3/27/17... Transfers--I'm staying in Salisbury--but Elder Grieves is going :(

Hello! 

We got transfer calls this week :( 

Saturday we were waiting for a call from President to find out who was getting transferred. We were waiting all day, no call, we go to dinner, we don't get a call. It's about 8 o'clock and we are knocking some doors and we thought we were in the clear for sure and both of us were staying. We knock on this man's door and he lets us in pretty immediately. We get in there and talked with him and he said that, that morning was the first time he prayed out loud ever. He asked God for clarity and guidance. It was such an amazing experience and I felt the spirit so strongly in his home while teaching him. Well we get out of the lesson and it was 9 and we thought we were clear for sure. We look at the phone and we had a missed call from President.... We called him and he told us Elder Grieve was going to Charlotte South and I was staying in the area. So my new companion is going to be Elder Kimball and I guess he is from Russia and a really big kid. I'm praying that we can really work together and have fun. 

Well something really sad also happened this week. We were teaching a 7 yr old named Kaleah who was getting ready to be baptized when she turned 8 this week. We taught her and her mom who is a member while we were on splits last Sunday. On Wednesday I went on exchange with Elder Shultz.  

That night we got a call from Elder Grieve that the mom died in her sleep on Wednesday and she was 32yrs old!  It was so sad, they had her funeral on Sunday and it was really sad to see Kaleah.  She just turned 8!  I'm grateful for the plan of salvation though, it helps us understand that we can get over a loss like that because we know that death is really just another step in God's plan for us. 

Wednesday we had district meeting and talked about getting investigators to church because we've been struggling with that. It was great and I gave a training on being bold and I connected it with the atonement. We had dinner at our bishop's house on Monday and shared the doctrine of Christ. Our bishop is amazing and has such a great gospel knowledge and we got talking about the atonement. The spirit was really strong and he talked about how we all need to view the atonement, not through a video but through the knowledge that the spirit gives us. It makes me want to gain a greater spiritual vision of the atonement. 

Our zone had a goal to find 14 new investigators just on Saturday, and on Saturday Elder Grieve and I had found 1 earlier that week and we ended up finding 6 on Saturday. It was a great day! Last night we had a Mission President's fireside and it was great.  We couldn't get any investigators there unfortunately but it was still super good. 

The ward here is amazing! It's been a blast being able to get to know some of the members.  They're sooo great--they treat you like family here.  I love it. 

We have a ton of Spanish investigators right now and we are really trying to get them to come to church. We found 2 more Spanish investigators this last week. There needs to be a Spanish Elder here in Salisbury soon. 

Sounds like PJ is killing it! I'm so happy for him.  Keep it up Deeeejjjj. 

Love you all

Love you mom! 

Elder Morgan 

Hey dad!

Everyone seems to be getting sick right now, we didn't get 13 to church and weren't very close to that either. But it's all good we have some really promising things happening right now. We just got a call from an investigator who has been taught everything and just has to pay off some court fees to get off parole that they got payed off so he could be getting baptized very soon! 

I haven't been playing much catch lately unfortunately, I need to get out and throw some today. 

Elder Grieve is getting transferred and I'm staying here in salisbury. I'm going to miss having him, he is such a good missionary we had a lot of fun too. My new companion is Elder Kimball, I don't know him but he's a big guy and from Russia so I think it will be a good transfer and we have a lot of good things happening in the area too. 

You're an amazing person dad, mom tells me of some of the great things you're doing for people in the branch. I really look up to you in so many ways. I want to be able to raise a family like you and mom did. I am mostly grateful for the testimonies that you planted in our hearts and let us water. I love you 

Love Elder Morgan 

Thanks for the support and prayers for Brad.  He is doing great!  Not sure if he was being humble or if (in true Brad fashion) he just forgot to tell us that he was called to be a District Leader.  I attached the letter we received from his mission president.  It will be a both a challenge and good experience for him.  We are so proud of his hard work and positive attitude. 

If you want to shoot him an email or send him a card his address is:

bradley.morgan@myldsmail.net

Elder Brad Morgan 

210 Sunset Dr. Apt 321

Salisbury, NC 28147

Thanks for the love!

Love, Chrissy

3/20/17...Elder Grieve and I are doing awesome!

District Skype 

Hey! 

This week was great! 

We had another awesome conference this week. It was with Elder Zeballos of the 70....we shook his hand and told him where we were from, he said that he talked at a stake conference in Kennewick a couple weeks ago. 

Elder Grieve and I are doing awesome! I really hope that we get to stay together for another transfer there are so many good things happened in our area right now. 

We had a lot of really good lessons with some of our investigators this week. Wednesday night we went and saw Denzel and Myiesha.  These guys are the best.  They said they really want to start committing more and coming to church. Sadly they didn't come again so it looks like we might stop seeing them for a while which is a bummer. 

On Tuesday one of the Mesiscos daughter got back from her mission in Salt Lake so she was on fire and just wanted to come teaching with us a ton which was awesome. 

We had and conference on Thursday with Elder Zeballos. It was really neat he talked a lot on the Holy Ghost and how the process of receiving revelation works. It was cool. 

We had a couple other miracles this week as well. We went to just knock on a man's door and a lady answered and said she her fiance was a member and that she had been reading the Book of Mormon and was asking him questions. We went and taught them later in the week again and they came to church on Sunday too! They seem to be super solid and I'm really excited about them! 

I'm a little nervous about Donna though she seemed to being doing so good and wanting to come to church on Sunday when all of a sudden she didn't come and hasn't been answering us recently. I really hope she is doing alright and is still wanting to investigate. 

Tuesday night we also went to teach a little family from the Virgin islands.  They had the sweetest accent it was fun to talk with them and just listen haha. We have had a lot of fun this last week and this next week should be awesome, we are going to try and get 13 people at church next Sunday so we're going to fast and try and make that happen. 

We went to a pretty sweet park today and there was a zoo at this place as well. We played putt putt and it was really fun actually.  Our district is awesome... we have a ton of fun together! 

Last night we went on splits, Elder Grieve went with Brother Smyre to Asheboro to give a baptismal interview while I stayed in the area and worked with Brother Stoelting.  It was a lot of fun, we taught Kalia who is a 7 yr old that the bishop wanted us to teach before she turns 8. And it was a ton of fun, I wish we would teach that simply to other people.  Ssometimes we over- complicate things. 

I've noticed you are spending about $100 per month on your debit card... How much does the mission office give you per month?

Oh wow I didn't realize I was, I'm going to cut back. How much do I have left on it? 

What are you studying in your personal study?

I study the Book of Mormon for a bit-- a couple of chapters usually.  I'm in 2 Nephi 3 right now. Then go into Preach My Gospel for 30 minutes and study the lessons. I studied the Great Apostasy today. 

Did you get the coaches emails I sent?  You never responded to any of that... does that mean... "give it a rest, Mom?" or you just didn't have time to respond about it? 

Oh ya i just forgot too. I'm not sure I will do that quite yet, I'm still a year and a half away from that. 

We watched the 3 part series on LDS.org on Light by Bednar for FHE tonight... it is SO good... watch it with Elder Grieves... you will love it.  

Is there anything you want us to specifically pray for?  

Donna that she'll able to come to church. 

How are the golf pants holding up?  

Pretty solid, I haven't been wearing the addidas ones very much. 

and your suits?  

Yes they're good, I think they shrunk a bit when I got them dry cleaned last week. I kinda want to find another Grey suit soon. 

Do you need any new pants or shirts???  

Not yet, I really like the Hagar pants but I'll let you know if I need another pair. 

How are you on ties?  

I got you a couple the other day... let me know if you want me to add anything more to the package??

OK I can't think of anything right now.

Do you know I LOVE YOU!!!!???

Yes! And I love your emails I like reading about all the details! It's the best! 

And you're the best! 

Love you mom 

Elder Morgan

3/13/17...Elder Cook Came to Our Mission!

Heyyyy!

I don't know how I didn't mention this before but Elder Cook came to our mission this week! We had a mission conference with him Saturday and it was seriously so great! Him Elder Klebingat and his wife all spoke. Sister Klebingat was one of the best speakers ever. She gave an awesome talk about having righteous desires and it was solid! Elder Klebingat talked about really being converted and how we can go on a mission without the mission going through us. Then Elder Cook spoke and it was amazing the spirit was so strong in the room. He gave  a really powerful testimony at the end that was so strong. I learned something from all of them.  It was really such a great weekend. Sunday there was another conference for the 7 stakes in our mission and all of the stakes met at Bojangles Coliseum it's just like the Toyota Center pretty much. This conference was also really good. Elder Cook talked about building Zion in our heart and in our homes. Elder Klebingat talked a lot on the premortal life and it got super deep and we had an investigator there but I think she like it a lot.

Other things that weren't as significant as that, happened this week....

Elder Grieve and I were talking about this but every time we get home or on Monday when we try to think of fun or funny things that happened we can never remember any of them. It's probably because we are just so busy that we can't remember. 

I went on exchange with Elder Hampshire this Wednesday that was really fun, he is really smart and has a ton of gospel knowledge. We taught our Wednesday night lesson at the church with Donna and Debbie there. Donna is on fire right now! She has such a strong testimony already, she hasn't drank alcohol since the first time we met her. We're going to help her quit smoking this week as well which we are hopeful that she can quit that as well. We also had a great lesson with Denzel and Myiesha on Tuesday. They had started to lose their fire so we just sat down with them and talked about how we can help them and if they're interested in rekindling that fire. They really did want to. They are just having such a hard time stopping smoking but I really think they can do it, it's just them believing that they can do it. 

Saturday night we were looking for a Hispanic family that we had taught a couple days earlier. They weren't home we knocked a door a couple houses down. And this lady answered and let us right in. We invited her family in to listen to our message and out come 3 kids that were just the nicest people. We taught the Restoration and the Spirit was there and the were really interested. At the end their little kid raised his hand and said, "If I may say, I am just honored that you came to our home to teach my family how to get to heaven!" It was so cute and was pretty touching. 

Love you so much I'm sorry my letters the last couple weeks have kind of been lame I'll try harder next week. 

Love you mom!

Elder Morgan 

Hey dad! 

Glad everything is going good in the branch! How's the Missionaries and the work going there? 

It's gotta be so fun to serve in a YSA Branch! Being able to teach a bunch of young people has got to be awesome.  Still think it's crazy that Rachel is getting married though! Wow you're going to need to find me someone else to marry when I get home then lol. 

This week was really good though --we found an awesome little Hispanic family and it makes me really wish I actually learned some Spanish in my 3 years of Spanish in high school. We had a conference and Elder Quentin L. Cook came and it was seriously the best! He gave such a powerful testimony of the Savior.  It was amazing. He also emphasized how big of an effect our missions are having on loved ones. Then we had a conference for the 7 stakes in our mission on Sunday and it was also soooo good. Elder Klebingat spoke as well and he went really deep into the premortal life how Heavenly Father had watched us and saw how we fought in the war in heaven and it was soooo good.  We had an investigator come down to Charlotte to see it as well which was great. This transfer has flown because it has been a blast, and we've had a ton of people to teach! 

Love you dad 

Elder Morgan 

3/6/17...We went to the largest zoo in the world today! ...and taught some other cool lessons.

Heyyyyy! 

We had a really good week this week! Sunday we thought we were going to have a lot of people at church but unfortunately a ton of them canceled last minute.:(

But a lady named Annie and her son Sean came! She was the first lady we taught when i got to Salisbury. It was awesome......except one of her kids ran to the front and started pounding on the piano....exactly what you want to happen when you have someone at church. But all the members were super cool too her and she really liked it I think. She has a 16 yr old son who I think had a good time. They came to our church lesson on Wednesday night and she liked it. Then we taught them again Friday about the plan of Salvation and it went so well.  She had great understanding and her son who had previously read half of the Book of Mormon already pretty much knew it all because he had been Facebook messaging his Mormon friend. So they're super committed and want to really do this so Elder Grieve and I are really excited about them. 

On Thursday we had dinner with Denzel and Myiesha at the Smoke Pit, which is a super good barbecue place here and it's way better than Dickeys--it doesn't even compare. So we ate and then went over to their house and taught them the stop smoking lesson. We were super excited for it and to see them stop smoking and the lesson went really bad, they just didn't really seem into not smoking. But they committed to do it and they are doing are lot better but still having some troubles with it. They are the best though and so fun. They have a couple of the cutest kids. Unfortunately they're not really progressing well though right now. 

Saturday we had a lesson scheduled with a lady named Juana and her son Kevin.  It was awesome, we had a member come with us, Brother Walsh.....more on him in a sec. The lesson went so good we taught them the restoration and Brother Walsh gave the first vision in Spanish and Juana cried during it and they were super really excited about it. Kevin wasn't as much but they were both really committed to investigate. So we're excited about them. Then we went over to Brother Walshs' for lunch and come to find out he served in the Texas McAllen mission and trained Jeff Mickelson! Crazy! And guess what? One of his other companions was Michael Barton. He took a picture of us and put it on Jeffs Facebook. It was pretty fun. 

Other than that stuff I really can't remember any details of the week.

We went the largest zoo in the world today! It was actually so sweet, they had like every animal it was cool. The gorillas were my favorite....they would bang on the glass every once and a while which was kinda sad because they're all locked up in this tiny enclosure. 

I cannot believe Rachel is engaged though! That is just mind blowing haha so crazy...I guess my chances are gone now haha. And Whitney and Morgan! That's awesome! I'm so happy for them! Everyone is getting engaged it's crazy! 

Qs

Did you get the Amazon Pantry boxes?  What are your favs?

Ya i got it! So good 

Did you get the package from Jill?  or how can the Winston-Salem elders get it to you?

Yes I got the package from them! So awesome! They're the best! 

How are your workouts going?  Are you still lifting? 

They're goin... haha we don't have a lot of weights so it's mostly body weight stuff. 

Have you gotten to throw much?

Nope ): so sad but I think I'll throw next Monday if we go the Messiscos who have a ton of land. 

Send us some pics of your apartment

Is it nice?  Dirty?  Are you keeping it CLEAN? 

Ya it's fairly clean. We clean it on Mondays 

How often do they do apartment cleaning checks?  

Every little bit, an Elder from the 70 is coming to check them soon though. Which is strange   

Is there anything I can do to support you better?

No you're the best maw! 

Love, 

Elder Morgan