Blessings of Being Obedient

6.22.15

Hey everyone!

We had a great week! It seemed really long for some reason but lots of great things came from it. We had a specialized training with our mission president and it really talk about how important it is for us to be exactly obedient to the mission rules and guidelines that we have and we really see miracles and blessings come from it, and we really as a mission have seen a big difference. This past week in the mission we had 14 baptisms in just a week, which was sooo exciting. In the next week my companion and I have 3 baptisms planned and they are doing really well! It is really exciting when things start to fall into place for others who are preparing themselves for baptism and things just start to makes sense and answers really come to them. We also have 3 others who are looking forward to their baptisms in the next 2 months!:) Seeing miracles happen so often lately really helps me to see that this really is the Lords work and when we are obedient to the things we know, even as members of His church, being obedient to what we know is right things will always turn out for the better! Being in West Virginia I really have had to strengthen my knowledge in the bible and one on the scriptures in the bible that I turn to often is in the first chapter of Luke verse 37; "For with God nothing is impossible" and that is so true, in everything not just missionary work, although it applies very well. But when we turn to Him in all things, all things really are possible if it is His will.

We have been really working in this different part of our area that we have not been to often and not much missionary work has been over there in a while but one of the people who said we could come back had  one of her daughter in laws come over and she was really interested in the message we had to share. She is looking for a church to raise her kids in and on top of that she has a friend that just left for her mission in March. How cool? She seemed really excited to learn more. Little things like that that happen really are tender Mercies from the Lord.

Transfers are coming up again soon and we still do not know what is going to happen but I have been here in Elkins for 6 months so we will just have to see what will happen. But everything in Elkins is going so well I don’t want to leave the amazing people I have come to love and the people who I have met and began to love so much. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had in being here though!:) But as the Hymn goes, "I will go where you want me to go," and if it is my time to go somewhere else I know that is where the Lord needs me!

Funny story of the week, I actually thought this happened a couple of weeks ago but I realized it happened on Monday, like I said it was a slow but good week. Anyways so we got home Monday night and we both ran to the bathroom and I came out of my bathroom and was trying to figure out why all the lights were out and then a few seconds later I found out why. My companion came out of the room from across from me and yelled at me and I thought I was going to die and that someone had gotten into our house. I guess when I am genuinely scared I don't scream at the top of my lungs, my companion questioned whether it was me because it was such a deep scream that I let out and on top of that I guess my leg shook like I was trying to kick her. Like I said I was genuinely scared. Then when I was coming into our room, I startled my companion and jumped  but she didn’t make a sound and I didn’t see her and she scared me again and that time I screamed at the top of my lungs. And then.... yes this is all still in the same night, with in an hour and a half. Anyways we were just about sleeping and she out of nowhere just screams and she scared herself really bad because she was half asleep when she did it and I got scared at the same time. When I asked her why she did it, she said, "It was too boring," I just rolled my eyes while still giggling and tried to go to sleep. And then in the middle of the night she started talking really loud (in her sleep) and was bearing her testimony about how important prophets are. So that shows we eat, SLEEP and breath missionary work for 18 months of our life:)

Hope all is well with everyone and hope to hear from y'all:)

Love Sister Mauck

 

Diligence is Key!

6.15.15

Hey Y'all,

What a crazy few weeks. So last week I was in the middle of an email for the blog and the librarian kicked us off the computers and I am not sure why because they have never asked us to get off before but anyways I am doing great and the work out here continues to move further and stronger forward:)

Last week was one of the harder weeks I have had on my mission but lots of good things came from it. We had lots of things cancel including a baptism last Sunday but we found a new investigator from it. We went to go see some less actives and an investigator in the mobile home park and they were all busy or not home so I saw this family playing a couple houses down and I told my companion that we needed to go and knock on the door. We proceeded to do so and she was not interested at first until we explained some of the myths she had heard and that they were not true. She then opened up to us and said that she wanted to get back into church because her daughter had been asking questions about God lately. And we taught her a little about the book of Mormon and she didn't have much time but she said that we could come back later and we were really excited about that:)

So the day we had weekly planning we were really having a hard time with it because we really didn't know where to go with it all. We were having a really hard time being positive because lots of the people we were teaching were not progressing the way we felt like they should and there were lots of people who we were really not sure how to help, not their fault we just couldn't figure everything out. The day or 2 after that we went to the district meeting and it really was an answer to our prayers. We talked about rejoicing because this really is the lord’s work and that we really need to be enthusiastic and be excited because of what we have to offer and the things we know to be true. It opened my eyes and made me realize to quit stressing over the little things and just be excited with everything and remember it is not our work that we are doing it is all through the lord that we should be doing this and if we do it with that in mind then everything works the way it needs to!

Later in the week, the people who had canceled their baptism and almost told us that they were not interested anymore, received answers to their prayers and know that the book of Mormon really is the word of God and are really excited to get baptized now. They feel like they really are ready now and have really made a change in their life. These really are the things that make missionary work all worth it. Seeing people change their lives to want and desire to have their family be together for time and all eternity. It really makes the quote "Missionaries leave there families for a short time to help others be with their families for eternity," come true!

Another miracle that happened is that we went to a part of our area that we had never been to and we knock on I think like 10 doors and more than half of them told us that we could come back and one of them we taught a lesson to and he was really excited to start reading the book of Mormon which was really cool because he had been part of the religion he is a part of now for a long time but he really liked it all! We can’t wait to go back to that area. Our area is one of the biggest in the mission and we don't get to all of it but there are so many different parts of it that I really want to get to before I leave. Transfers are in 2 weeks and I am not sure if I am going to get to stay because I have been here for almost 6 months but thy will be done and I will go where I need to go:)

So funny story of the week. So we were done for the night and it was a little after 9 and we were diving into our garage and I parked and it is dark outside at this point. So we grab our bags and there were 2 boxes near the door and I went and read them and yelled to my companion they were for her because she had been waiting for a while and as soon as I quit talking she screamed "SNAKE." It took me a while to register what she had said because at first I thought she was screaming because she was excited but when I looked over and she was moving fast and dancing like a weirdo and I ran to the front door not the side door that was 2 inches away from me but the front door that was around the corner of the house and was trying to catch my breath once I got inside and was sitting on the couch. My companion wasn't too far behind me. So we went to the table and went straight to planning and in the middle of planning I started laughing just imagining what we looked like running away from the baby black snake that we saw. After planning my companion grabbed the fly swatter, don't ask me why she grabbed that, and started going through our recycle stuff trying to find the snake. She was on the window seal, quite frankly she looked like spider man, and when she lifted up one of the boxes she jumped off the ledge and sprinted in to the house and said she gave up. Anyways that was our dealing with a snake Saturday night.

Hope you are all doing well and you’re doing great missionary work!;) Love y'all and keep up the great work at home!!

Love Sister Mauck

Saw My First Flying Cow

6.1.15

Family and friends,

What a great week we had!! Lots of lessons and lots of progressing people. A couple funny stories from this week. So my companion does not like to eat meat because back at home pigs were her pets and she loves animals so she just can't do it. Anyways so we were in personal study and we heard a gunshot and we looked at each other and weren’t sure what it came from so we just went back to our studies. So we are in the middle of one of the best companion studies that we had ever had and all the sudden my companion was looking out the window and had a weird look on her face. The next thing I noticed was a flying cow, yes you read that right but after staring at it for a little while it was a cow being hung from a tractor and if we were not in some really good studies then I am pretty sure my companion would have lost it. I was laughing because she really thought she had seen a flying cow hahaha

The nights here are so pretty and in Elkins we are really blessed to not live in the middle of the city where there are a whole bunch of lights. One night this week we were able to go and catch fireflies and they were really pretty. Every night we drive home we see them all over and it just makes me think of the Hymn For the Beauty of the Earth:) In the middle of us catching fire flies there was this frog that came out of the middle of nowhere and scared us both so bad but we caught it to (NO I did NOT touch it, she did).

Sunday was missionary Sunday and all the missionaries had the opportunity to speak and we also had a special musical put together, "I'll go where you want me to go" and it turned out really nice. My talk was on the light of Christ and how as missionaries, both full time and as members, we are helping people to find their light of Christ and that light will be brought out when they hear the gospel. We also were very blessed to have 9 of our investigators come to church!!:D A full week and tiring but allllll worth it!! Hope you all have a great week and keep up the good work!

Love Sister Mauck