8/28/17... Elder Johnsen and I found some great people and had some gold lessons.

Mornin y'all! 

This was just another great week in the south. Elder Johnsen and I found some great people and had some gold lessons. Also had some conference this week which was really great. 

Oh the eclipse last Monday.... i thought It was going to be lame or kind of a waste of a p-day but naw it was way worth it. It was legit. I sent the videos of it idk if you saw them but it got pretty dark outside actually, like really dark. There was so much anticipation right before it happened, hopefully I didn't burn my eyes because I looked up before it was full under and it looked like a ring with a diamond on the top and then I went under and you could see the sun around the moon and almost like solar flares. Then the clouds cover it before it even finished so that was a bummer but it was still dark when that happened and we got to see the total eclipse still. I probably thought it was so cool because that's about how exciting my life gets right now lol. 

Monday night we had gotten a referral from a member in another ward, so we set up a lesson to go teach her. Her name is Archana. She is Indian and has lived her for about 5 years. We started to get to know her and she really opened up. She was in an abusive relationship.  Hher family pretty much disowned her. And she has just had a really hard time, she started going to a church called elevation church a while ago. We could tell she had been really prepared before we started to teach her the restoration. We taught her and after she said she saw a light around us as we talked about the first vision. She definitely felt the Spirit. She was very excited to read the Book of Mormon.  Unfortunately we got a text the next morning and she told us she is too involved in the elevation church right now to switch anything. I know she knew that what we taught her was true, I think she will join the church one day for sure. 

Right after that we had to go pick up an elder from the mission home whose companion went home, so Elder Buffalo came and stayed with us. Thursday We had our zone conference. It was really good, we listened to a talk by Elder Christopherson on the Book of Mormon. He mentioned D&C 4 where it says thrust in your sickle with your might. And he talked about how the Book of Mormon is the Lord's tool in the harvest. So the sickle is the Book of Mormon and we talked a lot about how we can use the Book of Mormon more in our finding and teaching. It was great, so this week we tried to really connect people with the Book of Mormon and we saw some miracles. Peoples hearts are softened a lot when you share a scripture with them before you mention the book. 

Jason is doing really good still, he came to conference yesterday. We taught him the word of wisdom and he is so set, we got lunch with him again on Saturday. Jo isn't doing so hot right now, he hasn't been getting back to us lately. His dad is still telling him it's a bad idea. Beryl came to church this Sunday and she quit smoking finally! She is starting to progress again! So excited for her. We're also teaching a guy named miles that is pretty interesting, I think he is pretty lazy so it's hard to get him up for church on Sunday! 

Love y'all

Love you mom! 

Qs

-Did you get the protein?

Ya got it!

-What is going on with the guy's car?

It's all good, I called the mission office and the church insurance is taking care of it. 

-Did you get the mission office to help you?

Yup

-Did you get the tablet and case? 

Ya got it all! Thank you mom! 

Wow that's so sad what happened to grandma. And Hattimer, Mom said he's in pretty bad shape right now and tore like everything in his legs? And also Grandpa Wayne has cancer? 

Are you just home alone all the time now since they just go out of town everyday? 

Everything got taken care of by the mission office with the car dent. I called and he was like no no no you're doing this all wrong we'll take care of it from here. So they handled it all already. I got the new tablet already too. Hopefully I can just steer clear of anything bad this next couple weeks before I end up making everyone go broke. 

I've been thinking about how short this 2 years is especially thinking about how fast it's gone so far and just trying to make the most of my time. I think it will really hit me in a few months when it turns 2018 though. It's just so weird how fast time has gone.

Love you, Elder Morgan 

8/21/17... We found some great people this week... Saw the solar eclipse...And my tablet got stolen...

Hey y'all! 

Guess what? Right now we are driving down to a place called Chester, furthest in the mission South. To go see the total Solar Eclipse! Yup total I said it! I don't know if it'll be anything sweet or what not but we're going just in case we really don't wanna miss. Hopefully it's not lame, it's going to be almost an all p day thing. Oh well. 

We found some great people this week! We got a referral from the Sharon sisters named Miles.  He's 26 and he had been to church. It's kind of interesting though, he might of just been interested in the sisters than the message.  He keeps texting them about taking them to dinner or something.  It's weird that he doesn't want to take us out to dinner... fishy. 

We went on exchange with Elder Shultz and Elder Grieve. Elder Grieve came here with me, and Elder Johnsen went to Mathews with Elder Shultz. It was pretty fun, we had dinner with the Sheppards and an elder that went home a bit ago came back and visited and it was pretty fun talking to him and his family.  They're all Canadian. Canadians are really weird but funny haha. Then we went and taught Jason after that. It was such a good lesson.  We had Brother Malave come with us who's a Spanish member that's a super fun, chill guy. We taught the Word of Wisdom and it went so well. He had quit most of the things a couple years prior. He quit drinking coffee the week before and said after he quit coffee nothing is hard at all. So he said he'd stop drinking tea as well. It was amazing, Jason is so elect it's awesome. We went and got pho with him on Saturday as well. He came to church on Sunday all looking fresh in his suit. He seemed to like it a lot. He even volunteered to help with nursery until they had him come back into elders quorum haha. It was pretty sweet. He's such a solid guy, I think he'll be a leader in the church one day. 

Oh my goodness I need to tell you what happened on Wednesday too. So We went to district meetings and exchanged back after, then we went to go eat at Mr. Tokyo and we went in to eat and we come back out and head back to our apartment to change and I looked around for my tablet and it was gone. I couldn't find it. We drove back to Mr. Tokyo and asked if they saw it at all, but I didn't think that I brought it in. The only thing that could have happened was it got stolen out of our car. So someone stole my tablet out of our car during lunch. We then called the mission office and told them, they wiped my tablet and we're able to get me a loaner tablet. I was so worried I lost all the pictures I had taken but it somehow downloaded everything I had on my old tablet. 

Thursday we got a call back from Jo and he told us he wanted to push the baptism back a little bit. We were a little bummed just because we had planned a lot of it. But I understood, Jo is kind of doing this with not much support from his family and his dad started to push back against him. So we are just taking it a little bit slower with him. He still wants to get baptized so it'll probably be early September. 

  

Elder Johnsen and I are getting along really good.  We have a ton in common.  Our dogs are both named Max, his brother's name is Jeffrey Parker.  And mine is Parker Jeffrey. Crazy.

Love y'all 

Love you mom! 

Qs

Do you need new garment tops?  What kind and what size?

Yes please! Size Medium

Do you need anything else?  Not right now I'll send you an email about something you need to know. 

Did you get the new protein powder I sent?  No I might need to go check the office.

Are you lifting??  You know it! I'm a few Lbs here and there.   

How do the basketball shoes fit? Yes 😍I love them, they're so sweet and feel really good when I play in them. 

Amazon pantry wish list?  You didn't tell me anything last week! Zone perfect fudge graham protein bars. Cereal. Don't send the tv dinners though --Don't like those anymore lol. 

Yes I'll need you to buy me a new tablet, I have 3 weeks with the loaner. I'm so sorry, this is expensive and I feel really bad about all of this. 

Samsung galaxy s2 tablet. The smaller one. Get me a sweet case with it if you could. I don't like the case they come with. 

Okay. I'll get on it now. Don't worry about it. It is a bummer, but now you will always be sure to lock it up. 

Dishonesty is the worst!!!  

Read ASAP:

So a couple weeks ago right after the pga tour when we were leaving I tripped and fell into the side of a car, I dented it a bit on accident probably about 4 inches on the left side by the tail light. I left a note on the guys car and we had to leave for dinner. 

He called and we talked about it. And he said he took it in and he gave me the estimate number, 1200$ I didn't  really believe him and we talked and he said he would take it in to another guy. He came back with another number and told me 1380$  for a fender.... one fender. On a Hyundai....

So I need to talk to him and i told him id get my insurance information from you. Which i dont even want to have to deal with, it's just kind of stressful on top of missionary work. 

But i told him I'd get my information from you and get back to him with it. 

What should I do? 

Email me back when you get my email. I just need some advice, 1200 sounds like way too much I'd think it's be 400$ 

I just talked to Dad. He asked if you had talked to the mission office--and what did they say??  I don't think it would be worth it to turn it into insurance because of our deductible. I would pay the bill directly if you can get they place to send you the bill. I know cars cost a ton to fix but maybe the mission office will tell you where he should get a bid and then we will know if it's a legit bid. Then whatever you and the guy decide is fair, we can pay the place directly.  (Off of an invoice, of course)

Sorry that happened!

143!

Ok what do I pay with? I haven't even talked to mission office about it. 

Should he just email me the information on it? 

I told the guy to take it into a Maaco where the church takes the cars in and he told me he wouldn't get no cheap job on it. Can I tell him to still go there even if he says no? I kind of feel that this by is scamming me, it was a 4 inch dent....

He doesn't have to get it fixed there. We just need to make sure it's in the same price range. Then we can split the difference. Tell him you understand that you don't want a cheap fix job. You want it done right--you just really trust the guys at Maaco. 

Send me a picture of the invoice when you get it. 

I do think it's important for you to have him get a bid at a shop you choose as well so you know he is not hosing you. If your shop comes out with a bid in the same ballpark, then you know he's not hosing you. Ask a member or the mission couple in charge of cars. They probably have a contract with a shop. 

 

 

8/14/17... Great week...exchange with Elder Huff, lesson with President, Sunday dinner, sushi and a package!

Sup y'all! 

Had a great week. Had some good miracles this week also. 

Went on exchange this Wednesday with Elder Huff. It was super fun, we found a new lady to teach named Iliana. We had a meeting on Tuesday and talked a lot about connecting people with the Book of Mormon and finding something that can connect with them, because anything can really. So we connected her really well with the  Book of Mormon and it was really good.  She liked it and her heart opened a lot when we read her a scripture.  We taught Jason on exchange this night also and it went super good, we asked him to set a date and he was like ok let's do this I'm thinking September 8th. He has quit drinking coffee this week already.  He is also coming to church this next Sunday.  He said he's busting out the suits.  He also invited us to go get lunch with him this Saturday.  We went and got some Vietnamese Pho. It was so good it changed my life I think lol I was in love. I got converted to the pho life. It was amazing. I think we're going every Saturday from now on. 😍

Friday night President Alexander called us and told us to bring an investigator over Saturday night so his grandkids can teach him.  We ended up being able to get Jo to come with us.  And a member to take us up.  We went and it was fun.  We ate pizza. Then the kids taught the restoration. It was a little all over the place but it was probably a lot better than I would have done at their age!  Then we taught the Word of Wisdom and Jo was committed to live it.  He came to church the next day as well.  He is so amazing.  Ever since we came and taught him they first night, he has kept every commitment and anything that we have asked him.  He is totally doing this on his own without much family support either. It's pretty amazing. He inspires me. 

Sunday we went and had dinner with one of the bug guys here and his wife, who isn't a member.  They're super fun we had a good time and they had this really good French toast casserole. Sarah's gotta make it sometime for me when I get back.

This week we went and got some sushi at this restaurant down the road😍 It was amazing. I like sushi so much now. But this is not a good thing because it's a little spendy sometimes. 

  

Mom I got the package! Thank you so much I loved it! The shoes are so sweet! I love the tie and the glasses, all of it was much needed!  You must be so close to the spirit because I think everything in there was inspired.  You're the best. 

We went and played basketball in the morning this week, and it was so sick.  We had 12 elders there and we played 4 on 4 on 4 continuous and we were getting smacked for a while until we started heating up and we couldn't be stopped.  We came back and won, of course. No surprise. Jk but really. 

Also shout out to mi padre! Happy Birthday Dad! I'm glad y'all had a blast at the narrows. 

Love y'all! 

 

 

8/7/17...I can't believe I just passed my year mark. And I got to go to the PGA tour!

 

The weeks just keep flying by. I can't believe I just passed my year mark. Well today was pretty crazy! Last week we golfed with a member named Brother Spear and it was a ton of fun. He talked to us about going to the PGA tour with him this Wednesday and we told him we couldn't go. This guy also uber drives, so he talked to some guys he uber drove and they had a ton of passes so they asked him if he wanted any and they gave him 4 for Wednesday for free. Then Sunday came and he went to pick them up and he said well just take these 4 for Monday.  I can't sell them. They were Wanamaker passes. Brother Sears couldn't go Monday so he told us if we wanted them, we could go. Well we capitalized on those and went the the PGA tour! It was practice rounds but I got to see Jordan Speith on hole 9 and got a pic by him. It was a great experience! 

Tuesday I went to Mooresville to pick up my companion Elder Johnsen and said bye to Elder Carroll. It was sad, but it had to happen. Elder Johnsen is great though.  We have had such a good time together. We were able to find some great people this week. One of them was Jason Thomas--we taught him Tuesday night. He was so prepared. He met with missionaries 3 years ago and he had problems with drinking and smoking and some law of chastity probs. He couldn't commit to anything to the missionaries so they stopped visiting him. Well found him the other night and we got talking and he has stopped drinking and smoking and has gotten married now. The Lord definitely prepared him, he stopped doing those things because he felt he was sinning.  It was so sweet talking to him and listening to him say this. He felt he was ready to commit to baptism this time and he really is going to pray to know if Thomas S Monson is a prophet. It was a great lesson, we are teaching him tonight and I think he'll probably set a date for baptism and even come to church. I'm excited.  

Jo is still doing great. He is so set for baptism and committed.  He came to church.  We taught him the Plan of Salvation, he said he wants to make it to the celestial kingdom and receive a fulness of glory and joy.  It was pretty neat 

I love listening to people talk about experiences they've had that the Lord has prepared them over time, it's amazing, if people are searching for guidance or looking in any way we will find them because the Lord knows whose ready. They will find the church or missionaries in some way if they're looking for truth. I love being a part of the Lord's work.    

I've had a great time with Elder Johnsen so far.  We have a lot of the same things in common...it's pretty crazy. He is going to play football again for Utah State. Her from Ventura, California.  

More Qs

COMP

How is that going?

Really good I like him a lot we are going to have a good time together and work hard! He is really athletic and he goes home in 3 months so I'll probably be his last companion. 

I didn't get any pics last week so send one of the two of you together so we can see what he looks like.  

Did you get the package?

No 

What protein brand and flavor do you like?

Any, maybe whey protein?

Do the basketball shoes fit?

?wish I could say lol

Did you like the surprise tucked in the shoes?

Idk yet 

Do you need anything?

No you're the best

Have you heard how Elder Hutchen's sister is doing in Salisbury?

Not yet, I'm going to message her though. I really hope she is doing well I was bummed I didn't even get to say bye. 

I love y'all have a great week!! 

Love Elder Morgan