April 25, 2016 "What a Week!"

So this week was pretty crazy!

Tuesday was really nice out so we did a lot of finding! It was kinda
nice cause we were walking around the elementary school and we had
different members say hi to us while they were driving by, then we
also had some of the young woman who were at track stop and say hi and
talked to us for a little! I really love this ward and how much they
love the missionaries and take care of us! We went to contact one of
our investigators who is 11, she lives in a potential drug house. So
we went to see if her mom signed the permission slip to let her be
taught by missionaries, turns out her mom wouldn't sign it and it was
really sad cause you could tell on the little girls face how sad and
upset she was that her mom wouldn't let us meet with her anymore. Then
we went to contact a former investigator named Brenda! We have tried
multiple times but she has a weird work schedule. This time she was
actually home! And it turns out that she is a less active member,
don't know how the previous missionaries missed that one! But yeah she
was a member that we were trying to meet with on Monday night but
couldn't find her address! But now we know where she lives! She is
super awesome! We talked about genealogy for almost an hour! Her
family was part of the original congregation with Joseph Smith! Well
yeah she was great and told us we could come back anytime!

Wednesday had an interesting start. So we had a lesson with one of our
newish investigators who is probably in his late 60s early 70s. So
yeah we get there with one of members (who is just awesome!) and knock
on the door and the guy opens it wearing just a diaper!! Nothing else.
So our awesome member is like oh well we can give you some time to get
dressed. And he consistently just saying no it's alright come it. So
yeah we went in and sat down and he just like got dressed in front of
us. It was so awkward!! I was trying to look at his wall decorations
the whole time. Then once he was dressed we all read 3 Nephi 11
together stopping every so often to talk about the verses. The spirit
was so strong and you could tell that he felt it, he started tearing
up multiple times while reading! It was a great end to a really
awkward start of the lesson! Then later that night we were supposed to
have a lesson with Adam but he wasn't feeling like it but we all (the
Teuschers, us and Adam) sat down just to talk and had such a great
spiritual conversation! It was an informal lesson but it was what he
needed that night. He asked questions, told us his concerns, and told
us different parts of his testimony. We talked about the bible and the
Book of Mormon and how to understand them better while reading. We had
a good discussion about the things going on in his life and he told us
about a dream he had. Now Adam has never had a dream before that he
can remember. Ever. But he had a dream since our last lesson and in
this dream he was driving a van and there were more people than seats
in the car and this guy in the back corner was having an argument with
him about how it's fine just let it be and Adam was saying no this
isn't right. This is wrong. But then he had a still small voice speak
to him saying "No Adam, this is everything right." He woke up and knew
that the church was true. That this was his own personal revelation
from the spirit, that it was an answer to many many prayers that he
had. IT WAS AWESOME! You could just tell on his face how happy he was.
He is really a completely different man now then the one I met at
church my first Sunday here. It is such a blessing to see how the
gospel changes people's lives for the better. It makes me want to work
harder and to bring more people to this gospel, to see that light
brighten in their eyes as they understand and develop a greater
relationship with Christ. To see the light of Christ in their
countenance. This is why I am on a mission. To bring others to Christ,
to share his gospel with the people Heavenly Father has sent me
personally here to teach.

So every Thursday we have service at the Creswell food pantry. Which
is super awesome. First we get to wear normal clothes which is a nice
change from the regular skirts 24/7! We also work with some incredible
people! They all love to serve the people of Creswell in any way that
they can. And we have had some great conversations with them about
life and religious views. They keep us updated on the weather for the
upcoming week and on the different events going on around the world.
It's always great when they hear something good about Mormons and then
come let us know. I think that some of them think that all Mormons
everywhere know each other hahaha we had a lady come and ask us how
the missionaries in Brussels were doing because she thought that we
would know way more about what's going on then the news does. Which is
probably very wrong cause we don't watch the news.. But we just told
her all that we knew from like members and LDS.org and she was
thankful for us keeping her updated on what was happening with them!
They always find us interesting and ask us questions about what all we
do and if we ever take breaks or get a vacation. And we explain how
our p-day is kinda like our "break" and that that's when we get to
email our family and friends. They also like to tease us. We have to
be careful not to yawn or well not to let them catch us yawning! Which
is really hard to do when all you are thinking about is not yawning.
Also there is a rule where if we are using reverse in the car the
other companion has to stand behind the car to make sure you don't hit
anything.. So of course they love to tease us and jump in the way of
the car when I'm backing Sister Figueroa. But it always make you feel
better when you are serving other people. You can feel the savior so
love for you so strongly as you show his love for others. So it is a
great way to love and meet the people of Creswell.

Friday was a long day. We went finding a lot and it was really rainy
and cloudy and not a ton of fun.. But then we had dinner with this
really old couple that we were actually pretty worried about because
the first time I met him, he introduced himself as being crazy. And we
had never ate with them before so yeah we were nervous. But they are
the cutest couple! Not crazy at all! They are so sweet and just
awesome! They served a mission about 12 years ago and just loved it
and they love the missionaries. And they have the cutest rebellious
love story. So he was in the Air Force and got transferred to where
she lived and she saw him at church a couple times then one day saw
him when she was with her friend and she told her friend that she was
going to marry him. Then they actually met a couple weeks after. Then
they dated for a year then got married when she was 15 and he was 20!
Crazy right!? And they just went and eloped. Which first was illegal
cause she was under age and she wasn't even supposed to be dating
until she was 16! So yeah they technically never "lied" but they
didn't tell the full truth!! So yeah totally got married behind her
parents back! Mom and dad would have KILLED me!! But so they told her
parents 5 days later and the dad said well you weren't supposed to do
that but since you did you better do it (marriage) the right way then
went and got them cake and ice cream. And her mom was just crying the
whole time in the next room over and then the mom went into labor. But
yeah so I'm not doing it very good justice cause there is a lot more
detail about how they did it but yeah so they have been married for 64
years!! And they are just so cute!!😍 then when we left we went and
did more contacting and tracking! We were so tired by the end of the
night we slept so well!

So not much happened on Saturday.. We went finding for 5 hours and 15
mins and we got nothin. So that sucked! We had dinner at the Schuetz
house which is always interesting! But this time there were not
breaking of chairs or bathroom talk at the dinner table😂😂 we did
though talk about marijuana though for a good portion of it! And how
Colorado legalized it and how it's illegal to drive under the
influence, and when their daughter learned this I guess new
information she goes "oh well that's good to know!"  😂😂 and then
just kept digging herself farther in that whole and then finally just
stopped talking, then her brother says "smooth" 😂😂😂😂

And yesterday was really good we extended a challenge to the ward to
get more involved with missionary work and if they accomplish it then
they get to throw pies in our faces and dump water all over us! So
hopefully it will get everyone involved! But yeah there is my week!
Hope everyone's was good! Love and miss you all!

Love,
Sister Morgan 😊

Week # 13, 66 more to go!

Okay so my week.. Let's see here it was busy and not busy at the same time. So sister Figueroa has never swallowed a pill before.. So I helped her figure out how to do it! And she swallowed her first pill ever! It was pretty exciting. So we had like 6 lessons with investigators that all cancelled on us so that sucked. On Thursday we had service and it was raining so hard that the rain was like completely sideways! Oh so our main investigator Adam went to the doctor and found out his toe has been broken for like over a month and he was really really angry about it and texting us and we were trying to help but we don't really understand all of his adult problems so it was like the middle of lunch so we took our Mac and cheese over to the Teuschers so that they could help us to know what to say. They helped a lot! Then on Saturday morning we went to go help this lady move and her house was interesting.. So our members, the Bradts, take such good care of us. They told us not to go into the garage and we asked if there was bugs and brother Bradt said that would have been the least of our problems. It was nasty! But then it was funny cause yeah he told us not to go in there, then 5 mins later he told his son to get in there and help. But then after that we had a lesson with Adam at the Jacksons who is the former bishops family. It was such a good lesson! It was 2 1/2 hours.. And we answered his questions for the first hour then talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ! It was really cool cause it was the first lesson we had with his girlfriend there. And we talked a lot about repentance and you could tell how the spirit was talking to both of them. He wants to be baptized but they are both talking this very seriously. Which is a good thing! So our next lesson will be about the law of chastity and the word of wisdom so that will be great then the Bradts fed us waffles with blueberries and it was delicious So we had ward council yesterday and had to be there at 7:15 am and we live 30 mins away from church. So we were really tired. But then church was good! Adam and his girlfriend camewe made a challenge for the ward to do missionary work! It's really cool we have different things for each age group and if they do it they can shove pie in our faces or dump cold water on us and all this fun stuff! So that's fun  then we had dinner at the Teuschers and they always feed us so well! We had lasagna and it was delicious!! so over all my week was pretty good! We talked to a lot of people and studied A LOT! I've been reading the Book of Mormon and every time I just get the most amazing feelings! I know without a doubt that this church is the true church. It's Jesus Christ church here on the earth today! I love my savior so much and I know that no matter what you have done in your life he will forgive you. That he loves me so much that he died for me. I love this church so much and I am so happy in my life right now. I know this is where I am supposed to be! Hope you all had a great week! 

Love,

Sister Morgan 

I Survived My 1st Transfer!

So transfers were today but I get to stay with Sister Figueroa (: 1 down 12 more to go! and we are staying in Creswell for the next 6 weeks! I am really excited to stay with her and continue to be with the people of Creswell! So this week had some ups and downs and craziness! We put Adam on date which is super exciting! We taught about the plan of salvation and he just got so excited that he chose to come here to Earth and that he chose Jesus Christ's plan. He was so amazed by this! We got a new investigator Becky! She's pretty cool(: Kinda interesting actually, so we were planning on walking over there cause it's more active right? So then my trainer is like okay well do you have your pepper spray and I said yes and she went and got hers then she just had this feeling that we should take the car instead which is really weird cause she ALWAYS wants to walk. Like all the time. But yeah so we drove and we were safe(: and we met Becky so yeah it was good! then yesterday was crazy cause Adam was supposed to come to church and no one could contact him and it was crazy and everyone was looking for him but he was sleeping cause he almost broke his nose and got pain killers then today he found out that his foot has been broken for the past month. Church was good yesterday, we taught young woman's and taught the restoration which went really well! I've been a little homesick lately but I just take it one day at a time and turn to the Lord because I know he will always be there for me! And yeah that was my week(: 

Love, 

Sister Morgan 

Conference is the most wonderful time of the year

So this email won't be to long! But hello!😊 

This week has been really good! We found a new investigator and that was awesome! Not much else happened this week besides conference, which was AMAZING!! So we watched Saturday session with the Bradt family which was so fun, they are great! Then we went to the Teuschers house for priesthood, which was probably like the best session! Then on Sunday was just great! We ate like 6 meals! So we went over to the Andersons house for the morning session and we had waffles then after we had crapes at our ward mission leaders house! Then we ate again at the Teuschers, we ate soup and salad and rolls. It was so good! We had our investigator Adam come and watch it with us and he really enjoyed it so that was exciting! We have another lesson with him on Tuesday! Then we ate ice cream Sunday's with brownies after the afternoon session! Because Elder Holland told us to!😍 then we went to dinner with the Jacksons and played with their cows and set off fireworks! It was a really great weekend! Elder Hollands talk at the end was so incredible! If you haven't watched it yet, well you should! This past weekend has really helped my testimony grow really strong! I just love listening to the prophet and apostles! I am so thankful for our living apostles and prophet! I know they are true seers and revelators for today's world. I know this church is true and I am so thankful for Joseph Smith and all that he went through for this church! I love you guys and hope your week is great!



Love,
Sister Morgan 😍

Easter Time is Amazing

Sorry everyone the past two weeks have been crazy! So busy and hard so I haven't actually written all that much! But I have time this week so my past two weeks let's see here. 

So since Saint Patrick's day a lot has happened! We had interesting food that night lol like cabbage and corn beef it was interesting.. Then I had my first actual lesson with one of our investigators Adam! We have gone to see a lot of the less active families in our ward. Then we got another investigator Evelyn who is awesome, she's a teacher and has a cute little girl and was really excited about the Book of Mormon, it was awesome! Then we met another guy who became a new investigator named mark and we showed him the new Easter video and he cried and talked about his relationship with Christ. We actually have seen him 2 times now!

So for the less actives we visit we have started going to one of the EQ meetings and that has helped so much with getting to know the ward and all the members. So we go see some less active members pretty often and then we will track around their houses. Then not this previous Sunday, but the one before that, we substituted for the primary chorister so that was really fun and interesting.. Sister Figueroa was like making movements that went along with the songs and she looked so funny it was hilarious and all the kids were looking at her weird.. 😂😂 then for dinner that night we went over to a family that has us over quite a bit, the Zittings, they have 6 kids and they are all crazy but it is always fun to go over there! Anyways, it was one of the boys 10th birthday so they had a whole thanksgiving meal for his birthday so I got thanksgiving in March 😊 It was really good! 

So it was spring break this past week so no one was here. Our ward is already small and because of spring break it was REALLY small that Sunday. Then we had another lesson with Adam which went super well! He is just absorbing everything! And then going and talking to his girlfriend who is a less active, about all of it and he is really enjoying it! We got another investigator named Jose who is super nice! We met with our new bishop for the first time this past week and he is really nice and I think he will be a good bishop. But I do miss the old one he was awesome! On Monday we had the Bradt family feeding us and they told us that they were gonna make chicken crack, and we thought they meant like chickens butt crack.. So then they told us they wouldn't judge how much we ate of it cause it was so good and me and my companion just kept laughing so hard. So then when we got there and it was chicken enchiladas so the reason they call it crack is cause it's so good and you just want to keep eating them.. Which is true I ate 3.. And out ate the sons which are teenagers.. It was really funny! But they were so good... 

Then on Wednesday we went to the temple and it was so gorgeous. 😍 everything was marble and pretty and it was just so great! We did an endowment session with our zone and the Springfield zone and our mission president and his wife which was awesome! Then on the way home from Portland we got Wendy's because there is like no Wendy's in my mission, and none in my zone. Then Saturday was really fun! Our ward had this big Easter egg hunt thing and invited a bunch of nonmembers so we went and it was so fun! So they had a egg hunt for each age group that was all blocked off. So like 7 and under were just on the flat ground kinda in trees, then 8-12 were on this big hill you can barely stand on, which was funny to watch cause they all looked like vultures trying to get a piece of meat. It was crazy. Then 13-17 had to go in the blackberry bushes for there's which just sucked for them cause it's pokie. Then 18+ had to go in this one area that people were shooting them with paint ball guns!! It was crazy! I wanted to do it really bad but I was wearing a skirt and we could have gotten hurt or something so we didn't. But we watched and it was funny to hear all the little screams and then the RS president like yelled "MOTHER.." She stopped herself but yeah it was funny! Then we ate a ton of food😬

So then we had the woman's general conference that night which was also really good. It talked a lot about serving others who were less fortunate then you. Especially refugees. Then yesterday was just a really good day! We had good speakers on the atonement the RS president was one of them and she talked about how her mother In law was like a Shepard, she had a sheep farm and she was saying how stupid sheep actually are, like they are funny to watch. But how it makes no sense that a Shepard would die for there sheep like human life is worth so much more then just one sheep. And then that went to like us being the sheep and Jesus dieing for us and how great and important it was. And how much he loved us. It was really good 😊 so we had 2 investigators at church which was awesome! Then after church we watched bible videos and ate Easter candy. Which those videos are just amazing. Then we went over to the Teuchers house for dinner, they are like the grandma and grandpa for all the missionaries here! It was so good! And we ate with them and our investigator Adam and his girlfriend so that was fun! Then we had a lesson with him and we watched the restoration video and talked about it and it was really good and he saw the parallel of Joseph Smith and how much he went through for this church and Jesus Christ.It was so great! It's all starting to click for him and it's amazing! 

But yeah that's my 2 weeks! I hope everyone has had a great past two weeks! And that this week is also great! The book is blue and the church is true!! 😊 Miss and love you guys so much!!


Love,
Sister Morgan😊

The Mission is a lot like the Hunger Games

Think about it, it's like the District 1 kids, they grow up training to volunteer. 

So this week has been really good yet really hard! I love you all so much. I truly can feel the influence of your prayers. I want you to know that God hears your prayers because there are miracles happening everyday down here. Its incredible because in just a week I already love it here. I love the people, I love my companion, I love the work and I love all of you. I am getting used to the cold and it rains every time we go tracting so I am not too bothered by it now. Which is good news and a blessing from the Lord. So this week one of our investigators, Caitlin, had her baptismal interview with President Russell which went really well! She isn't on date yet, she needs a few more weeks, but it's big she had a good interview! We also found a new investigator who is really awesome, he's a chef. We had a REALLY interesting dinner the other night. A family had us over at 4:30 for dinner but then dinner wasn't even ready till 6:00. Then when we sat down, the mom broke the back of her wood chair. Then while we were eating dinner the daughter left and we were waiting for her and then the dad was like "Oh, she's on the crapper". Then the son was like "We should really talk about what's appropriate to talk about at the dinner table..." And the food was interesting. It was all just interesting. Then on Sunday my wards Bishop got released which was really sad. But when he bore his testimony you could truly feel the spirit and that he was a man called of God. So yeah that was my week! This week should be good! I miss you all so much and hope your week is great!



Love,
Sister Morgan 😀

I'M IN OREGON!!!!

So this past week has been crazy! Its weird to think that I was in the MTC for half of it.. But now I am in Oregon!(:

On Tuesday (at the MTC) we had a devotional and the General Primary President spoke. It was really good! She quoted a lot of scriptures but one really stood out to me, 2 Nephi 22:2. I don't have my scriptures with me at the moment... but go look it up! its incredible (: The whole devotional we sang primary songs, and the ones about going on missions well the words were changed so it was talking about us now how we are on missions and it was such a spiritual thing to sing those songs growing up and now I'm actually doing it! We also sang If The Savior Stood Beside Me which is one of my all time favorites by Sally! That song just follows me wherever I go and it is wonderful. I love it so much!

On Wednesday we had to get up at 5:00 to go to the airport. It was nice to just sit and relax and be way early for my flight.. I don't get that luxury too much (; I got to call my family and that was so great! I really miss them! The flight was like an hour and a half. Not to bad! I just slept most of the time! When we got there our President and his wife picked us up and took us to the mission home! We slept there that night and they gave us delicious food!(:

Then on Thursday we went to the stake center in Eugene to meet our new companions and get our areas!! But of course our President made us sit through 2 hours worth of information and stuff before he would tell any of us... BUT I am now serving in a small little town called Creswell! (: and my companion is sister Figueroa ( figure- oh -ah) is how you say it! She is this cute adorable red head! I love her so much! We get along so well and we crack each other up! She showed me popcorn bopping.. it's missionary dub step/ modern music. Just look it up! It's is great, I'll send you guys a video of my first time listening to it! Now I jam out with her, so you can just picture two sister missionaries JAMMING out in the car driving around town! (: Its like kids bop on Mormon steroids. I also met one of our new investigators and she is just adorable! She is 11 and super sweet!

Well Friday and Saturday and Sunday have all kinda ran together! My apartment is super adorable! On Friday we had to bug raid it... I killed so many spiders you guys should be proud of me. But now we don't have any ants or spiders or weird bugs that we don't know what they are. Then I unpacked all my stuff so it looks nice and pretty! We went contacting a lot and met some really cool people! On Sunday we went to church and well I already LOVE my ward! They are so awesome! The bishop had me get up and introduce myself and bear my testimony! Then instead of Relief Society we went to Young Women's which was a nice change! (: After church we ate a lot of girl scout cookies (Thanks mom and dad! My birthday money is being spent in a very great way!) and we set up our beds and a table with the IPad to watch some bible videos (one of our goals this transfer is to watch all of them!) So it was really nice to just relax during our dinner time and to eat yummy food!(: OOH I also made my companion homemade mac and cheese the other night... she loved it of course!(:

So today is Monday (My new P-day!) and we had the coolest experience happen to us. So we went grocery shopping before we came to email and we met this old grandpa guy when we like first got there and we kept running into him throughout the store and we were there for like an hour and a half.. and when we went to the car his truck was right next to us!! He invited us to pet his dogs and we just got the strongest feeling to give him our card and talk to him more about Christ and we offered to give service and stuff.. and a little while after we got to the church he called us and was like, "Well I don't really feel comfortable with most people but on my way home I was praying about you girls and I just felt Christ so much telling me that I need to call you and see if you could come over and help me out." It was just really incredible and it makes me really happy. He told us a lot more about his life and he reminds me of my grandpa and he is just this sweet old guy who I know is ready to hear the gospel and its just great!(:

Well I love you all and I hope you are doing great! I love this gospel and being a missionary. Yeah its hard sometimes but little things like today are what it is all about!(: I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and that he died for me. I LOVE the Book of Mormon. It is the greatest book of all time and I truly know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet called by God. I miss you all so much and hope your week is going great! Miss you!

Love,

Sister Morgan! (: