And its May...

For 18 months when people ask me when I go home, I have been saying "I don't die until May 2016,"  ("die" is missionary slang for "going home"). Well, May has officially come. And with it has come a flood of emotions that I cant even explain. Some "dying" missionaries get to the end of their missions and deny that they are going home. Some get trunky and stop working because they know they will be going home soon. But for me, going home isn't something I am going to deny, nor is it something that I will allow to make me lazy. After talking to other old missionaries and President Morrise, I have figured that just straight up accepting that I am going home soon, but working hard up until the end is probably the least stressful way to go about it. Yes, I don't have much time left. But I still have time. :) I will not be satisfied until the day that I step off the plane in Salt Lake City.  Happy, but not satisfied.

Okay so this week was FULL OF MIRACLES. Like, wow. We have two investigators that a young woman referred to us. They are both 14 years old. One comes from a Buddhist family, the other comes from a Christian family. We teach them together.  Well, on Friday we taught them the third lesson, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So we taught them about baptism. Because they are young, we teach them through activities. So for this one, we made the church into a pirate adventure. We made a map for them, and told them to go to each of the points on the map.. The points were "Faith in Jesus Christ" "Repentance" "Baptism" "The Gift of the Holy Ghost" and  "Enduring to the End.." We then made the treasure at the end "Eternal Life." They really liked it and asked lots of questions as we went. We talked about each of the points as we went on our journey (each room was a different point on the map).  When we made it to eternal life, we asked them what they remembered about the Celestial Kingdom. They remembered everything we had taught them before! :) They also remembered that in order to go to the Celestial Kingdom, you have to be baptized. So we reviewed baptism one more time, and invited them to be baptized. They both accepted! We then looked at the calendar and asked how May 21st 2016 sounded. They both agreed! :) The only problem was, that meant that they had to attend church yesterday, this coming Sunday, and the next Sunday. They committed to that too! :)

This was our "Eternal Life" room. :)

So Sunday rolled around, and we saw one of them walk in with her member friend. The one that comes from a Christian background got permission to come to church from her parents, and permission to be baptized. I saw her walk in and ran up and hugged her so hard! She laughed and told us that waking up that morning had been really hard, but that she had prayed immediately to God for help getting up so that she could come to church.  So amazing!
But the other 14 year old that comes from a Buddhist background couldn't get permission from her parents. :( They wouldn't' allow her to come to church. So we texted her and told her that we would pray for her to be able to come next week. She said that she would be praying for them to give her permission too. She really wants to get baptized but can't get permission yet. We will keep praying for her though! :)

One of the sisters that served in our mission came back and visited! We all had dinner at our Branch Mission leader's house. :)

Faith is absolutely amazing. I wanted so badly to be able to see an investigator get baptized before I go home if it was the Lord's will, and I might get to see one get baptized the very weekend before I get on the plane. I prayed and prayed and fasted and acted in faith in every way that I could. I am not perfect, so I had to repent a lot too. I only did a small portion of what it took to lead these girls to the truth though. .Heavenly Father and the Lord did the rest. If they by chance cannot be baptized before I go home, I will know that it is the Lord's plan. And I only want to do the things He would have me do. But for now, one of the girls is planning on being baptized on the 21st. The other one is still praying for permission. I know that the Lord's plan is perfect, and that eventually, whether I am here or not, both of these girls will get baptized and change their lives for forever.


I love and miss you all so much! Talk to you next week! :)

Love always,
Sister Maughan