Staying in Aimogasta

Hey fam,

This week was a good one, and a quick one.  It was the last week of the transfer, and on Saturday we got the phone call...that both me and my companion are staying together here in Aimogasta for another 6 weeks.  I was not surprised, but definitely grateful, because that means I get to enjoy the month in the hotel!  I definitely enjoy the real showers and breakfast in the mornings, first time in months that I have been able to have that.  Although an Argentine breakfast is basically just toast and juice...no bacon and eggs and waffles like at hotels back home.  But it is definitely a step up from nothing, so I can't complain!  

Church yesterday was...interesting. We did have 20 people show up, so that was good, but then the real fun started. My comp gave the first talk, and started off the talk by saying how yesterday we got the call for transfers and that he is sorry to say that  he "is going...to stay here for another transfer to finish" his mission.  A family in the back got up and left when he said that, and the Dad told me as they left that they would not be coming back until this missionary left.  It has been an ongoing drama with this family and my comp this whole past transfer.  But we'll go visit the family and try and figure stuff out.  Sometimes its hard being a missionary, but hey, people have their agency to choose.   

On the bright side this week, we found a family that lives on the same street as the church, really it's 2 families, so we will see how that progresses.  I am hoping to have a bit more success these next 2 months here in Aimogasta, its been too long in between baptisms for my liking.  But we are having a solid attendance of about 20 nearly every week now, so the talk is to find a bigger place to move into in order to have sacrament meeting.  So the work is moving forward!

Sounds like y'all had a really good week!  And wow, HP doesn't play, they really go all out with their activities.  Man, I would love to eat a jalapeno, they don’t have spicy food here. I haven’t had chili since the USA. Should have gone with the peach cobbler Mom...haha but it sounds like it was a blast!  

Answers to your questions - The best hotel food...yesterday in the morning they did have a small pastry with cream in the middle that was pretty good.  During church I spoke on the baptismal covenant, and the "Why" we come to church.  Because until these people understand the basics, how am I supposed to get up there and talk about the more complicated stuff.  No spirits or devils lately, but we did talk to a drunk guy that wanted to Bible bash with us the other day.  But it wasn't very fun, because he was drunk, and didn't know the Bible.  Not a good combination for somebody who wants to talk religion.  Scriptures I have been focusing on – 1 Nephi 3:7, always a good one.  Also, Hebrews 5:4.

Love you guys, glad to hear that all is going well!

Elder Mangum

"Will We Be Willing?"

Pollo Napolitano

Hey fam,

This week was really good.  We found a couple of new people, and just had an all around good time.  Wednesday was a lot of fun, we had district meeting in La Rioja Capital, and then went to lunch with the senior couple, the Tanners.  They blew a ton of money, the best meal I have had in Argentina.  I had pollo napolitano.  It was chicken covered in ham, cheese, salsa, and it was delicious.   I only ate half, so the other half ended up being my lunch of Thursday as well.  After lunch with the Tanners, we went to their apartment where my companion took a practice English exam.  The mission has a program, where missionaries who do not speak English can take a test and receive a certificate from BYU saying that they know how to speak English, it is pretty cool.  So my comp worked on that, and I talked with Elder Tanner in English for a couple of hours, which was more difficult than you might think.  I kept throwing in Spanish words and phrases.  

Long Bus Rides to La Rioja Capital

On Friday we had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the zone leaders in La Rioja and have interviews with the mission president. I was with Elder Villar from Peru, we taught a couple of really good lessons during the day (and got to have another great lunch from one of the members in their ward) and then the interviews with President rolled around.  That was a really neat experience.  He asked how I was doing, and then we got right to talking about the area, and the changes necessary in order to improve it.  It was really cool, because he asked what I thought would be best, how certain people would do in the branch as leaders.  Then to end that subject, he told me that I will be in Aimogasta to "make history" or "to literally be a part of history."  The way Spanish works when somebody is talking, it could very well have been either of the two.  But I get the feeling he kind of meant both.  So I may end up being in this area for a long, long time.  We talked about a couple of other subjects, such as calling and election and the missionary library.  We ended, he gave me a hug, then grabbed me by the shoulder and said "Elder.  You have this attribute about you, you take the things of the church very seriously and have your mind focused on the sacred things, and your eyes focused on the temple for yourself and for your branch members.  You will be a great leader very soon."  That was also pretty sweet to hear.

Sunday we had 21 people show up, including the branch president of the branch that we are actually apart of.  We had been bugging him for weeks to come, and he finally came.  We gave a youth the priesthood and ordained him a teacher, so that was definite progress.  Things are picking up here in Aimogasta.  We also got permission from President to move into a hotel for the month of March while they fix up our pension, so that will be really good. Finally, a real shower!  And breakfast everyday...have not had that in quite a while!  It will be a great month.

Sounds like y’all had a great week.  I am pumped that BYU beat the Zags, it’s about time.  Sounds like changes are going on back home, or are about to happen.  Fun times.  It is sad that basketball season is over, but I have no doubt that Jake learned a ton. A song I sang this week...Onward Christian Soldiers, the normal one from the hymnbook, not the same version as the one in the video :).  Favorite Star Wars Jedi has to be Obi Wan.  I love the Owens, they always make my month when I get their letters and hear their stories.  Glad to hear that everybody is doing well.

Love you all, and (late) Happy Go Texan Day!

Elder Mangum

Zone Conference

Hey fam (and everybody else in the Maplehood!)

It is great to hear from you!  The week was really good, highlights include exchanges with the other members of the district on Wednesday and the Zone Conference on Friday.  

Wednesday we went in to La Rioja Capital and did intercambios with La Quebrada. I was with Elder Southwick from Utah in the morning (he has about 16 months in the mission) and Elder Golding from Idaho in the afternoon (he has the same amount of time as me.)  We had to do exchanges like that because President was asking reports from the district leaders a week early, and we had not done any intercambios yet.  2 birds with one stone.  Or in this case, 2 exchanges in 1 day.  It was a lot of fun.  Every time we go and do exchanges with these Elders, it pours down rain.  Elder Southwick and I got completely soaked in the morning, running in the rain from appointment to appointment.  We managed to get some trash bags to throw our backpacks in so our scriptures wouldn't get ruined.  Good times, and what is funny is that the only times it has ever rained in my 3 months here, is when we go and do exchanges.  For lunch the 4 of us Elders got back together, and each of us ate an entire chicken.  Yes, you read that right, an entire chicken each.  We were hungry.  In the afternoon I was with Elder Golding, and we had a great time, talking about the MTC and Dr. Pepper.  We were not in the same district in the MTC, so we did not know each other until we got to Argentina, but it was sweet to swap MTC stories and mission stories with somebody who has been out the same amount of time as I have.

Friday was the conference, and that was really enlightening.  My comp and I got to get up in front of everybody (about 40 missionaries) and teach the Area President and his wife about the Book of Mormon and invite them to read and pray about it, everybody said we did a good job.  My comp just got up and started walking up to the stand when they asked for a volunteer companionship, so I had to follow!  But we did well.  A big focus of the conference was the Book of Mormon, and the important role that it should play in each of our lives.  In section 84 it talks about the "new covenant of the Book of Mormon" and Elder Gonzolez expanded a little on that, saying how important it is that we read it on a daily basis.  Also, he promised us that if our converts and investigators get started in the habit early of reading the Book of Mormon, they are almost certain to stay active in the church.  It was a really good conference.

On Sunday I talked about the role of the parents, using as an emphasis various examples from the Book of Mormon, such as the Army of Helaman, Alma talking to his sons, and Nephi declaring in the very first verse of the book that he was born of goodly parents.  I started off the talk by paraphrasing (and translating) the country song "Watching You" by Rodney Atkins.  It was a great way to grab everybody's attention to start, and to show how crucial the role and example of the parents are to their children, and how we never know when they are watching.

My favorite part of the week was definitely the conference, very uplifting.  Although the funnest part was the afternoon with Golding.  I saw a bunch of missionaries from the MTC at the conference, I think there were 5 of us there from the 17 that came on the airplane together.  We did eat pretty good this week, empanadas at the conference and chicken on Wednesday, no complaints there.  As far as things I need, I will never say no to socks or ties, and winter clothing would definitely be of use in the coming months.  A couple of sweaters and a pair of gloves, if they are not already en route.  The carnival holiday here this week..not a fan, it kept me up all night.  I probably got about 20 hours of sleep in the past week of so. My favorite color is definitely still Blue!  The kid in the picture  from a couple weeks ago is 10, he is not the deacon who passes the sacrament.

That is an awesome story about Brother Owens, I especially enjoyed the part at the bus stop. I laughed out loud and got various looks from the other people in the internet cafe. Sounds like you all had an awesome, and very busy, week.  Always great to hear about all of y’alls experiences, and congrats to Jake for scoring in the game and Hayley for rocking it in her theatre competition!  

Love you all, and hope you have another fantastic week!  Happy Birthday to Uncle Matt!

Elder Mangum

An Apostle's Testimony of 

The Book of Mormon

Exchanges

Hey fam,

This week was good.  Crazy that we are already almost in March, time is flying.  During the week the zone leaders came and we did exchanges, I was with an Elder from Utah, so it was nice to speak English for a few hours.  During the week we found a couple of new people who seemed to express interest, but we will see how they progress.  This week we had 7 people show up, 5 if you don't include the missionaries, a big drop from the past couple of weeks.  It doesn't make much sense to me, we visit everybody every week, and some weeks lots come, and others nobody comes.  

Wednesday we went to the city La Rioja to practice the medley we are going to sing in the conference this upcoming Friday.  It is 3 or 4 primary songs all put together, ending with We are as the Army of Helaman in English.  It has potential, but we will see how it goes.    Sunday I taught the Gospel Principles lesson on "Jesus Christ, our Chosen Leader and Savior."  Talked a little about the premortal life and how we all had a testimony of the plan of salvation before we chose to came here, and how we chose Christ before the foundation of the world to be our Savior.  It went fairly well, and I ended by showing the Mormon Message "He Lives" with various apostles testifying of Christ.  In sacrament I gave a talk on the principle of service, and how when we serve those around us, we are serving God.  I read some of the hymn A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. I also read those verses at the end of Matthew 25, great minds think alike! It went really well, the Spirit was definitely strong. 

No pool (font) yet, we have not received the money to buy it.  The best part of the week...once again I would have to say Monday reading the emails.  I am sunburned 24/7 here, but I think my skin is adjusting.  No interesting new people.  My favorite drink..there is an apple flavored soda, that tastes like a mix between apple beer and cream soda that is really good.  We drink quite a bit of that.  We can buy a 3.5 liter container for 17 pesos (about 2 bucks) so I figure that is a pretty good deal.  Man I miss smoothies!

Glad to hear everybody is doing well, and that y’all are enjoying life!  I love hearing about what everybody does during the week.

Love you all!

Elder Michael Mangum

He Lives

A Wedding

Buen día mi querido familia,

This week was a good one, my comp and I are getting into a nice routine and time is starting to fly by.  Tuesday we spent all day disassembling the "baptismal font" which was not really ours, and belongs to a member of the stake presidency that now wants his swimming pool back.  It took the whole day to take it apart and clean it out, we ended up soaked in sweat after hours and hours of working on it, but we did it.  Wednesday we went to La Rioja capital to have a zone meeting.  We talked a lot about the vision for the zone and the mission this transfer, and the 3 things necessary to have progressing investigators. The same 3 things that were necessary for the Liahona to function, Faith, Diligence, and Attention. Then we went to downtown and spent the whole afternoon searching for a new portable pool for baptisms, which we did find, and have planned to buy this next Wednesday when we go again to the capital. 

Friday we had a wedding!  A member got married with a nonmember girl, who has expressed interest in getting baptized, and have come to church before.  They did not come on Sunday, but she has already had all the lessons from the missionaries and knows the doctrine, just needs to apply it to her life (just like the members here).  It was neat to be there at the ceremony, although all it consists of is signing a piece of paper. No exchanging of rings or anything.  

The Wedding

Sunday was really good.  We had 18 people show up, once again a very high number for this branch here.  2 nonmembers who are investigating, so we should have baptisms at the end of the month if they keep coming to church.  I gave a talk on the Plan of Salvation, with an emphasis on how death is not the end, and in reality it is a very small but necessary step in the journey.  It was a good meeting, and hopefully we can maintain attendance around 20 and not drop back down.  We visit all the members here multiple times a week, it is hard for me to understand why they do not make the decision to come.

Glad to hear that everybody is doing well!  That is great that Hayley had the opportunity to give a talk on Temples, they really are a very special place.  They do celebrate Valentines here in Argentina, however as missionaries I do not believe we will be big participants in the celebrations.  Church was all Plan ofSalvation.  Nothing too crazy this week, we do have a conference coming up with the missionaries in Catamarca and La Rioja (2 whole provinces) with WalterF. Gonzalez of the 70, on the 20th of February.  Everything I ate was normal, and all the people do here is sleep. Very rare to see kids playing out in the street (it does not help with the heat we have here).  School is nothing like ours, they go for 4 or 5 hours and that is it.  They can choose whether to go in the morning, the afternoon, or at night.  Very different.  Best part of the week..today!  Writing the family and friends, hearing how everybody is doing!

Love you all!

Elder Mangum

Sacrifice bring blessings!

Hey Fam, 

Happy Groundhog Day! Life in Aimogasta is going well, my companion and I get along really well, we are having a blast. The week was great, we visited all the members that I knew where they lived, and found a couple more members that I had never met. A week of working hard, ended with a record 23 people in Sacrament Meeting. Hard work and sacrifices pay off! We had 3 investigators come, which was awesome. Everybody seemed to bring a less active friend or a nonmember, and the "chapel" was literally full! 

Unlike the last fast and testimony meeting, we actually lasted the full hour! 4 or 5 members got up to share their testimony, as well as us 2 missionaries. I testified with a focus on the plan of salvation and the Atonement. We covered doctrine from all 5 of the missionary lessons, and afterwards multiple members came up saying this was the most powerful church meeting that they had been a part of. They said they very literally felt the presence of the Spirit there with us. Definitely a good week! I listened to a talk this week that Elder Holland gave in the MTC about a decade ago, talking about Missionary Work and the Atonement. Not sure if you all will be able to find it, it’s about 45 minutes long, but extremely powerful. Talked about the importance of focusing on the Atonement in every lesson that we teach, and how when we testify about Christ and his role as the Savior and Redeemer of the world, we invoke the powers of Heaven in a very literal way. It was an awesome talk.

We sang O, God the Eternal Father as our sacrament hymn. The funniest thing was playing games in an FHE with a less active family and a bunch of little kids from their neighborhood. It is as dry as Death Valley here, very little rain. No, I did not eat anything sweet this week. My comp is cool, he is a convert, got baptized when he was 15 and his family kicked him out of the house. After a little while they accepted him back, but then he gave up a position in the government in Peru to come on the mission, and they disowned him. But about halfway through the mission they sent an email saying they want to be baptized, so it’s all good. Another testimony that sacrifices brings blessings! 

Love you guys, hope that everybody is doing well! 
Elder Mangum

Missionary Work and the Atonement

Henry B. Eyring and Jeffrey R Holland

Text taken from Elder Holland's original talk to Missionaries at the MTC in 2000
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/03/missionary-work-and-the-atonement?lang=eng

Transfers & a New Companion

Hey fam,

I’m still here in Aimogasta.  Elder Muñoz got transferred, and my new companion is Elder Salvatierra from Peru.  His name literally means "earth saver."  He has 21 months in the mission, and I will probably be his last companion.  Which also means I will probably be here in Aimogasta until June!  The week was good, we found some new people to teach that have potential to progress, but none of them showed up to church.  Familia Venites did show up, which is always a good thing.  We had 10 people come to sacrament meeting, including the 2 of us.  It doesn’t sound like much, but if everybody who came would have brought their families, we would have had a solid 30 or 35 there.  That is something we will stress this week.

Nobody recognized me on the radio unfortunately, but Hermano Chumbita does have a few references that we are going to contact during this week with him that have expressed interest in the church.  I gave my talk on Sunday on the principle of obedience, and tied it in with the talk from Elder Holland back in the April conference.  It went fairly well, I had a few comments about it afterwards (and when only 10 people show up, a few comments means the majority of the people there!)  

This transfer will last from today until the 8th of March, which sounds far away seeing as we are still in January, but time will fly by.  It blows my mind at how fast this last transfer went with Elder Muñoz.  Other than the week of Christmas, which was a bit of a drag, it seems to have passed in the blink of an eye.  I’m excited to work with my new comp and "salvar la tierra" of Aimogasta.  

Answers to your ?'s - We do have AC in the room where we do sacrament meeting, so we put our mattresses in there and sleep in the chapel.  We do have ice cream here, there is a chain called Grido, and sells a cone with 2 scoops for 13 pesos, or about a $1.50.  It’s nothing like Blue Bell or even Marble Slab back home, but it something to help us cool off here in the heat of La Rioja!  Popsicles I have not seen yet though.  My favorite part of the week, that is always a hard one.  I would have to say church this week, it was pretty spiritual.  The funnest thing I did this week was try out a new fruit here, I have no idea what it is called, but it’s quite...interesting.  Not quite to the point to where I can say that I like it, but it was interesting.  The grapes here all have big seeds in the middle, that was a surprise when I popped one in my mouth the other week and heard a big "CRUNCH" in between my teeth.  Luckily, nothing broke except the seed.  I have started with greetings so far in the English class.  I teach the basics that people would need if they had to go the US tomorrow.  We have a chalkboard that I use and write all the words on, so they can see and hear them.  

Glad to hear that everyone is doing well. Hope everybody has a fantastic week!

Love you all!

Elder Mangum

Teaching English Classes and Talking on the Radio

Hey Fam!

This week went well.  Familia Venites came to the English class I teach on Thursdays, as well as on Sunday, so they are doing well.  We started teaching the husband and the sister of the husband this week as well, Ramon and Patricia. They didn’t make it to church on Sunday, but they have shown considerable interest and have potential to progress.  We teach English classes every Thursday.  So far only members have been coming, but they’ve invited their friends and we hope that it will be a fountain of new investigators in the new future.  It is a cool experience, but I don’t think I will be an English teacher when I get back.  I prefer making snocones!

On Wednesday we had intercambios (exchanges) again, I was with Elder Diaz in his area.  He is a mini-missionary, so it was a different experience being the "senior companion" for a day.  Not a ton of success numbers-wise this week, but this week was more about quality than quantity.  I gave a talk on Sunday about prayer, and used a small portion of Elder Richard G. Scott’s talk from this past General Conference.  Also, it is interesting to see how the Lord answers prayers in different ways, the first 3 chapters of Ether in the Book of Mormon show 3 different ways that the Lord works to answer our prayers.  Also, I talked about the importance of family prayer, and how it has blessed my life, and I learned at a young age the importance of prayer because of it.

We also had the chance to go visit the radio station this past week here in Aimogasta and talk for a few minutes.  The man who does the afternoon "show" on Saturday’s and Sunday’s is Hermano Chumbita, and he invited us to come yesterday and see how everything works.  He had me talk a little bit in English, apparently the people here love that.  We also talked a little bit about the gospel, which is always a good thing, kind of the point that I’m here.  It was a really neat experience.

Live with Elder Mangum from Texas!

Answers to your questions - There is a plaza here in town, but it’s always completely empty.  There aren’t very many opportunities here to do community service.  My favorite grass pokemon would have to be Scyther, he’s a beast.  The best thing I ate this week was milanesas.  A scripture I shared this week, 3 Nephi 18, talking about prayer and in particular family prayer, among other things.  My comp is 22, from the capital of Nicaragua, and is the 6th of 8 children.  He’s my companion for another week, this time next Monday I could very well have a different companion.  Elder Muñoz has already been in this area for 6 months, he’s pretty convinced he is getting transferred, although he would like to stay here.  Something I am looking forward to this month...to get an email saying that the Pats won the Superbowl would be nice.  Also I look forward to studying every day.  I started this past week (yesterday) reading the Book of Mormon again and highlighting a couple of different topics as I read, with them as my main focus.  Faith, the Atonement, Plan of Salvation, Revelation, and the testimonies of the Prophets.  It’s really given me a new perspective on just how packed the Book of Mormon is of nuggets of spiritual goodness. 

Sounds like a fun weekend!  Oh the things I would do to have a Chick Fil A milkshake...y’all are lucky!  Glad that Jake played well, he may end up being better than me when I get back!  Temple trips are always a good experience, I am definitely looking forward to the Córdoba Temple opening up and being able to do trips there.  Glad to hear that everybody is doing well!  Hope y’all have a great day off from school, and a great week!

Love,

Elder Mangum

More Pictures from the Radio Station!

Baptisms!

Baptism of Hermana Venites

This week was a fantastic week.  It flew by, and ended yesterday with the birthday of my companion and 2 baptisms!  I finally got to break out my white pants and go for a swim, it was awesome.  We had a zone meeting on Wednesday with all of the missionaries in this province of Argentina, with a focus on finding new investigators and improving our teaching.  It was a lot of fun, there was one practice that we did where me and another missionary had to contact as many people as possible in a plaza in 3 minutes to find the "chosen/most prepared" potential investigator.  All the roles were played by other missionaries, but that was a lot of fun, it made me realize, or re-recognize (if that is a word) that with the spirit, it isn't difficult to see who is and isn't interested.  Although at the same time, everybody has potential, some just more than others.  

Elder Mangum and Elder Munoz

Baptisms this week, I know I haven't really been saying much about who we've been teaching, but it was a mother and her 15 year old daughter, the Familia Venites.  I baptized and confirmed the mother, my comp did the same for the daughter. We started teaching them the first day I got here in this area, and the progress has been slow and steady, but they arrived!  It was really a neat experience, I baptized from my knees and she was sitting down in the little mini pool we have.  It was really a special experience to help somebody make this covenant, this promise by our Heavenly Father.

Ready ready for his talk   ;0

This week I spoke in church on the sacrament, basing my talk off of the 2 given in this past general conference.  Once again I directed and presided over everything, and we had 15 people show up!  Nearly double the highest we have had since I have been here.  Didn't eat anything too strange this week, just a lot of milanesas.    We dry our clothes on a stick of wood that we put on top of 2 chairs, so I guess you could call it a clothesline of sorts. The most interesting person I have met in Aimogasta would have to be the Hermano Chumbita, the family we reactivated on Christmas day.  He sells hot dogs and chori pans for a living, as well as does a radio show and sings on the weekends.  He used to be a taxi driver, as well as many other things.  He was baptized about a year ago.  My favorite primary song would have to be either I'm trying to be like Jesus, or I Hope They Call Me on a Mission.  This week, it would be good to pray for us to be able to find new investigators with the potential to progress.

Laundry Day
Washing clothes in a bucket

It is great to hear that everybody is doing well, and that Jake has a good basketball team with a solid coach.  The coach makes a ton of difference.  I am glad that Hayley and Trev are sticking with piano, it is something that I wish I had done more of.  

Love you all!

Elder Mangum

I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus

Bienvenido 2015‏

Argentina Cordoba Mission, Dec 2014 
(M is in middle, behind seated older couples)

Hey fam,

This week flew by.  I didn't get back into my area until late on Wednesday.  I was on an intercambio (exchange) in a trio on Monday, and we did another intercambio with different missionaries on Tuesday and Wednesday.  It was awesome to not have to bathe with a bucket, but with an actual functioning shower!  Wednesday was New Years Eve, which we celebrated with the family we reactivated on Christmas.  Definitely not the same as back home, but it was a good time.

Thursday through Sunday flew by again, only half the week in our actual area but we were still able to get quite a bit of work done.  We met quite a few new people who are interested in learning more about the gospel, so this next week should be one of a lot of success.  It will also help being in the area for an entire week too.  It’s getting really hot here, but that's all the more reason to work harder.  More sacrifices and afflictions, more blessings to come down the road!  Sunday was interesting, we only had 7 people in total at church.  It ended up being just a really short testimony meeting, only my companion and I got up.  I directed the meeting, and got the sacrament first as the presiding "authority," it’s been that way every week since I got here.  The meeting lasted about 25 minutes.  Really not sure what the best thing to do to get more people to church, all we can really do as missionaries is teach and invite, the people have to make their own decisions.  

One experience that was really sweet this week happened during the exchanges on Tuesday in La Rioja Capital.  I was with an Elder Southwick, from Utah, and we went to go visit a member who hadn't been to church in a month to find out why he hadn't been showing up.  Turns out he got offended by a comment by the Stake President, nothing actually serious.  The less active told us "I'm not going to let them see the worst of me, so I am not going to go to church so that way I don't blow up in their faces and yell at them. I am done going to church, never going back there."  He's an interesting fellow, slightly dramatic.  But then I said "Well for me I would think, to let somebody get in the way of my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, that would be the worst thing somebody could do.  To have somebody who really doesn't even know me, impede me from renewing my baptismal covenants and participating in the sacrament.  I would think that would be worse than anything."  After that he said "Well...you're right.  But still...I have to buy a bus card.  I won't make any promises for this Sunday, but the next one I will be there."  Talk about a 360 degree turnaround!  

The songs we sang on Sunday were The Lord is my Light, I Stand All Amazed, and I Know That My Redeemer Lives. Nothing too fun in the Capital, I had to ride a bike during the intercambio, I definitely prefer walking to riding a bike. Today is my first normal P-day in nearly a month, so that is definitely something to be grateful for!  I’m not really in the soccer loop here, can't say its something that interests me a whole lot, so no, I have not picked a team.  Glad to hear of the little miracles that occurred throughout the week, including finding the dog.  Guess we’re meant to keep him after all.  Letters here cost me a fortune to send, each one is 50 pesos, its better just to give me email addresses.  I love receiving letters, but I don't have the money to send very many. Glad to hear everybody enjoys the ties, it is something really special that really does tie us all together, as Luke said. ** 

Love you all!

Elder Mangum

Tied together - June 30, 2014

**Before Michael left, we got matching ties for the guys in the family that everyone would wear together on Fast Sunday (Hayley is still working on a way to make a hair bow out of some of the tie material so she will match as well!).  Each month we fast together on the 1st Sunday of the month for important things to us.  The tie is just a physical reminder that we are all "tied together" both as a family and in our fast for missionary work and Michael, no matter where we are in the world. The idea came from reading about the Sons of Mosiah in the  Book of Mormon, as they prepared to go their separate ways on their missions to the Lamanite people - "they fasted much and prayed much that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go with them, and abide with them". We know that great strength, blessings and miracles happen when we unite our faith together in Jesus Christ through prayer and fasting.