Area #6 Punaruku Ward, Whangarei Stake

Hello everyone! 

Well we had transfers and I'm back in the North!

It's good to be back, just weird seeing it all again haha. But I'm in a different area not in my old branches. Which is sad but I do love my new area! It's straight in the bush man. Takes 40 minutes just to drive there, and it's not just a straight road. We curve and swerve all over the place so it's super tiring. Come home every day smashed and just ready for bed. 

This week especially. Got up here on wednesday, went back down to Auckland on thursday, drove back up friday, then up to Kaikohe on Saturday and back to Whangarei on that day. Pretty wrecked if you ask me.

But!!! I had an amazing experience already!

So we got up here on wednesday and had to go back to auckland on thursday night for MLC on friday. After our meeting when I was getting my arm checked I was talking to Sister Balli and she said Heavenly Father just wanted me back up for some reason. After that we started driving back up and I was wondering what it could be the whole time. We stopped in Wellsford for food since it was about half way. As I was waiting for food I was just looking around the street thinking about when I was there before. As I turned back around a person was standing right there just looking at me, literally came out of no where. Took me a moment and I realized it was my old investigator! The one that I met and absolutely loved teaching! I got to catch up with her for a bit and then our food came and she let us go cause she had to take her kids to their dads house who she no longer lives with. So it was super cool to see her. Then we popped into the Phillips house to see them again and catch up. Well I told them this same story and I told them the first person I met back up her. They both freaked out cause the whole branch has been looking for her for like a month cause she moved house. But the first day I came back I found her and got her new house again. Just like the first day I was in Wellsford last year. First time in Wellsford she walked up to us then too saying we were the sign she was looking for. 

It was really great to meet up with her again and I told the elders straightway and they are looking forward to really helping her now.

Life is good up here!! I'm excited to be back!!

Love you all and have a good week!!

Elder Maughan

Hello all again and again.

This week was pretty good. It's getting colder and colder as the days go on. Especially in the mornings! But it's still super nice, it's been so hot I'm ready for some winter. 

The week was pretty good. Lots of just basic work. My comp was sick a bit but he was a trooper and kept going for the most part. Some lessons he just had to sit there but that was a good challenge for me! It's really nice to teach with a companion and not have to do everything alone haha. It's not as powerful I reckon.

Jane and Paula were both baptized and confirmed on the weekend! They told us how they were so glad this day came! They are super awesome!! It was especially great to see Janes smile and excitement right before we went in the font. I know it meant a lot to her and her family!

Transfers this week! Guess we'll see what happens this time around!

Love you all heaps! Have a good week!

Elder Maughan

April has gone too fast

Hello from down under. Life is still going great and the work is going amazing still. Panmure is doing great! We got to attend 2 companionship's baptismal services and a ward child baptism over the weekend. It was super fun and spiritual to see all these people dressed in white and making that covenant with the Lord :) There should be about 5 or so more this weekend and I'm so excited! Two of which are people we've been teaching! Jane and Paula have made some great changes in their lives and I have loved watching the Spirit come into their lives more and more every day!! It's amazing how this Gospel works aye??:)

Yesterday was a struggle for us. Not cause of no work or nothing, cause of FOOD. We fasted with Jane and Paula, and then broke it with them at 4. Jane is an amazing cook and put on a great meal. Lamb slaps that were massive, with potatoes and veggies. Mean. But we knew we were gonna struggle cause at 5 we had a dinner appointment with our members.. And these members don't do meals lightly. It started with a good pumpkin soup. We thought we were gonna be all good. Then They pilled on beef and kumara and veggies and gravy and we were both struggling. Neither of us could finish it haha. We got like half way through or just passed it and had to stop hahahah. We didn't even make it to dessert. But it was a lovely meal haha. 

But that's about it from me this week!

Looking forward to another good week!

Love yous heaps!!

Elder Maughan

Easter Week :)

Happy Easter Week everyone!! 

It was a great week. Being able to reflect on our Saviors last week and all He did for us. I'm truly grateful for Him :)

This weekend was mean!! Mata got Baptized and I was able to do the confirmation for her on Sunday :) What a great privilege!! On Saturday we went to a baptism for the Tongan ward. They had a family convert baptism so 4 of them made that covenant with our Father :) It was so beautiful to see a family in white!! 

Last night we had a Come and See fireside and it was really certain around Easter. We watched two videos from the Church. 2 of the Easter ones they made over the last few years. As I watched the first one, seeing what He went through, made my testimony that much stronger that He really was here, He suffered and did everything we hear and read about, and He lives now. If anyone is unsure of that, I can testify from the bottom of my heart He lives and suffered for each and everyone of us. I love Him so much and I hope yous can find and feel His love too :)

Love you all! Have a good week!!

Elder Maughan 

Guidance from Conferences

Hello everyone!

Another week has come and gone and I'm very grateful for all that the Lord has given us this week!

The elbow is getting much better. Still sore and achy to move and tender to touch it. But all is well with it and it's almost to full strength I'd say :) 

This week has been pretty average. Like I said the Lord has given us heaps, but Satan throws stuff right back at us haha. But everyone we are working with is doing well and still moving toward their commitments. We have a baptism this Friday for a little girl who's family is really excited so they can keep coming to church more.

I loved General Conference this weekend! The Lord gave me so much guidance and answers that I am completely grateful for. We had some cool experiences and some people that were there with us told us that they really enjoyed it.

It was awesome seeing how conference impacted one family. When we talked with them it was just a complete different feeling of love and joy. It's cause all of the wards that were spoken come from God just for us!!

I'd encourage everyone to just pick one talk for the week and study it more in depth and see what the Lord has in store for you even more!

Love you all!

Elder Maughan 

Hospital Weekend.

Hello everyone!

Well, what a week aye. I'll start off now I am all good. Nothing is too wrong I'm still able to work and to keep goin! But let me tell you where this is all coming from.

Monday morning I woke up with a massive right elbow. Nice red and shiny. Not sure what from but very painful. So I called the nurse and continued with my P-Day kind of babying my right elbow. Some sisters and us wanted to go bowling. I tried two frames with the right, not the most comfortable thing, so I did the rest with my left and did awesome! Finally heard back from the nurse Monday evening and said she wanted me to go to the doctors. So from Tuesday to Friday I had to go to the doctors every day to get an IV with some drugs. Friday they tried some different drug that my body didn't like. My arm got very stiff, sore and hot. So the nurse freaked out and took it out and then my back started freaking out. Couldn't lay flat cause it was too stiff. So they gave me some pain killers through an IV and then the doctor came in and said she talked to the hospital and they wanted me to come in for a look. So we got to the ED at about 530, got looked at by the nurse at 730, got looked at by the doctor at 1210 am. They didn't even have a doctor on staff so we had to wait for him to come :) There were some very nice members and people there who looked after us haha. They admitted me to a room at 2 am and finally let us go to sleep at 230. Then I stayed there all of Saturday, and all of Sunday. And finally got released this morning at 1230 :) What a great weekend haha. Thats about all the news I have for ya!

Hope you all had a good week!

Love you heaps!!

Elder Maughan

Stonefields Round 3!

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a great week and are ready to keep on goin!

So we had transfers this week, and luckily my companion and I get to stay together for another transfer! Us and the whole zone have really high hopes for April so we are excited to see what comes our way :) As a stake we finished the month of March with 8 converts which is the best this stake has seen in a couple of months, so I was super proud of our zone of missionaries for all the hard work they put it. However we are looking to push ourselves this coming month with 10 new converts. The month is looking really good and we are excited to keep going hard with some of the best missionaries in the mission!

This last week was super busy with transfers and moving a companionship's house. We were lacking on sleep this last week and it caught up to us at the end of the week haha. But we are still super pumped! Lots of people are progressing and we are really excited for some families we are working with!

I'm gonna shoot now!
Hope you all have a good week and enjoy General Conference!!:)

Elder Maughan

Still Movin Along

This past week was pretty good. Lots of starting from square one again since the majority of our teaching pool was baptized haha. But we were able to build up our teaching pool this week and set some more people for baptism! This ward and area is so fruitful. It's a great time to be here!

We had zone conference this last week and we talked about a lot of new things the mission department wants us to focus on. One of the major ones was The Prince of Peace. Easter is coming up and it's a great time to think about the Saviour and His life for us! Keep it in mind as you start searching for those eggs haha! 

We have transfers this week so I'm excited to see what changes come to Panmure next! Not expecting anything too big but I know the Lord has a lot in store for these next 6 weeks. Lots of baptisms and new people will be coming!!

Love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Maughan

Flooding in Rain and Baptisms

Another Great week has come and gone. Time is so freaking fast it's crazy. BUT! Lukis, Katia, and Jacob all got baptized and confirmed this week! It was such a great service and a miracle that Katia even got there haha. She showed up with like 2 minutes before we started, but the Lord provided a way and we were all super super excited for it :)

We've had so much rain lately. I do my best to drive through all the puddles and splash the water haha. Auckland is getting so much rain and just flooding everywhere. It's not super fun to walk in it, and when both our rain coats pour water on our thighs haha, but it's still super fun and super worth it :)

The whole stake is doing really well. Lots of miracles came to the entire zone. One companionship got 3 sets after having nothing going on in their ward. We also got to go to the Glen Innes ward baptism yesterday for the Elders serving there. Lots of great things going on in Panmure!

Love you all! Hope all is well wherever you are!!

Elder Maughan

Workin all the time

Hello Everyone! We had a great week! Lots of good things are coming! The Lord has provide more and more people for us to teach. We have 5 total sets for baptism at the moment and its all from the Lord!

Lucas and Katia are doing awesome! Both excited for their baptism this weekend. Same with Jacob! Its gonna be good for the ward to see some baptisms coming in. The other two, Richard and Mata (new) are both really good as well. Just need to get the commitment up but are doing awesome!

Things in Panmure are looking great for March. We have a goal of 8, with 8 sets and 2 accomplished already. My companion and I are really grateful for the work that is going on in the stake and how hard everyone is working.

Life is good now. Couldn't be happier! 3rd quarter is coming to an end so it's crunch time now!

Love you all!

Have a good week!

Elder Maughan

Lookin Pretty in Panmure

Another week gone. I don't know how to start these anymore. I feel like it gets boring to everyone haha. But I hope you still enjoy them 

This week has been super good. My comp and I are starting from square one and have seen the Lords blessings in our work! We have found heaps of potential from the ward action list and unbaptized list. So many good things coming from it. And it has all come from just getting down and dirty in the Lords work and doing what He's asked us to do and He takes care of the rest! 

Vinny is the man. He was able to have a talk with President Balli this week and really felt the spirit in their meeting. He's still searching for his answer, but he's doing awesome and we love seeing his growth. Jane and Paula are also doing awesome! We really love their family and we always feel the spirit stronger and stronger each time we go there. They are awesome!!

We found 2 new investigators this week, and we were also able to set them for baptism! Lucas and Katia Percell. Both teenage kids who are very smart and open. They both came to church yesterday for the first time and both loved it. They'll be going to youth on tuesday and have plans to get baptized on the 11th of March! If all goes well maybe the mum will be touched by it too and want to start learning about the Gospel again!

Other than that, things are just the same aye. Wake up, study, work, eat, work some more, sleep, then repeat! I've come to really really appreciate my mission. It's a true blessing to be here and to be serving the Lord. I wouldn't change it for anything ever! :)

Love you all! Have a good week!!

Elder Maughan

Welp I survived the Transfer

Hello everyone! 

The subject of this email was made up by Sister Trull. It was a good transfer but I'm super pumped for this next one!!

I have a new comp named Elder Whalley from Melbourne Australia. He's been out since Oct. 2015 so we are ready to kill it in our time together!!!

Things are moving really well in Stonefields. Vinny was at church yesterday and things are looking up for his baptism. Maybe not this week but soon for sure! Jane and Paula also came to church for the first time this year. It was awesome cause they both really felt the spirit and were getting emotional during the talks. We are really excited to see where all these people go!

The ward has heaps of potential. We've got a lot of really really good potential. A lot of families to work with that are trying to come back to church and have their whole family come back.

Looking forward to the new transfer and all the miracles that come to Panmure!

Love you all!!

Elder Maughan

Miracles in Panmure

Kia Ora all once more!

This week was great. The entire zone really stepped it up and we all saw heaps of miracles! On Monday of last week we met this guy named Vinny. Found him by texting all the investigators in the phone, yes that actually works haha. We caught up with him and the Spirit was so strong from the very first minute we got in. He asked us to teach him more about the plan of salvation so of course we gladly did! He was on to it! He understood it all, had his own Book of Mormon and was asking some mean as questions!! We didn't know how but we wanted to invite him to be baptized, and thanks to the spirit for setting up the situation, we were able to make it happen! Then we met with him on wednesday, he had been giving baptism some serious thought and was talking to his auntie in Aus about it. We felt very prompted about it and he agreed to be baptized on the 18th of this Month! Super excited for this guy and to see the steps he's taking!

For the rest of the zone, we found 12 new investigators total and got 5 new sets for baptism all in this one week! I was super happy and humbled to be a part of it. Seeing the hard work that all the missionaries put in this week made me want to work even harder and help the best I can!

This week coming we have our transfers. It'll be interesting to see what happens! Exciting time for the mission and all of us!

That's all for this week guys!! 

Love you all and Happy Waitangi day!!

Elder Maughan

New Missionary Life!

Hey everyone! Back at it again after an awesome week! We had a very busy week I guess you can say, but it was awesome!! 

On Wednesday we had MLC, and we had a mean training from a senior couple on mental health, and got a sneak peak at the Missionary Broadcast. On Thursday for zone training we had a combined one and we watched the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast. Not gonna lie it was a little cheesy and funny, but it was so cool! We got to hear from Elder Oaks, Bednar, and Andersen of the 12. And they announced a new missionary schedule and key indicators! With these changes its giving us a lot more freedom to choose how and when we do things, also to focus on people a lot more and not just numbers. It's honestly gonna be awesome! I'm very happy and blessed to be part of missionary work at this time! So many different changes to make the work move forward even more!

Saturday I had a tradeoff with Elder Nu'usila from Layton! We attend a baptism in our Zone and then went out and did a few things in my area. This kid has great potential and I'm glad to be serving with him so early in his mission!

Well that's about it for this week! Thanks for all the love and prayers.

Love you all!!

Elder Maughan

Time is going and going fast

Hey everyone! 

Things have been pretty good this week. Lots of rain and sunshine all together but it has still been good. We had interviews this week and it was really good to sit down with President Balli and receive some guidance and counsel from him. I really love meeting with him and receive the counsel.

We have heaps of stuff to work on in our area. We have one awesome family that we are working on named Jane and Paula. They are doing good. Lots to work with and so I'm excited to see the steps they make and do the best I can to help them come closer to Christ!

It's weird how time is going. The beginning of the week seemed so slow, but the back half seemed so fast. Especially since we had stake conference. But it's made me realize how little of time I have left to serve. 8 months isn't heaps, and I want it to be the best. Time is something the Lord has given us and I don't want any of us to waste it. If you're a missionary or not, every moment we have been given from the Lord should be cherished and we should use it to the fullest. So no matter where you are in life or what you are doing, cherish the moments you have, and thank the Lord every day in your prayers for the opportunities He has given you. Open your heart of gratitude to the Lord.

Love you all!!

Elder Maughan

Hot in Panmure

Hello all! We had a good, hot, muggy, humid, week this week. I think that describes it well. For church yesterday it was cloudy as all day, but it was still 28 degrees. (82 in F) so everyone in church was dying of heat. But I had the great chance to speak to the ward on missionary work. It worked out well considering I didn't write it until 8 o'clock that morning with 9 o'clock church :) The Lord provided big time haha! We are really excited to be working with one particular family, Jane and Paula. Paula is a member but he's been less active for a while, Jane has had heaps of missionaries just has had some rough patches in her life. Yesterday we were able to meet with them and talk about an action plan to help them with smoking. Jane told us she wants to be baptized as soon as she can!  We are really excited for her. She knows the church is true and wants it so bad! Please keep them in your prayers to help them out :) I also had the chance to go on trade offs with the Assistants this week. I got to go to the Takapuna Ward with Elder Hixon. We had a mean time! Their ward is really cool and very helpful to them. It was fun to get to see more of the mission and meet some more really awesome people of the church.

Time to grind this week and get the area and zone moving in the right direction! Thank you all for your love and prayers! It's very much needed!

Love you all!! :)

Elder Maughan