2/27/17... Salisbury is da bess

Hey maw 

This week was really good! It seems like all the things I want to write about just vanish from my brain whenever I write. Oh well I'll try my best because this week was awesome! 

So I'll start out with talkin about this lady named Donna. So we were knocking a couple doors in between appointments last week and we knock this little group appartment home place where you go inside a bond there's 4 appartments. We knock them all, no answers. We walk out and hear this lady call to us from inside. We go in talk to her a bit and she ended up saying we could come back and share a message with her. So a couple days later we go back to teach her the restoration, it was going so good and we start going into the first vision, right off the bat she goes, Nope... not true that man is a false prophet and did all these bad things.  So we were like well you don't know unless you try, so we gave her a Book of Mormon and told her to read it with an open heart, so she said she would read. A couple days later we text her confirming our appointment and she texted back and said she is so fascinated and wants to learn more, and that she just couldn't stop crying after she read. So we go over and her whole home just felt different she looked better and said she just has such a strong desire to change, to be a better mom and stuff and she wanted to quit drinking. Then a couple days later we text her to confirm another appointment and she says today was the first day she didn't drink in 14 years! Can you believe that! 14 years!  She is on fire now and has read almost all of 1 Nephi. She came to Debbie's baptism this Saturday, loved it. Then she came to church this Sunday and brought her 16yr old friend named Alexis and they loved it! It's still going to be a battle for her to quit some stuff but I have so much faith that she can do it! 

Debbie's baptism was so good... she is such an amazing person.  We were so excited for her and she was even more excited! She wants to go to the temple as soon as she can too! Also.....side note but Laird from Winston got baptized a couple days after I left and got the priesthood, got his temple recommend and has gone to the temple already! He is on fire it made me so happy to hear that he was doing so good! 

Saturday night we had dinner at Bishop Daines house and we had some super good burgers that he smoked. Denzel and Myiesha and their kids came and it was so good! We had such a fun lesson with them outside around a campfire; it was so fun! They want to quit smoking  and get baptized and they committed to do both Saturday and said they'd be at church for sure, we'll unfortunately they didn't come to church, it was a little bit of a bummer but we're hoping they still will quit smoking this Wednesday. 

Things are going great with my companion we get along really well, I think our strengths and weaknesses compliment each other well which is super nice for teaching and stuff. Living with one guy is really weird now haha, but it's kinda nice, it's quieter and you kind of have more time to study on your free time. 

Qs

How is Elder Grieves?   Tell us more about him and how you two are doing in your new companionship.

Super great 

Have you perfected your Southern accent?

Not at all, I wish though! Maybe in a year and a half I will have it down. 

Take pics of your apartment and your city... 

How big is your area?  

It's a huge area, it probably takes an hour to drive from one side to the other. It's more country too so i love it! 

How many missionaries are in Salisbury?

Just us 2. 

Do you need anything?

Naw don't think so 

What was your most spiritual experience this week?

This week we had zone meeting and we talked about charity and treating people like family. We did a role play where we picked a family member and pretended that they went less active...it was so powerful. And of course I don't cry because I'm a man but I'll just say it was hard for me to get through it, it changed me whole perspective on how I need to look at others. Our mission president said the key to our mission rising is charity, so that what I've been working on. 

Love you ! 

Elder Morgan 

2/20/17... Miracles in Salisbury and Skype interviews with President Alexander

Hey we had a great week!

To be honest I can't even remember what happened this week at all.....it went by that fast haha. We did see some great miracles though. 

Elder Grieve and his last companion had found this lady who worked for the Red Cross named Annie. They had taught her a little and gave her a Book of Mormon. We taught her the restoration last week and she seemed super excited, she was really into a modern Prophet which was awesome. She had wanted to go on a church tour but our schedules didn't line up. She texted us this last week and said she needed another Book of Mormon and she lost her other one. We gave her a Book of Mormon and got a text that said, I found that old Book of Mormon....my son took it and is halfway done with it, he is really interested in the LDS. We were so excited, they unfortunately weren't able to come to church because of school and work but they're super excited about it. 

Yesterday we had church which was really good, Debbie came and she is all set to be baptized next week! She is just so solid and has such a strong testimony it's amazing! It should be a really spiritual service on Saturday. After church our Elders Quorum president, President Bradley took us out all day! It was so nice, he drove us to our appointments and people we wanted to see. We had lunch, went out and taught for a couple hours, came back and had dinner and he was going to come back out with us but his wife was sick and wanted him to stay home. He is super funny, he reminds me of Jourdan and Jim Gaffigan mix sort of. 

Today we just got done playing basketball at the church, and are going to go to the Mesiscos after this to play ping pong and do some fishing on their pond. It should be really fun, they own a ton of land and have a big cabin house, they're super nice too! 

We also had interviews with President Alexander this week, it was pretty normal.  We had it over Skype so it's always a little different like that. He gave us a couple things he learned on his mission that he wished he learned sooner.  Pray for charity and know that this is the Lord's work and we are his tools. I have been trying to have more charity, and really it makes us happier as we do that and think of others more than ourselves. 

Sorry I don't have a ton to report on this week. 

A great scripture that stuck out to me this week was 

Romans 1:16 

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

This just really stuck out to me this week, the doctrine of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. We need to live it and we need to share it for us to gain salvation and for others to receive it as well. 

Q's

What's new? 

How are the Mariners lookin? Lol  Any trades? 

How's the shoulder treating you?.....How does it feel to not have braces?

Love you!

Elder Morgan 

2/13/17... Salisbury!

HEYYYYYYYYYY cheeeeeee!

This week was soooo good! Everyday when we got in at night it was like I blinked and the day was over ...it was crazy. So last Monday we went and hiked hanging rock which was Soooo fun! Then that night I packed everything up and the next day I was in Salisbury! And it's pronounced Sauhlsbury with the southern accent. It's a lot more country here!  Which I like a lot! There's all these sweet little towns in our area, we were driving down some sweet back roads yesterday too out in the country it was awesome! 

So Tuesday, we get to our apartment drop my stuff off and head to an appointment with a lady named Annie. We had a solid lesson, she just soaked in the restoration and said she'd be baptized next month. Then we saw a lady named Debbie that is getting baptized the 25th, and had just quit smoking.  She is super nice and I'm excited to get to know her more. 

Wednesday I finally got to meet some members of the ward, they have a lesson every Wednesday at the church with investigators here it's amazing, the ward loves missionary work, they fellowship people like crazy.....this week we had at least 3 members ask to have our investigators over for dinner it was amazing!  And they ask us to come to appointments all the time it's so crazy how great they are. one of our investigators even taught this lesson on Wednesday about tender mercies of the Lord it was so good. We had another solid lesson with some new investigators named Jo are Jazmin, young couple with some kids are did they seemed to be pretty interested and we're gonna try and get them to church. 

Thursday was insane, we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off all day. we had a district meeting in the High Point building which was super good, we emphasized introducing the book of Mormon, it's amazing how important the book of Mormon is in conversion and especially a lasting conversion. When we got done with the meeting we drove up to Colfax and I went with 2 other Elders and proselyted while Elder Grieve had another meeting. We got food and saw some people and came back to the church. Got my companion back and we drove about an hour back to our area. Well we got there and had to rush to an appointment with a man named Jon church. He was super interesting and our lesson took soooo long because he kept talking about weird tangents. We had to have our dinner get dropped off at this investigators house haha. So we get out of the lesson and we head home to eat this food, we get our burgers ready sit down, pray over it and then Elder Grieve realized we had another lesson scheduled for about 5 minutes ago haha. So we leave our food, book it to this home and we taught this 7 year old who we're teaching the lessons to. Right after that we have another lesson with Denzel and Myiesha who are seriously the best! They have the cutest little kids and are just so sweet. Well they had been sick and so we bought them some oranges and some other stuff to help with their cold haha. We went over and had a sabbath day lesson with another member that went great. 

This other young family that we found this week was James and Heather, they have 2 little kids also and we taught them the restoration the other day .  The seemed to love it! And said they'd come to church, we also taught their friend who walked in late and said she was interested haha! It was awesome. 

Sunday was awesome.  The ward here it soooo good! There was one member that had lived in Kennewick 10 years ago. There were some solid talks, one I really liked, he said if I were to leave what would one thing I would leave behind, and that it would be the Gospel, that my family knows how important the gospel is in our lives. We had 5 investigators at church and it was such a good talk for them, James and Heather came and said they loved it and we were so stoked to hear that! 

The great things just kept coming this week! We had a dinner at the Fairbanks and they wanted to invited Denzel and Myiesha! We had a super good meal and then an even better lesson. They are set close to being baptized they just need to quit smoking and that's it! Their kids Elijah and Aiden are the cutest little boys ever! The spirit was flowing, Brother Fairbank had such good insight because he had to quit smoking it was just such a good way to end the week. 

Elder Grieve and I are getting along great, he is such a good missionary and knows how to make things happen, I'm super excited to learn from him and see the miracles this transfer. Today I think we are going to play some ball on an outdoor court with Elder Shultz and Hampshire which should be super fun! 

.......we just went to Marshalls and I saw a guy wearing a Mariners hat....had to talk to him and he knows the Seagers! I guess they live close to here.....look it up for me. 

Qs

What is your address??

210 Sunset Dr. Appt 321

Salisbury, NC 28147

How did the move go?  How did you move your stuff and bike etc? Did it all fit in your suitcase?  

It went well I hate packing and doing that stuff. Ya Brother Hiatt drove us in his truck. So interesting...It all fit pretty good. 

Tell us about Elder Grieves...  (in more than one sentence please!)

He is from Eagle, Idaho.  He loved wake boarding and doin crazy stuff with his friends, he played football. Super consecrated missionary so I'm excited I think we will get along really well. 

How was your good bye with Elder Montandon and Winston?

It was fine, I was bummed I missed the baptism this Saturday but oh well I think I'll email Laird once he gets to Texas and make sure he finds the church. 

Once I get your address, I can send you a nice Amazon Pantry box to stock your new place... any requests?

YESSSSSS! 

 Double Stuff Oreos haha and the usual, I'm good on detergent and those kind of things still. 

Love you mah!

Elder Morgan 

2/6/2017... Good bye Winston-Salem. I am getting transferred to Salisbury, NC!

Soooo this week was amazing a lot of great things happened, Laird is getting baptized next Saturday 

Sunday morning the zone leaders got transfer calls and we live with them so we stood by the door and listened.....I am getting transferred to Salisbury, NC and will be getting an new companion named Elder Grieves, don't know much about either but I have talked to Elder Grieves a couple times and he seems awesome.  He is a super good wake boarder I guess so I think this transfer is going to be super fun and I'm praying that we will see success in our efforts.

I realized I that I love missionary work, sometimes I don't think it because it's hard, but it makes me happy to see others coming to Christ.

I'm a little nervous to be in a new area and adjust to everything there, but it will be a good growing experience. I don't know much about Salisbury but I am excited. Winston-Salem is one of the biggest cities in the mission so it will be so weird being out of the city. Also I will be leaving the 4 man apartment....I'm bummed about that because we have gotten so close here, Elder Murray from Rexburg--he goes home this next transfer, Elder Bishop from Saint George, and Elder Montandon, of course. 

We had zone conference this week on Thursday which was really great. I got to see Elder Zesiger again which is always so fun. It's too bad--I'm getting transferred to his zone and he is getting transferred to my Zone haha. We had a lot of really good trainings in the conference, we had a bunch on planning and how we can plan better with more effective plans. 

Also I think it was Thursday, not sure, we met with Laird that night. Laird has been coming to church with us for the last couple weeks and wants to be baptized.  He is just moving back to Texas the 14th. Well we thought we'd ask him if he would want to be baptized the 11th before he goes or the 14th, well he lit up and wanted to be baptized as quick as he can. It was amazing to hear how he has learned and come to know the church is true. He is very Catholic and has studied a lot of religious books, he has such a strong relationship with the Savior and realized he needed to join our church because it was the closest to Christ's church the way it's set up. He is also just such a great man and a friend. Once I told him I was leaving, he went to his kitchen  and he knew I liked ducks and he gave me little duck figurine.  It was so nice.  It was a Pintail,  beautiful duck if anyone knows haha. 

That reminds me, I'm so happy for the Brunsons. Sounds like they're doing so well, words can't describe how happy that makes me, they're the nicest family and Spencer's the best! 

Mom, That's so funny that you knew the missionary, hopefully he can put a good word into his dad haha. There is this big stadium here and I think the Triple A White Sox play there and we drive by and see them playing and it makes we want to be out there haha.

We just got done hiking Hanging Rock and then hiking to some waterfalls here it was a sweet. I'll send pictures. I also took some pictures with a couple members here. 

Love you so much! 

Elder Morgan

Qs

Did you get my package?

I loved it! Thank you so much, I loved the peanut butter bars and the ties are awesome! 

Did you like it?!

Loved it!!

Tell us all about transfers

Tuesday I head to Salisbury to meet my companion, Elder Grieves and Elder Montandon  (my son) picks up his new companion named Elder Morgan haha yes same name. 

Who is your companion?  

Where is he from? Tell us about him...

He is from somewhere in Idaho and he seems nice, he wake boards. 

Do you know your new address?

Don't know the address but I'll send it next week when I do find out. 

What do you need?

I'm all set right now thank you! 

How is your health?

Health is good I'm starting at gain some weight actually haha little bit of fat and muscle. 

How are you doing in budgeting your money?

Really good actually, I have left over from last month. 

If you move--do you have enough room for all of your stuff?  

Ya i have enough space I think. I'm not a master packer like you, mom, but I think I can do it. 

I'm so proud of you. So proud of your attitude. So proud of your example and your testimony. You are an inspiration to me and to so many others.  Thank you so much. 

143

Good bye Winston-Salem

Huan Huan 

Rosiland

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