An "almost" update

Ok, not enough time for a full post so here's an "almost" post. Elder Maughan has a new companion. He is with Elder Gaspar and they are out of the far eastern end of Long Island in Riverhead. Justin has wanted to go out there more than anyother place in his mission. His new address is posted to the right. Look for a complete update and pictures sometime soon, say, November! Just kidding. They'll be here soon.

Updates coming

I realize that I haven't kept up on Elder Maughan's blog very well. Sorry, it's been a busy summer. I will update it soon. You will notice that Elder Maughan has a new/old address. Yes, that's right, he's back in Brooklyn. Same apartment and everything. Thanks for checking in on him and I'll update soon.

Jamie

Bonus Video Clips

Elder Maughan recently sent home his memory card. We found the three following video clips. The first one was taken in Manhattan on New Years Eve day. His companion had a doctors appointment in Manhattan. The second one is of Elder Maughan and Elder Teixiera running to catch the Staten Island Ferry. It was his last p-day on Staten Island. The last video is hard to understand because of the wind. He says something about being his last day on Staten and he's a little bummed, but he has the whole city ahead of him. Again, Elder Teixier is running the camera.

Sights and sounds of Manhattan New Years Eve 08

Running to catch the Ferry November 2008

Last day on Staten Island- November 2008

Friday District Meeting/ Surprise lunch at Applebees!

I stole this post from the dePaula's blog. I'm sure going to miss this when they go home at the end of the month!

"Fridays are always days with "our kids" at the church for district meeting. We're not in charge. They are - and what great leaders and teachers they are, teaching from "Preach My Gospel."After the meeting there was a "secret" plan to take Sister Burton to lunch for her birthday. That was a good idea, but these young missionaries are allotted barely enough money each month to buy the basics, if that, let alone any extras. So Elder de Paula and I decided to treat them all to Birthday Lunch. The looks on their faces was worth more that a fortune!"

~Sister dePaula

What a wonderful, generous couple!

New Companion- Number 8

Elder Maughan and Elder Merrill (Rexburg)

Elder Maughan and Elder Merrill, the sister missionaries, and the Spanish speaking elders, along with Elder and Sister dePaula had Easter dinner at the home of the Cruz family.

Elder Maughan found out that Sister de Paula was in the Mormon Tabernacle choir when John Williams came to Salt Lake City for the Olympics in 2002. (Elder de Paula retired in 1997)

John Williams is one of Elder Maughan's favorite composers so he probably had a nice visit with Sister de Paula!

Trip to Manhattan March 18, 2009 Time Square

New District March 30, 2009

Front row (l to r) Sisters Mullens, Frodsham, Burton, de Paula & Elder de Paula. Middle row (l to r) Elders Carcel, Powell, Powell (new district leader), Maughan & Sister Brimhall. Back row (l to r) Evans, Law, Oliverson & Carimia.

Plainview Stake Center-Plainview, Long Island

"A couple of weeks ago a family, the Mercados, took us to The Outback Steakhouse for dinner. The manager recognized us as elders and came over to visit. It turned out that she was a member living in another ward, out here in Long Island. She's been inactive for some years. Her boyfriend is a Marine. We couldn't convince her to give us her number(she and her boyfriend are originally from Texas and she knew we would never let her disappear if we had someway to contact her!) Well anyway, we figured that was the end of that. She did give us free desert afterwards! Elder Oliverson and I were blessing the Sacrament this past sunday at fast and testimony meeting. Out of nowhere, a Marine and a woman walk into church and made their way to some seats in the back. Oliverson and I looked at each other with our mouths open in surprise and excitement. It was the woman from Outback and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend bore his testimony and thanked us and the Mercados for befriending his girlfriend. They seemed to be in a bit of a hurry to get out of there, so we only got to say hi. It was awsome to see that!

It's those little things that make everything worth it out here. We haven't been able to get any baptisms, but we were still able to help someone feel good."

-Elder Maughan

"Almost" Home Alone-Lost in New York

"Well, as you know, I went to the temple this week, Wednesday. We left the apartment at about 8:30am and made our way up to another area, Huntington, to pick up another Elder, and then made our way into to Queens. Once we got to the mission office we just waited around for a little while for everyone to show up. There were about 14 of us I think. Elder and Sister Comer were the senior couple that accompanied us. We went through an endowment session that began at 12:30. There were two members from Staten Island in the session as well: Brother Ostreicher and Sister Zeniou. Sister Zeniou didn't see me but Brother Ostreicher and I met eyes as we were first entering the session. It was exciting to see someone from Staten again. So, after the session, we all got changed and made our way to chaple and distribution center next door. We were all supposed to meet in a room, somewhere that I didn't know. I got stuck at the distribution center talking to the two sisters working behind the counter, guess where they were from, yep, Staten Island . It was Sister Melendi, the organist (she had us do a couple of musical numbers while were there), and another sister whose name I'm not sure of. It was so fun seeing so many people from Staten in one day. As I was talking to these two sisters I began to realize that all of the missionaries that had been at the distribution center had all disappeared. I had figured that if i just stuck with a couple of 'em that somebody wouldv'e known where we were going. But now I looked around and realized I was all alone. "Ah, crap," I thought, "of course this would happen." I went downstairs and outside to see if anyone was out there. I got out on the sidewalk, looked around and realized that I was all alone in NEW YORK CITY...AWSOME! And then Elder Comer came up out of the temple behind me and helped me find my way up to where everyone was meeting. So I didn't end up getting lost or left, which seems to have happened only all to often throughout my growing up years, oh well. All and all, the temple was awesome. But the adventure doesn't stop there. The Comers said we still had some time and that we could all take a walk. So we made our way around the corner and down the street to Central Park. Oh it was awesome. We headed south to the next train station. We just walked along the outside but it was still awesome. New York is exactly how it looks on TV. We saw the

"Trump International Hotel" .

I've got some good pics to send home. "

~Elder Maughan

That's our boy!

District Meeting and Interviews with President Bennion

"Big plans on Wednesday: Manhattan for the Temple Trip! Originally I thought that it would be on the 17th, tomorrow, but its on the 18th, Wednesday. I'm pretty excited. We'll leave in the morning, probably around 8:00 and get back around 5:00. We've gotta go to the mission office and get MetroCards for the the trains and then head into the city. The Train will take us pretty much right there. I'm excited. NYC is THE Place. "

"Oliverson is by far one of my favorite companions. We get along great. We've got a lot in common. Hunting, fishing, outdoors, he had his own landscaping business too. We teach great together. "

"We got a couple of new investigators last night. The cousins of a family Oliverson was teaching out in Riverhead. We met them last night. We knocked on the door and they let us right in. We just talked last night. We didn't try and teach anything, just got to know them. Their names are Heather and William. She's Jewish and he's Catholic. At the end of our visit we told them what we were all about and they said that they would listen but that they were'nt really interested. Thats okay, neither was the family at first that referred them. We'll see what happens. We never would've gotten in the door if we were just tracting, thats why referrals are so helpful. Wish us luck. "

~Elder Maughan

Pie or Pie? March 10, 2009

"We've pretty much emptied our previous teaching pool and started anew. Tonight we're delivering a couple of pizzas to some families. Sister Memhidi owns a pizzaria. She always hooks us up too. She's the Relief Society president and is having us deliver some pies to a couple of families in need right now. This is a good way for us to get into homes and share the spirit of missionary work. It'll be agood evening tonight."

~Elder Maughan

Working hard on Long Island, NY

"Oliverson and I are working HARD. I haven't been this busy before. Our phone is ringing off the hook. Members are calling us all the time asking us for help in the ward. We are getting into peoples home. We're teaching all the time. In fact, we just taught a lesson to a lady this morning and now her sister is somewhat interested. We're going back on Thursday. Hopefully we can see some success.
I love it out here. Sometimes I just can't believe that I'm out here, in New York, even Long Island. I really do love it.

~Elder Maughan

Spring Snow Storm March 1st

"Hey, sorry I didn't get an email out yesterday. We got hit with a huge snow storm sunday night that closed everything down yesterday. We got stuck trying to get of our driveway. The roads were terrible. Sorry. We got to the library as soon as we could today."

~Elder Maughan

"All of New York and most of the eastern seaboard was plummeted with snow - the biggest of the season - even as Spring approaches. Universities, schools, some businesses and most preschools were closed. Area airports canceled numerous flights and experienced countless delays. The Long Island Railroad had rare delays due to blowing and drifting snow and problems with frozen switches and added an additional eight trains from Manhattan east to Long Island beginning in the early afternoon to get commuters through the storm. "

~Sister de Paula

Interesting Facts about this storm that "charged up the Eastern Seaboard and blanketed the Northeast."

For the first time in 5 years NYC Public Schools were canceled affecting 1.1 million students.
It costs the city 1 million dollars an inch to remove snow. Long Island got 14 inches.

There are 6,000 roads to plow in NYC , the equivalent of driving to LA and back.
More than 450 flights were canceled at LaGuardia Airport, 119 at JFK and they currently are experiencing 3 hour delays.
The storm stretched from Virginia to Quebec.

Elder and Sister de Paula

Elder and Sister dePaula are from Highland, Utah. They were called to serve as Institute Missionaries in the New York New York South Mission. If you've followed this blog, you would know that I stumbled upon their blog (http://www.depaulamission.blogspot.com/) before Justin left. I have followed their blog regulary and was thrilled when I found out Elder Maughan would be serving with them in Bay Shore. The following posts are courtesy of Sister dePaula's blog. The dePaula's will be returning home in May.

President and Sister Bennion

President and Sister Bennion go home in May. Elder Maughan has so much respect, love and admiration for this outstanding couple. He's going to miss them terribly. I'm sure he'll grow to love his new President just as much.

District Meeting February 20, 2009

Elder Maughan gets a new Companion, (number 6) Elder Oliverson. This picture was taken when Elder Maughan and Elder Oliverson first arrived in Bay Shore and the de Paula's took them to the Old Country Buffet. Elder Maughan said, "We get along great. He's my first comp. where its more like we're friends...we already were before we were together. " Elder Oliverson has been out 9 months and he's from the Sandy/Draper, Utah area.

You've Gotta' Love Missionaries!
"Our district - the biggest in the entire mission - has twelve young missionaries and us. After mission transfers last Tuesday we got one new missionary, Sister Burton with a few elders being "shuffled" within the district.
Front row: (l to r) Sisters Frodsham, Burton, Brimhall and Sellers. Back row: Elders Alder, Low, Johnson, Oliverson, Lee, Carcel, Maughan and Caramia.
Half of these missionaries were called as Spanish-speaking, half English-speaking. What a joy it is to know them!"

~Sister de Paula

Ward Correlation Meeting February 2009

"Missionaries meet every Saturday evening for about two hours - all the missionaries assigned to the Bay Shore Ward and the ward mission leader, Brother Siniscalchi. One by one each missionary presents the names of the less active members or investigators who may need love and encouragement from this group, the bishopric or the ward members. The Spirit is often very strong at these gatherings as we begin and end with a hymn and a prayer and attend to the Lord's precious work. During the evening, the following phrase frequently crosses my mind "Feed my sheep."It is the most important work to be done."

~Sister dePaula

Dinner in the Mission Field February 2009

Elder Maughan elbow deep in cookie dough with Sister Cruz.

"Missionaries can eat at member homes on Sunday and Monday evenings and on any other evening of the week if there is an investigator present. Ward members love to feed the missionaries! Missionaries love to eat! It's a great combination. Sister Cruz loves feeding the missionaries every week! " Thanks Sister Cruz .

District Meeting then The Old Country Buffet- January 29, 2009

Bay Shore's missionaries at District Meeting

After a two hour district meeting, Elder and Sister de Paula took this bunch of starving missionaries to the Old Country Buffet. (L to R: Elders Oliverson, Lee, Law and Maughan)

New District-January 8, 2008

After Staten Island, Elder Maughan went to Plainview, Long Island. He was only in Plainview for one transfer! After Plainview, he was transfered to Bay Shore, further east on Long Island. His new companion in Bay Shore was Elder Alder.
(l to r) 1st row: Sisters Brimhall, Goldthwaite, Frodsham, Brown and Sellers. 2nd row: Elders Maughan, Oliverson, Law, Carcel and Elder & Sister de Paula. 3rd row: Elders Caramia, Peterson, Alder and Lee.

One of these days...

One of these days, I'll remember that my first post will be my last post. I never seem to remember that. Anyway, today is Justin's "HUMP" day. To see my post of this event, scroll down to "One Year Ago, Today." The other pictures are random photos from the past few months. I haven't kept current on posting, but now that I have a new computer and fast internet, watch out!

The Rasmussen Family

This was Elder Maughan's last day on Staten Island.

This is Bishop Rasmussen and his family. (Sister Rasmussen, Christian, Aiden and Kira)

This is what Elder Maughan had to say in his last letter home from Staten Island: "Bishop Rasmussen changed my life. There is nobody, out here that I look up to more than him. He's always smiling. He's the absolute best bishop I've ever met in my life and he is an awesome leader. He would always smile at me and give me a wink from the stand. Sister Rasmussen did wonders for me as well. She always made sure that I was okay and doing well. I tore some of the muscles in my back last week playing soccer. I had a hard time doing anything. She was on the verge of tears when she found out that I was hurt. She said she was going to call my mom and tell her. I told her there was no way she could do that. "Look how worked up you are, how do you think my poor mother would handle it?" I made her promise not to tell you that I was hurt. She mad me take their heating pad to loosen up my back. I'll miss the Rasmussens a lot. Their three kids were so good: Twins Christian and Keira and two year old Aiden. Hopefully I'll get back to Staten and finish my mission there." (sorry about the misspelling of the names, but Elder Maughan wasn't sure of the spellings.)

When we talked to Justin at Christmas, he told me that leaving Staten Island, after serving there for 6 months, was almost as hard as leaving home. He also told us that if he were to return to NYC to live, he'd live in Staten Island. We are so greatful for the Rasmussens and their long lasting impression on our son.

Missionary Tourist

Teixeira and Maughan P-day

Boardwalk on eastern Staten Island

Halloween '08

Teixeira and Maughan w/ companions. Summer '08

Elder Teixeira and Elder Maughan with their companion at the Staten Island Zoo!

September 11th Memorial

Elder Rencher and Elder Maughan-Staten Island

Elder Rencher was Elder Maughan's second companion.

Transfer Meeting- Summer '08

On the way to Queens for transfer meeting.

One Year Ago, Today . . .

February 27th, 2008

Happy "Hump Day" Elder Maughan!

It's hard to believe that this picture was taken one year ago. They say the first year passes slowly and then the second year flies by. In our case, the first year seemed to zoom past us. Looking back, the MTC experience was so hard, but I'm so happy that Elder Maughan is out there, immersed in the work and so happy to be a missionary.

In the past year, he's had so many unique experiences. He's grown in ways that he couldn't have anywhere else. There have been days, I'm guessing, that's it's been hard being a missionary and days that it's been rewarding being a missionary. I keep telling myself, "It's all part of the growing process." It's all worth it though. All the tears, worry and frustration have been worth knowing that Elder Maughan is happy and loving life in the mission field and that he knows what he is doing is important and necessary.

Before Justin left, someone gave us one of those "count down charts." You know, the one with 730 little, teeny, tiny cirles on it. I looked at it a year ago and thought, "No Way!" I just filed it right away. I pulled it out this week and looked what was "behind" us and what's "ahead" of us. It doesn't seem so overwhelming, now! Don't get me wrong, I love having a missionary. I'll just love it more when I have a return missionary!

A long time coming!

It's been almost two months since I've posted. We bought a new computer in December and are waiting for our new high speed internet to be connected. Until then, I refuse to blog. It just takes too long with my current computer and internet.

Just a quick catch up~Elder Maughan is in his second area on Long Island, Bay Shore. He was in Plainview before that, but only for one transfer. Since I posted last, he's had two companions! Elder Godwin and Elder Alder, his current companion. We got to talk to Justin at Christmas and he's doing great. He's changed and grown so much.

Hopefully next week I'll be a blogging fool and you won't be able to keep up with me. Until then, here's a current picture. (Notice his new address to the right.)