Sister Emily Mangum is a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission.

February 11, 2015

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