Its all part of his plan, just keeping my head up” and 

yesterday we taught about temples and he was like "Just get me the dates of the next temple trip and ill get them off now”.  Amazing!

The boy who was supposed to be baptized this upcoming week is pushing his date back for a later date, he is second guessing himself :(

We are just going to continue to teach and help him see that he is ready.

He said that he wants to read the entire book of mormon and that also he wants to be sure that he is doing it for the right reasons.  (A girl introduced him to the church and she has been his main fellowship)  We spent the whole lesson dancing around the issue, then after the lesson, when the girl left we had a discussion about why and the things he’s felt.  We told him to write down how he feels this has strengthened his personal relationship with Christ.  We have another lesson on Friday.

Heavenly Father has it all under control,  Sometimes i just want things to happen NOW, but its all in his timing 

It sounds like a lot of fun is going on at home :) 

Oh, and we found out that Elder Holland is coming to our mission!  SOOOOO excited!

We got snow here too!  Its crazy! Everyone in El Paso was in panic mode.

It was actually kind of funny.

Lately its gotten warm again here.  Today we are going to go hiking as a zone.  Which will be fun, but leaves no time for anything else during the day :/

oh well. 

WOW Mom and Jess!!! I’m super super impressed! Wonderful Facebook posts! I’m sure it reached a lot more than even you know :)

And giving a book of mormon out on the beach!  That is super missionary status!

Contacting using the book of mormon!

So, I don't know if i told you, but our zone, the Mount Franklin East zone, about 20 missionaries was chosen by president to be a test zone for a new book of mormon contacting thing.

All we do is talk about the Book of Mormon when we meet people. we explain how it helps build our relationship with Christ and how it testifies of Him.  We testify how it has changed our lives, then invite them to learn more.  It has been HUGELY successful.

We got to go contacting on campus this week (apparently the first time ever in UTEP history ) And we managed to get 5 possible new investigators from it. 

We have so many appointments this week.  So exciting.  Most people weren't really interested, but there were a few and this week we have 5 appointments set up with new people that we have met and wanted to learn more.  Just pray they all actually show up!  :)

Last weeks P-day, yeah, the Elders wanted to go to an indoor soccer place. Which meant we got put on teams and got to just run back and forth after all the Elders :/

oh well, at least we get our workout.

Yeah,  big big decisions coming soon for Jessica and me. :/

I’m sure where ever she decides to go, it will be good  Just lots of different factors to take into account.  I’ve heard that all the schools are good, but really expensive.

I would like to get a job as soon as I get home.  It would probably have to be a temp job because of the move but anything would be super nice.

I really like my new companion.  She is really really sweet.

Hope you are having a great day! 

Love you!

Em

Transfers...staying in El Paso

Hi Mom and Dad, 

Happy belated birthday Dad!

This week P-day is Wednesday because of MLK day.... Grocery shopping and zone sports again :) 

Zone sports is when our zone gets together to play sports. its fine. mostly all the Elders just want to play basketball all the time, so all the Sisters just end up running back and forth across the court for about 2 hours.  

The mission has had a big emphasis on being unified lately.  And since we are STLs we have to go every week or at least as often as possible.  

Its really up to the Elders what we do and they mostly like to play basketball...  we play chair soccer or volleyball. we are fairly unimaginative down here.

Sounds like you are having tons and tons of fun in St Augustine!

Transfers were yesterday.  I stayed in UTEP and Sister Thompson left.  

My new companion is Sister Hunt from Kaysville, UT.

Yes we are both STLs.  We were both STLs before.  She was in the Las cruces YSA, then it got shut so, nows she is here. We met at the big meeting last month.

And she goes home at the end of this transfer, so I will have another new companion in March.  I will most likely end my mission here in the El Paso University ward. 

We have had so many amazing things happen with investigators.  They are all awesome and ready to be baptized! :) 

Shannon’s baptism went really well and we have a few others that should be getting baptized later in this transfer. :)

This is Shannon.

Baptism of Shannon - El Paso YSA - January 2015

She has been investigating for a long time with several different sets of missionaries, has jumped wards all over the place.  And she finally got baptized.  She is really really sweet. 

Matt is doing awesome!  Working hard to get Sundays off work.

But the big miracle this week is Michael! He dated a member in High school and has been coming to church for a really long time.  And he finally admitted to his family this weekend (Who are devout Episcopalian) That he has been regularly attending a mormon church.  He is on date for next Saturday! YAY

I’m reading my way through the Doctrine and Covenants too.  I’m in section 55 I think.  SOOO good!  I’ve learned so so much! :)

Hope you are enjoying your warm winter weather!  

Its been 70 here the past couple days.  I’m hoping that this isn't the end of winer, because that means it will get hot again. I’m not ready for that just yet.

Love you!

Em 

Week of Miracles!

Hi Mom & Dad!

I’m glad to hear that you really like Pennsylvania! It sounds like a great area and a wonderful ward.  It sounds like you are all having lots and lots of fun!

Thanks so much for the package! I really really appreciate it. The chapstick was exactly what I needed!

Here, it can’t decide if it’s going to be warm and sunny or cold and windy.

Here are a few pictures of us squishing cans(mostly beer) for service for a member. The picture is Me and Sister Thompson and Heidi and Karla.

Sister Mangum & Sister Thompson - El Paso, TX

Me and Sister Thompson and Heidi and Karla.

I can’t believe Tanner is already done. I was thinking about that recently and wondering if he was going to be finishing soon.

This week has been a week of miracles! So many amazing people who we are teaching!  People who are so so so ready for baptism and church membership!  It’s amazing and such a great experience to teach the gospel to them.

We have a new investigator; she is so so so sweet. Her name is Meghan and we love her to death!  It’s a special circumstance; she isn't for the YSA ward but from one of the family wards in the area. We have special permission from president to teach her, so that has been fun trying to find people from a ward we have no idea about to be her fellowship and rides. But, she is ready for the Gospel!

Another new investigator is Matt. He took the lessons a while back for his member girlfriend, but now she is on a mission and he wants to do it for himself.  He just gets it. Which is really nice to teach. The other day he was looking at some pictures on a board in the building and he was like "Hey! That's my cousin!"  It was our recent convert Joe is a cousin of his who he hasn't seen in Years. The whole family has come into contact with the church in different ways.

This weekend was stake conference and Elder Robbins of the seventy was here. (He gave the talk in conference "which way do you face?")  It was really good. The Saturday night session was all about councils and how they should be effectively used and we had an investigator there, And at first I was really worried if he was going to get anything out of it. But then he was so excited, he said everything that was said was meant directly for him. Such a relief!  He is already inviting people to his baptism in February :)

We do have a baptism on Saturday. She passed her interview with President Miller and is excited.

So we also got to go to MLC this week. It was a really good training on Attitude. And we set the baptismal goal for the year of 2015. Then we got to stay up really late and plan a training for the next morning :)  It was really fun!

We also woke up to snow in Albuquerque :)   I got to go for a run in the snow with Sister Shaner (My MTC companion) and Sister Hunt who we drove up with and are the STLs in Las Cruces. 

Snowy Run in Albuquerque NM

It’s interesting being an STL. Basically we just deal with a lot of the health needs of the Sisters and do whatever the Zone Leaders want us to.  Whether that be telling a set of Sisters they have to come and participate in Zone Sports, no more excuses. Or helping the Sister that hurt her back really really bad and reporting back to sister Miller.

Anyway, it’s been a really good week.

Not really anything special for p-day today. We are running a bit low on miles and we have to go to zone sports, so probably just a nap.

Love you so very very much!

Em

3 December Emails!

Hi Mom & Dad!

Dec 16, 2014

How are you?

Today is p-day because tomorrow is transfers.

I got your package!

Thank you so so so much! 

The clothes fit and are super cute and the music is perfect.

And Chocolate is always appreciated. :)

Nothing really exciting has happened.  We have a handful of interesting investigators that we aren’t sure what to do with, but i’m sure the spirit will lead.

I love the sweaters!

ooo< I like the blue one :) And maybe the samony one?

So, yesterday was zone conference.  The picture you got was form one of the ladys who was serving the lunch.

Zone Conference - El Paso TX

Adventures?  Hmmm. not really much.  Everyone we are teaching went to mexico for vacation.

Time is most certainly flying! :)

Today has been super crazy.

So something really random happened this morning that shows that Heavenly Father really does work in mysterious ways.

One of the members who we work a lot with is in the Army and today was her graduation to become and officer.  She doesn't have any family so we decided to go.

It was really interesting, but the amazing part happened before the graduation started.

We walked into the waiting area and there were dozens and dozens of people in uniforms all around. Normally its super hard to tell them all apart. There was a group of them right in front of the door, right in my line of vision. And one of the girls and I looked at each other and guess who it was??!

Harlie Baumgardner and Sister Emily Mangum

December 23, 2014

Christmas plan? 

We are supposed to make it a normal day and proselyte. But that's really hard.  WE might just end up contacting all day

How are you?  You home enjoying the break yet?

We are so ready for Christmas here.

This past month the mission has been going Christmas Crazy.  With the new “He is the Gift” initiative, we have been handing out tons of the new pass along cards and our mission president has asked us to go Carol Tracting.

Basically just caroling.  We haven't found any new people from it, but other missionarys have.

But last night we did get Christmas cookies twice and get invited in for dinner.  So that was interesting. :)

We have been spending quite a bit of time just contacting, which can be fun.

Yesterday was our zone conference.  It was really good, but then I got called up for the 5 minute talk.  

I suppose it went alright. hopefully I wont have to do it again though.

Any fun plans for the holidays?

We have been doing lots of caroling too with the Carol Tracting i told you about.  Although, I much rather do it to people who I know.  Its kind of awkward when the people you are singing to stand behind the open door (or sometimes close it in the middle of the song)

I’m not sure when we will be able to call.

A family invited us over, but they are also having a set of elders over and we aren't allowed to have dinner at the same time, so i’m not sure.

I will try to make sure its before 4 here.

I also don't know if I will be able to Skype this time.  President is only giving us a half hour to talk to family

As for my new STL calling we have been going on exchanges.  We had one last week and we have another one this week.  Then next week we get to go up to Albuquerque for Mission Leadership Council.  Mostly its just whenever the Zone leaders need to have something handled with a sister, they go to us.  We are just in charge of making sure the sisters don't kill each other.

Tonight the senior couple is having a gingerbread house making competition thing today, so that's what we are going to do :) 

December 25, 2014

Skipping with Emily on Christmas Day 2014

December 30, 2014

This week has been fairly slow.  Most of our people are still out of town.

We have just been running around doing errands all day because we have had almost no time for the past 5-6 p-days.

So that's been nice.

We just happened to be home when the UPS guy delivered two GIANT boxes to our door.

Neither of us recognized the sender and it was addressed to some sort of company.  Definitely the right address though. :\

We are going to go around and check with all the neighbors to see if anyone ordered something recently.

Tonight we do have a dinner! Yay!

Then we have a lesson with a less active.

Sooo, funny story.

The member that is coming with us asked us to tell him what we were talking about and what we will ask him.

So last night I was sending out a text to the members coming to the lesson saying "we will be talking about the word of wisdom and law of chastity and would you mind bearing your testimony on..."

Then after I sent it, I went back and realized that I accidently sent it to the less active we are teaching....

whoops :\

Awkward

Some exciting news, I found out today that the recent convert family that I worked with all the time in White Rock is going through the temple in a couple of weeks!

Yay!

Sounds like this next week or two will be tons and tons of fun! :)

The long drive to Albuquerque is tomorrow!  It is a 4 hour drive and we are going up the night before the MLC meeting.  

We drive up with the other two sets of STLs in the south.

The ones from the El Paso stake and the ones from the Las Cruces stake

Not too sure about new years.  Missionaries probably have to be in early but we will be driving to Albuquerque.  They worry a lot about drunk drivers here.

Love you

Em

Happy Veteran's Day

Hi Mom & Dad!

Dad, I’m so glad that you are really enjoying your new job!

I hope you are getting settled in, in Pittsburgh!
It sounds like this new phase of life will be an adventure and be really really good!
How long do you expect to live at an apartment, before you start looking for a house? Until June?  Have you been looking at the different areas of Pittsburgh? Found any that look nice?  Are you thinking Suburb? Rural? Small town?

Mom, How is seminary?

It sounds like you both have been able to have some amazing scripture study.
I have been trying to read the whole standard works before I come home and its really really cool to be able to learn and to get new insights. I can’t wait to be able to do some more in depth study on some of the scriptures

Today our p-day got moved because yesterday was a holiday and some libraries were closed.

The pictures are super cute! Mina and her animals! :)

The new companion is Sister Montini.

She is from Michigan and goes home at the end of this transfer. :\
She is super sweet and actually reminds me a lot of Aunt Emily.
Which is funny because her name is Emilee.
No idea why there are 3 of us. Apparently President is closing a lot of areas in the mission. And Sister Montini goes home in 5 weeks. In this next transfer 16 sisters go home. Most of my companions will be going home soon. It’s kinda crazy.
It’s kind of stressful being in a trio again, but not nearly as bad as last time.

We have been doing a lot of contacting, trying to find new people to teach. it results in meeting a lot of fascinating people. From every single different walk of life.

This week has been interesting. Finding new investigators and working with some new people. It’s always fun.

It’s amazing how everything just seems to work out sometimes. Everyone is in the right place and the right time. We have experiences like that all the time. This week we stopped by a less actives house and he said "I knew you would come. I was reading my scriptures and I prayed and I just knew you would show up."

Today we got to go to one of our members weddings. It was simple and just at the courthouse. But it was definitely a well- spent p-day.

I don-t have pictures yet, because they used my camera, and they are getting some pictures developed now.  Hopefully next week :)

We have an investigator named Brad who is super awesome!
He is a lawyer and is so prepared to be baptized. Everything we teach him, he is like "Yah, that makes sense."

The lessons are going great!
He has tons of really good questions and really has a desire to learn.
A lot of the time he will ask questions that are super in depth and things that we don’t really know how to answer.
When we taught him the Word of Wisdom he informed us to feel like he was living the word of wisdom, he was going to give up all caffeine.  Which he is still doing.
Hopefully he will be baptized on the first weekend in December.
He is close to baptism. The only thing that is holding him back is the fact that he thinks he has to (or just really wants to) read the entire Book of Mormon before he is baptized.
His questions include things like "When helping to make a law, how much should my religious beliefs influence that decision?"  And just other things that I have never even heard of before.
He prays reads, comes to every activity he can. In gospel principles we divided into groups and each group was discussing the priesthood and he had to take charge because none of the members would do it.
I think he believes the Book of Mormon. I think when we asked him he said things here and there made sense. And he definitely recognizes the spirit.
Golden investigator
Brad is single, we only teach YSA. But He referred himself through mormon.org.
Crazy! Apparently he had a really good friend in law school that introduced him to the church.

One of the problems the YSA ward is having is just getting people to attend. And when really really strong new people join the church the leadership is all over it. I think they assign everybody visiting and home teachers even before they are baptized.

Any ideas on how we can get more active YSA to come?  They go to church.

But almost all of them just go to their home wards. They just don’t feel like coming to the YSA congregation for whatever reason.

We always try to encourage people to read the Book of Mormon in an effort help them feel the Spirit.  Which sometimes sort of works but it doesn’t drive them to attend with us.  Atleast they attend.

Love you!

Em

Baptism!

Hey Mom & Dad!

How is the new job Dad?
I hope you are enjoying it.

How’s Seminary going mom?

Coats, sweaters? I hope not. I really truly hope it doesn’t get that cold down here, but I haven’t seen it drop below 72 yet, so I think I’ll be ok.

This week has been kinda nuts, a lot of appointment fell through or cancelled or just didn’t show. So that is always fun.  But the high point of the week by far was Joe's baptism.

 

The picture is of Joe and my Comp and me and the Spanish Sisters that passed him off to us.  Hermana Calloway, Hermana Pipkin, Joe, Sister Thompson, Me
 

El Paso Zone Conference

Well, we got transfer calls last night and this next transfer should be interesting,

Both Sister Thompson and I are staying but we are going to be in a trio. Again.

My comp is really upset and worried, but i feel completely fine.

Both of us have had bad experiences with a trio before and it doesn’t help when all the other missionaries are like "ouch a trio, that hurts"

But, it will be good. I really do feel like it will be fine. I have a sneaking suspicion that i may be playing peace keeper between my two comps for the entire 6 weeks, but that will be fun....

We have had some fun experiences this week. Last night we ate dinner with a lady who didn’t speak any English at all. Luckily my comp speaks a bit of Spanish and her kids spoke a bit of English, so it was ok.

We got another amazing investigator this week. His name is brad he is really smart and ready for baptism, but he doesn’t think he is. He has a baptism date for the first week of December, hopefully he will be ready and excited by then :)

This picture is of my district. We were all wearing vampire teeth (provided by Elder Guymon) and it’s so so so funny, But the person who took all of the pictures lacked the ability to focus the cameras. She took probably about 10, all different cameras and all of them where blurry.
I know you know a bit about Photoshop. Is there any possible way to clear it up at least a little?

Sister Mangum & Sister Thompson - El Paso

 Thanks for the money. I didn’t get as much as I needed or hoped for. My comp was done shopping. I’m going to try and make what I have last for the last couple of months.

Love you!
Em