12/25/17...Merry Christmas playas!

Yoooooo    Merry Christmas playas!

Got the package....wow you hooked me up to say the least! 

See you in a bit, I'm going to try and get on a computer or else I'll have to use my tablet. 

Ok so .... Let's Skype around 3:30 my time, we have a lunch with a family at 2 so I think we'll be done and back around 3:30! 

12/18/17... Hey y'all! Life is crazy in Shelby!

Another week flew by, life is crazy.  

We had a lot of miracles this week and I'll try and remember everything that happened. 

We have been trying to find more people to teach, and we have been doing a few main things differently.   We'll plan with members for someone they know that could really be blessed by the gospel and how they can share the gospel with them. It's been going pretty good so far. We have a lot of members that are really trying to share the gospel right  now. 

We've been trying to get to know the ward as  quick as we can.  We were full for dinners this week, so it was good to get to know a lot of knew faces. It's really hard to put all the names that you learn to the faces, I forget them so quickly a lot of the time... haha. 

Friday we had some interesting lessons. This guy thought we were Jehovah Witnesses which happens a lot actually. His wife said we could come back and the guy was like, Wait I though y'all were the Jehovah Witnesses. And he started to argue with us a little bit.  We tried not to bash at all so we left pretty quickly.  I just think that it's still ok for us to stick up for our beliefs and be firm in them but not try and argue with others--obviously that drives away the Spirit. So we had a good lesson over there then went and got in contact with a lady who wants to investigate the church that the previous missionaries taught.  It was hectic, the little girl was going crazy and it was so hard to focus on anything spiritual in there. 

Saturday was a ton of fun! Brother Hickman came out with us all day. His wife is a recent convert and they are just so solid. They take really good care of the missionaries.  They brought us over a Christmas tree so that we could have one in our apartment haha. We had a couple really good lessons that day. We went and had a lesson with a recent convert, and a couple had moved in with them earlier that week. They were really interested in the gospel. It was so great being able to teach the restoration with Elder Luna. It's always really nerve wracking teaching when you first get out. It's a lot of fun when we contact people on the streets to get him out of his comfort zone. It's never easy but it can be a lot of fun if we make it and follow the Spirit the best we can. Then Brother Hickman was like let's go try one of our friends, and he said he didn't think he was ready for the gospel but let's go ahead and try it. Well he was wanting to meet with us actually, and he totally wanted to come to church he just needed a ride. We got him a ride and his ride didn't even show up to church either! It was a bummer but we got next week. 

That night we had to drive to York after our ward Christmas party and pick up Elder Christiansen because he is a traveling assistant right now. It was about an hour drive and we left at 9:30....it was such a tiring night....actually morning because we got like 0 sleep. So it was a struggle staying awake at church lol. But it was so fun having Elder Christiansen with us. He is such a good missionary and really fun to be around. He stayed the night Sunday night and went to zone activity with us. We did an ugly sweater contest and also did a white elephant exchange it was super fun, I got a dinosaur egg that turns into a dinosaur when you put it in water haha. Then played some volleyball which is always fun! 

When do we get to Skype with you??!!   

Let's do 12 our time which would be like 9 your time I think right? Will that work with your church schedule?

Any Christmas needs? 

Don't think so right now. 

for you or for anyone else...

What are your favorite eating places in your new town???

Ohhhhh I love this place called the Shelby Cafe! You can get something called the garbage platter and it's biscuits--2 of them, with hash browns, cheese, liver mush (it's famous in this town--tastes like sausage honestly) cheese, and gravy on that plus 2 eggs. Soooo good very unhealthy but so good lol. Haven't gone to a whole lot of other great ones, just some regular fast foods and we want to try this good barbecue place here. 

Love y'all! Love you mom! 

This dog looked just like Chloe!

Exchanges with Elder Zesiger... it was nice to see him.  It's been since the MTC.  

12/11/17... I'm in Shelby!

This last week was crazy! Fun, stressful and crazy.  

We had Mission Leadership Conference last Tuesday and we thought transfer calls were going to come later that night. But before the meeting President pulls me and another elder in and tells us we were getting transferred. I'm going to Shelby, North Carolina! 

Well I'm here now... but yeah-- Shelby! Elder Carroll and Elder Kimball both served here and they talked it up a lot. So the whole meeting I knew I was getting transferred and it was kinda on my mind and bugging me the whole time. I could have stayed in Pineville for the rest of my mission-- I loved it so much! The people, my companion, the ward. It was all just really amazing. I'm so grateful to have served there.  I learned a lot there. So Wednesday was pretty jumbled, it consisted of teaching a few lessons, and saying goodbye and packing. I didn't even get to say goodbye to everyone but I got a few of them. I had to say goodbye to the Sheppards.  They are an amazing family and some of my favorite people. We went to dinner with Star and Jason that night too! It was Elder Ward's birthday so we went to Outback. We had a good lesson with Maureen that night too. 

Thursday I finished packing everything. Which it wouldn't have fit if I wasn't given a few Space Bags. They were so nice. But everything mostly fit pretty snug. I've kept and gotten rid of a lot of things. My 2 suits I came out with don't really fit anymore, so I left those. I've gotten 5 pairs of shoes out here--mostly just from other missionaries going home. Got all of my stuff gathered. Oh and I found out my bike got stolen off of our back porch!  So I took Elder Ward's bike since he's going home next transfer.  We got there at 10 and I had a meeting at 1 so we went and got lunch with some other missionaries at a good sub shop while we waited. Then I got my companion Elder Luna, got our new car, got the keys to the apartment and we headed off! 

It was kind of hectic right off the bat. Just trying to figure out the area and who we were working with. There's some solid members here and the ward is tiny! To put it in perspective there are single seats in the chapel with about 10 rows, no overflow! But our ward missionaries here are super solid and help out a ton! They made it really great for us. Friday Brother Hickman picked us up at 2 and came out with us all day!  We actually made cookies and took them to all of our investigators. But we ended up taking them to some random people and we actually got in 2 homes and were able to talk to them about the gospel. 

We are working with a family who is really nice.  We had a lesson with them Saturday and the daughter has a ton of questions that are really good. It was a very Spirit-led lesson and it just ended the night on such a high note. Yesterday at church we tried our best to get to know everybody. It seems like a really great ward that we are in and it will be fun getting to know everyone. We had a really fun dinner too! We were at the Simpson home and they have a ton of kids who love the missionaries and they were just going wild, they were jumping all over us it was crazy. 

I've really been grateful to be on a mission lately.  I've really felt how important it is to always have the spirit in your life and how fulfilling it is to have it. We are here on the earth with a personal guide to help us stay on the right path.  How great of a blessing, and how great of a responsibility it is to live worthy of it. 

I love the scripture in Alma 32:23 

Every seed bringeth forth fruit of it's own likeness. 

I think this relates a lot to leadership and parenthood and life in general. It makes me look at true character and realize that who I am and who I become is going to effect others. A good leader creates leaders and a good disciple creates more disciples. A good father creates good fathers and it can apply to anything really. 

Just a scripture that I really like. 

View from my desk...

Love you so much!

Elder Morgan 

Qs

Tell us ALL about your move, your goodbyes, your apartment, your companion... etc.

The apartment is 2 bed, 2 bath. No workout equipment...so that's a huge bummer. I think we might be able to get a bench set from another apartment soon. My companion is from Eureka California.  He played a ton of sports, has a family of 7. He's the first one to serve a mission. Very nice humble guy. 

I have always wondered...

--When you move, do you have enough room in your suitcases?

For the most part yes, most missionaries get another box and fill it up with stuff. 

--Have you kept good track of your stuff, or have you left a bunch of it along the way?

Both. I left some slacks that were worn down. 

--Do you bring any of the food and toiletries you got?  or do you just get new in each area?

I don't really, I do with my toothpaste and that stuff but not food usually. So an Amazon pantry box would be awesome right now! 

--How big is your new ward?

--Are you still the ZL?  How big is your area?

The area is big but we have about 70 active members I think. It is almost an hour drive across the whole thing probably. 

How are you on shoes?

I'm good on shoes. 

How are you on tennis shoes?

Good... a little holy, but they're good still. I got a pair of vans actually, with the birthday money too. 

What size do you like?

12 normally.

Do you still wear the LeBron's to play basketball?

Ya they're solid! 

Do you keep your apartment clean--ish?!  

Are you vacuuming?

Ya we deep cleaned our old apartment pretty good and this one is pretty clean so far. 

Just a few things a mom needs to know! 😉

Also--Speak now or forever hold your peace-- WHAT ELSE CAN WE SEND YOU FOR CHRISTMAS???

I'm pretty set right now 

What treats are you craving?  

Muddy buddies were so good last time :) I loved those! 

Snow!

12/4/17...I've fallen in love with Pineville.. There are so many good things happening in this area!

Transfer calls are this Tuesday night and I think they'll let me email y'all if I actually get transferred. I've fallen in love with Pineville and if I have to break up with her now during the Christmas season its going to be pretty sad. I really do love the people here and our investigators.  I really hope I stay. I just feel like there are so many good things happening in this area and I don't want to leave them! Plus the members are so good here.  

This week flew and I'll probably forget some details so I apologize in advance! 

It was really fun! We had a huge nativity festival this weekend and it was a ton of fun and a big success. It was a community thing, a bunch of choirs that were there, we actually were the grand finale....not because we were the best choir but because they realized we could help clean up after lol!  I think we turned out pretty good actually. A bunch of members were able to share the gospel through and it was such a good time to just celebrate the birth of Christ. They also had a lot of nativities which was fun to watch. As we walked through i was just looking at the pictures and I saw the picture of the first vision and I just realized how so many Christians of all different denominations will see this picture and probably not know what it is and be confused. And how many millions of people this event has influenced, it just made me realize the importance of my calling also. 

We had an amazing couple lessons with Maureen and her family. The first one was earlier in the week, Monday, the dad...thats his name, we watched the restoration movie with them and he said i know exactly how he feels, people didn't believe me when I told them how i felt after you gave me the blessing last week. He said "i know that this is not your power or the power of man, but the power of God" it was one such a great experience to watch him be so touched by the spirit. I love being out here and just being able to witness things like that, the little times when someone recognizes the Spirit are so special. 

The Spirit is so important in our lives in shaping us and guiding us to where we need to be and I've really learned how important it is to live a lifestyle that is worthy of that guidance. A member in our ward always says you're creating holy habits on your mission. 

Went ice skating today and It was so hard, I am not good at ice skating and I didn't fall the whole time until about 5 minutes before we were leaving, I fell so hard both my feet were in the air and I was about 2 ft. Up horizontal to the ground. Fell flat on my back and it wrecked me. My back is not feeling good after that one, I'll be alright though we will see how tomorrow mornings treats me haha. Tomorrow is also Mission Leadership Conference so it'll be good to get some new training and guidance on what we can work on to help others come to Christ. 

I probably missed some questions mom but I love you and am out of time today.  It was just busy seeing some members and stuff because we won't get to see them if I leave or anything. 

Love you so much! 

Elder Morgan 

Dad--

I doubt they'd expect me to be in top shape when I come in. Not sure, I could ask him. I think I could get in shape before I get back, not so much with running though.

Let me think and pray about it. If you do call will you pray about it before. 

11/27/17... Thanksgiving was so fun!

Hey mom! And everyone haha, I don't actually know how much of my emails get sent out or if it's the whole thing, how do you do it usually? 

 We had a lot of great things happen! Thanksgiving was so fun! 

So I'll go through Thursday, thanksgiving. Our ward had a turkey bowl! They planned it for a few weeks so I was so hyped to go play in it all week. So we go play there, the assistants came, Elder Carol and Grieve. Then we took Sharon elders with us, because our wards were playing against each other. It was nice to get out and run around for a few hours! We went and played a pickup game with these guys that came, missionaries vs. Them and we wrecked them!  It was way fun. Then we went home showered up and went to our lunch appt. She was really nice, she made us some Mexican food, her mom and dad were there and they all were just so grateful to have us in their home, they weren't members but they weren't interested in the Church, but they were great people, very humble and loving. After lunch we went and baked some muffins to bring around to some of our investigators and invited them to some things, and showed then light the world. It was fun, not a lot of people really wanted to talk much on thanks giving but we tried. Then we went to the Riebes home and it was soooo good!  He smoked, then fried the turkey! So good. It was a lot of fun too.  

  

Saturday was super busy again! We were on exchange Friday so I was in South Carolina, with Elder Fox. We had a good time, they're on an Indian reservation, so it kind of reminded me how we'd go by all those fireworks on the Indian res haha. Friday we get a call saying that a lady needs help moving into her new home. We we like ok we could stop by for a but and see how we can help.....we pull up and a 27 ft uhaul is full. And it's just us and 2 ladies. So we hopped on it and got to work. 2.5 hours later it was empty. Man can tell ya we were sore the next morning lol. 

We weren't able to teach Maureen or Jack much this week, they were either sick or out of town. So we got to do a lot of finding and tried to get creative. We found a couple people we think will be pretty promising in wanting to learn more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I love being on a mission and getting to see people recognize the spirit in their lives and then see the changes that come from it. I just want to help as many people as I can feel the Spirit in their lives because it's happiness that lasts, rather than the happiness that the world gives. Everyone should think of how they can spread the light of Christ this Christmas and light the world makes it so easy to do that. 

Sunday we were at church, we unfortunately weren't able to get anyone there that we'd been teaching. But what was super amazing was that we got a call from a member telling us how this man in a family wants us to come teach him about the church really bad. It was a really good day though, we had dinner at bishops house and after dinner the mom asked if we all wanted to sing Christmas songs. So we sing and it was way off tune, of course, and everywhere and it made me think the whole time of us and the Nicholls just wailing on the chimes. I was laughing. 

Qs...

What do you order at your weekly Pho?  I've never had it... Tell me what to order...

I get just get rare beef flank and brisket in it and it's way good. Then doctor it up with siracha and some lime. 

Do you guys get a Christmas tree?  I can send you a small one if you want one...?

Haha no we don't have one but the other elders do and we might do Christmas at their house since it's on a p day...that rides on me staying here though of course, transfers are the 7th.

What exactly is the "Pilot Program" you are in?  What do they have you doing differently?

Use technology more, work with members a ton, plan with them to share the gospel. New Preach My Gospel will come out soon, idk if this is part of the pilot but we are teaching a lot simpler, only teaching a few principles and extending 1 commitment usually. 

Do you have any Christmas requests?  I am trying to get everything today on Cyber Monday so I can be done early... Send me a list...  

White dress shirts, a few of mine have ripped. Long sleeve and short. If I move areas they'll let me email my new address i think. 

Also, did you think of anyone in need that we can help?

I don't think so right now. If I do i might just have you put some money on my card and I can get some stuff. 

Love y'all!

Elder Morgan

Dad,

Had a good week! 

We've just been working hard trying to figure out how to utilize all the trainings we've been given, haven't figured them out too much but we saw some miracles!  someone called and asked to be taught and they want to get baptized. It made my week, I just want to help as many people as I can and it has just been a little frustrating not exactly knowing how they want us to do things so it was nice to see that miracle, I think the Lord blessed us for just trying our best. Anyway love you dad!

11/20/17...What a blessing it is to have the power to act in God's name for the blessing of His children.

Wow y'all looked like you had so much fun in Nicaragua and Costa Rica! That must have been such a good experience. It was probably fun to practice your spanish too. We teach an English class on Thursday nights and we have some people come, one actually came to church this week with the sisters, but it's fun to work on my spanish. I've lost a lot of stuff since high school. Also that I didn't try very hard to keep much of my spanish. I wish I did though. 

We had a busy week! This Saturday we had a super solid lesson with the Nigerian family and her husband was finally in the lesson. He was in the hospital 2 times last week and it was pretty serious it seemed like. He is going to get a big surgery soon. But we went over and we asked if we could give him a blessing. Just as we were about to start his uncle came in and we got to share with him what a priesthood blessing is and by what authority it was done by. What a blessing it is to have the power to act in God's name for the blessing of His children. Great way to talk about the Restoration. So we have him a blessing and the Spirit was just so strong we say down and started talking to him about his relationship with God. Then we asked him a question, don't remember what but he then shared that he noticed the light this his family has now that they are meeting with us and coming to church. He also said I chose this church for my family and you know I chose this church because my family is there on Sunday, they would not be there if I didn't chose it. That lesson was probably the highlight of the week. 

We are really trying to figure out all the new things and ideas that salt lake has told us to pilot. They gave of us a ton of good ideas and new ways to do things but didn't give a whole lot of specifics on how to utilize them and use our time effectively, so we are really trying to figure the best ways to use our time, they pretty much told us any door knocking is a waste of time, so whenever we knocked on any doors we almost felt guilty because they told us it was ineffective. But this week we really are starting to understand the ways that they want us to use our time. Mostly spending it for our investigators and members homes. We will go into members homes for about 30 minutes and then use the new planning guidelines that we got to say who do you know that would benefit from the Gospel, then make goals and plans to help them progress in some way, the goal could be super simple too. Then in 2 weeks reevaluate that goal and make more plans. The new planning guidelines are really good, they are a little tough to follow when you have a whole day to plan for sometimes but they are great in helping people progress in their faith. It would be super good for you mom, in your new calling it could be really good. It just sparks a lot of ideas by asking questions about what they need and how to help. I'll send them to you. 

This Sunday we had an investigator at church and one of his friends from Connecticut walk in and they got to talk and meet again it was super fun, they took us to breakfast this morning and it was really fun, they brought their son and we had a good time. I told him he should take Sarah on a date and he said he would. Ya never know haha. 

Saturday was a super busy day. I'll go through the schedule for ya mom! So we woke up at 5:30 went and played some basketball against the assistants and some other elders. 4v4. Then came back did some panning but our day was pretty booked. Studied for and hour and 15 min. I studied from the Book of Mormon, New Testament and Preach My Gospel. Then went to coordination which was great, our ward mission leader helps us out a ton. We went to get our weekly pho with Star and Jason after that. I live for the weekly pho now haha I love that stuff --I'd never had it before Jason invited us! Then we drove down to a baptism in rock hill, from a lady Elder Ward found in his last area. She called the church and he answered. It was really great. 

I love missionary work. I've just seen so much how easy it is to share the gospel, I really want to take these things I'm learning and use them the rest of my life. Elder Ward and I came up with a ton of fun ideas to share the gospel, but unfortunately many of the ideas are not dignified for a missionary so we said we'll do them so when we get back. One was a lantern festival to kick off light the world. The other was kind of a modern Santa in the city photo booth promoting light the world. And some other fun ideas. After that we went and got some dinner with a member to a pretty good restaurant which is always fun. Then went and saw some people in the area and had a lesson with Maureen after that! Then it was a night. That's a solid day, also got a lot of people contact info so we can hopefully start teaching some more of them this next week! Overall awesome week! 

Qs

—Will you email the Coach Waddoups and ask what all needs to be done ahead of time—application etc. I want to make sure you are dialed in. I talked to Debi about Connor going to Salt Lake Community with you or to LDS Business College. She thought it was a great idea.
I'd love that! We gotta make that happen, it'd be so fun to room with him. 

—how are the workouts going? You looked great in the video!
They're still goin!
—do you need more protein or anything from Amazon Pantry?
Ya you could send some, I just don't have a ton of faith in them right now, ie, I didn't gain a pound from the other 15lb bag lol. But why not try. 
—what are your plans for Thanksgiving?
Got a good lunch set up and good dinner with a guy that loves to cook so it'll be super fun! Hopefully we can talk to some families at home without bugging them. 
(I think we are heading back down to Utah on Wed to be with Gma and Gpa at Becky’s. Then we will go to the cabin in Heber later with my fam....you know—the same old, same old)

Not really wanting to do Black Friday shopping...but Sarah is working that night at JCrew so maybe we will have to go haggle her!

—are there any families in your ward or that you are teaching that we can help with Christmas?? I could get presents and send them to you...and you and Elder Ward could doorbell ditch or be Santa...
Not that I can think of. I'll let you know next week if we find out! 
—what are your favorite things to make for yourself to eat?
Chicken and rice mostly. I don't know how to make many delicacies lol, maybe send me some easy recipes....that would actually be awesome!
—what is your typical daily schedule?

Check above! 

Love you so much mom! Don't stress too much about your calling or how other people might compare you. Comparing is the worst thing that we can do it just doesn't help thinking about any of that stuff, I did that a lot to myself at the beginning of my mission, comparing myself to other missionaries who I thought were "better" than me. Just focus on the Savior, think about how you can be a Christlike leader and that'll be best! 

Love you! 

11/13/17...We saw some big miracles this week and are also trying to use social media more

Can't believe y'all are in Nicaragua right now! That's got to be so fun! We will need to do that when I get back for sure! That's such a neat opportunity. I can't believe that y'all are doing that-- it's doing so much good.  I have been thinking about service more and about how much Heavenly Father wants us to serve others. There's a man in our ward who always is helping and always volunteering when someone needs to move or other things.  And I asked him "how did you make serving a priority, most people look for any little thing to get out of service" and he thinks for a minute and says, "Hand me that pamphlet right there." And I give him he pamphlet and I look at it and it has the Savior on the front holding a lamb and he says, "No matter what I do and no matter how much I try, I will never be able to pay him back."  And then he bore his testimony of the Savior.  It was the highlight of my week listening to him tell us how he is able to make service a priority because of Jesus. 

A lot happened this week though. We had a lot of fun and saw some big miracles too!  We have been really trying to think outside the box and find new ways to spread the Gospel. We are also trying to use social media more, so we decided to make a few videos that we can almost mass send out to people in the Pineville area. We sent out a ton and we only got a few responses but a lady messaged us and said she used to be a member, and we set up a church tour with her that we're doing tonight.  We also made a video for the #LightTheWorld initiative that we are going to send out before the calendar starts. They showed us the video for it and it is so good.  Y'all are going to love it.  Y'all should try and do all of the services ideas for the month too! 

Let's see...what else happened this week? 

Oh ya.... so one day we got a call from one of the members that said, "hey there's a lady I home teach who has a 9 year old son that wants us to teach him and he wants to get baptized."  So we taught him a couple times this week and it was pretty funny.  Elder Ward and I taught him the restoration compared it to Pokemon!  It was super fun.  He now knows that the Christs church with the full pokedex was lost but he brought it back in our day haha.  That was really fun teaching them.  We also started a Book of Mormon class this week.  It was alright, we didn't have a huge turn out but it was a good lesson.  We also had our English class again, we had some people come again which was really good.  The sisters are starting to teach one of them now too. 

We went up to Uptown today and it was super fun!  We walked around the Bank of America stadium.  The Panthers are playing the Dolphins tonight, so there was a bunch of people over there.  We walked by the baseball stadium up there,  AAA team. Then just hung out at a park for a bit. Elder Berryhill and Elder Christensen were with us.  I'll send some pictures!

 

Last night we got a call from that same member and he told us that he has someone he wants us to teach.  It was a member that has some family members that wanted to have us teach them. We were super excited and we went over there and he wasn't too excited to see us actually, nice guy but didn't really want us to teach him. 

Hope y'all have a ton of fun in Nicaragua! 

I want to go to that place with you when I get back! 

I am so grateful you and dad set such a good example of service to me as a kid. It has definitely influenced me!

Love you mom! 

Qs

Quote of the week?

"Every seed bringeth forth unto it's own likeness"

Hows Elder Ward?

He's super fun, really chill guy. He like a lot for the same things I do. He's from San Diego, went to BYU for a year before. 

When do you transition to the smartphones?

We have them right now! They're way better than the old bricks.

11/6/17...We are changing a lot of how we plan and how we teach right now

My birthday was super fun. Brother Nick from Salisbury came and took us for lunch to a diner. It was a lot of fun. After that we came back and did our planning for the week. We are changing a lot of how we plan and how we teach right now so we are kind of adjusting to it and figuring it out. After that star took us out to dinner to bonefish grill! Had to go there it's a family special of course got some bang bang shrimp. I should have got the tacos but I got sword fish and it was not too good. But I didn't let it ruin the vibe. We had a lot of fun, they gave me free desert and star got me some ties. After that we went to our English class and we had 4 people show up. Honestly really fun teaching those classes, not much has come from it st but I think if people start coming more consistently then we will see more people want to investigate the church. We are also starting a Book of Mormon class on Tuesdays, in hoping we can get a good turn out, I don't know how much it's going to turn out so far because we aren't in charge of it but it could be really good. We're using Facebook a lot more now with members and using group chat with them, and putting people that are investigating the church into. 

Monday and Tuesday were really hectic. We went to MLC Tuesday and it took all day. Monday night we ate dinner and realized none of the elders going the next day to MLC had a car.....so we had to pick them all up that night. We called the assistants and they said they'd drop off all the mission van....this is a 12 seater! So we took off around 9 to go pick up all of these hooligans. We drove to Newport to pick one up then headed over about 20 more minutes to catawba....then over to fort mill to pick up some other elders, it was about 11:30 when we got back and rounded everyone up. It was a long night, I had fun driving the massive van though. Then we had to get up early to drove to Mlc which was just in uptown. It was really good, there were some good trainings on leadership and being a Christ like leader. We also talked about really focusing on helping others progress in the doctrine of Christ and how we can do that better. It was a solid meeting. After that we went and got some sushi. And let me tell ya it was some bomb sushi! One had mango on it and another had lemon slice with salmon, oh it was amazing. After that we get driving home and there's some heavy traffic in Charlotte at 5pm. We're bumper to bumper for a while and then this boy rear ended us. It was under 10mph probably but it was some damage to the trunk. So that took about an hour, then we get back and the other elders both sets tell us there rides cancelled on them......and we can't put 6 people in our car so we had to drop each one off separately. It took forever!! We didn't even have time to go out at all, we got back in at like 10 from driving for HOURS. It was ridiculous! But still fun, elder ward and I had a good time. 

We had some miracles this week too! We had a couple meetings on Friday but as we were leaving we saw a guy sitting on a bench by the church so we went and talked to him. Come to find out he was from Jamaica so I gotta try out the little patwa I know....... wagwon! 

So I got the packages a little scattered, I got the lulus Wednesday and Thursday and then the Amazon pantry came on Thursday. Same with the treats box! They were all so nice! Thank you for everything mom! Also thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Morgan for the cards and the cash they sent. Thank you to Grandma Carol for the cookies I loved them! And everyone who sent me an email or reached out, it was really nice! 

Sunday was a super fun day too, church was really good, there was a girl who said she'd bear her testimony if I did so we went up and she bore such a sweet testimony of how the Gospel has blessed her in school. It was so good. Then we went and had another lesson with the Jamaican guy which went really good. Then we taught star about the temple, she just went and did baptisms this week and she loved it. Then we went to dinner at bishops house which is always fun. After that we went to a fireside with our mission President. So star and Jason took us and I got asked to conduct it and I told messed up and President had to come correct it all hahaha it was pretty funny/embarrassing. 

Anyway that was about the jist of the week. 

I'll send some pictures of golfing today. It was a lot of fun Brother Sears is the man. I hit the ball pretty good but my short game was wayyyyyy bad, I drove the the ball like 320 a few times. 

Love y'all so much thanks for the birthday wishes! 

Love you mom! 

-Elder Morgan 

Hey B!

Hope you had a great week and a great birthday. 

Did you get a bunch of the packages I sent?  

The care package with cookies, muddy buddies and peanut butter bars...Southridge watch etc??

The lululemon pants?? Do they fit?

The garments?

The amazon Pantry? Did you like everything?

Hope it was a good day. 

B...I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.   I will always be your biggest fan. 

Love, Mom

PS. Please tell us how your birthday went,    who reached out to you from here, and what you did out there. 

❤️

I appreciate your letters so much. I love reading them honestly, they are so nice. You mean the world to me and I love you so much. 

I am just so bad at writing emails. I feel terrible that I haven't been good at writing you personally. I seriously loved everything you got me for my birthday too! Those pants are the best! Literally they've changed my life. I can testify haha. 

...I love you so much mom please always remember that even when I am bad at writing, you are my favorite person  in the whole world. I hope you know I love you so much and brag about you when I get the chance to other people here. 

You are the best! 

Hey send me a good picture of you and dad together, send a few, maybe of y'all doing something fun. 

10/30/17.. Goodbyes ...and implementing new changes as a pilot ward.

This week was sooo good! We had some people from Salt Lake come in to our mission this week and it was a ton of fun. They switched up some things of how we do stuff. I'll tell you what it is in a bit.

So Tuesday I took Elder Johnsen to the mission office and it was pretty quick, just took some pictures and I said goodbye to everyone. It was honestly pretty sad. I'll miss Elder Johnsen, Elder Watson, and Elder Cannon.  They were some good missionaries, so it was a bummer. But I got with Elder Ward right after that and it was way fun.  We have had a super good time together I'm excited to be with him. 

Wednesday was district activity and the people from Salt Lake came in to the meetings. It was really interesting to have them. They changed some things. The most interesting part was on Saturday. Brother Donaldson came to our ward coordination meeting and at the beginning Brother Donaldson called President Alexander and said he needs to ask for permission of what he's going to do. He said we are a pilot ward. So he told us what we're doing. It was sort of the same concept we've been taught but the difference was we are going to make a team for each of the people we are teaching to help them progress. There's a little more to it, but that's pretty much the gist. 

We found some really solid people this week too. We had some big miracles this week. We were going to deliver a free bible to a lady and they somehow didn't want the bible, it was weird. We had a couple minutes before our next appointment so we knocked on a neighbor's door.  We met a nice lady from Paris who said she knew some members of our church.  We got talking and she let us in and she said that we were an answer to her prayers.  It is one of my favorite things to hear when someone says that. The Spirit was super strong in her home, she has a big family and we are going back over there tonight.  Let's hope she can feel the spirit while we teach the restoration! 

Sunday we saw some big miracles!  We had our church and it was really good, there were some really solid talks on missionary work by a member and President Sheppard. So church was great.  So we hop in the car and head home after church and we get a call that bunch of high schoolers are at the church wanting to learn more.  So we head back and got to talk to a bunch of high schoolers and it was way fun!  Then we leave and get a call from other missionaries saying there's another person that just showed up to church and wanted to learn more!  We're teaching him this Halloween.  It'll be super fun. I'm really excited especially with what's happening here! I love this ward. 

Anyways things are going really good down here with Elder Ward. He's from San Diego he's been out quit a while now. 

Qs

How is your new companion??  

He's really good ...we get along really good

How were the goodbyes??  

I didn't even get to say very good goodbyes, but it was probably better that way. 

How are your clothes holding up?

Decent, I need some new proselyting pants 

Is it getting cold yet?

50s 

Did you get the package from the Sanders? 

Ya it was so nice of them!

What time do you usually get home on Thursday nights?

9:30 is usually when we are in by. 

Love you momma!

10/23/2017... I'm going to miss Elder Johnsen ...My new comp's name is Elder Holden Ward.

  

 

Aight! I'm going to miss Elder Johnsen a ton!  He is a good dude.  We are definitely going to be friends when we get home.  He is one of the funniest missionaries out here so a lot of people are going to miss him a ton. 

This last Monday we played some basketball and Nerf at the church.....still think playing Nerf is a lame p day activity but we had some fun. Then right after that Elder Dana and I went on exchanges and I went down to Catawba.  It was pretty fun-- just a normal exchange though. We were able to find a nice lady who had met with some missionaries before. She started crying and telling us her story, it's amazing how many people will accept the invitation to read the Book of Mormon, but really have no idea how much of a blessing it could be just to open it and read it. 

This Sunday the speakers all spoke on service.  Elder Johnsen gave a really good talk on service too on his last Sunday. It was really good, I love the scripture, "whosoever shall find his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it."  We can lose ourselves in the service of others and find the most amazing outcome and happiness. I've been trying to serve others more and compliment them. 

We went on another exchange this last week with Catawba.  They all wanted to go before Elder Watson goes home. It was a ton of fun. Elder Watson is a really good friend too. I think we'll be good friends after the mission. But we tried to find some people and went to an apartment complex after Brother and Sister Nelson took us out to a Texas Roadhouse for one of Elder Watson last dinners. It was a ton of fun actually....always a good time at Texas. 

Sunday we saw a ton of miracles though. It was just a great day all around! Church was awesome --sacrament was really good, talked a lot about service.  Maureen came to church, so did a couple other investigators who are in a part-member family and are really wanting to get baptized --but it'll be harder now without Elder Johnsen whose Spanish is pretty good. 

My new comps name is Elder Holden Ward, I've heard a lot of good things about him so we'll see. It should be a ton of fun I'm excited to hit the ground mobbing probably being my last transfer in Pineville. 

Love you all so much!

Love you mom!

 

This is my red throw up from a few weeks back...