9/25/17.. We went teaching with President Alexander and taught Jason

Hey y'all! 

Hope y'all are killin it as always! 

Can't believe everyone is back at school already! Time goes too fast sometimes. That's something that I want to focus on coming up is just enjoying all the time I have and not getting too stressed about things. 

This week was a blurr really. I'll try and give some details of what's going on but I can't think right now haha. 

Tuesday we went to the chiropractor for Elder Johnsen's back up in Mooresville, I thought I'd hop on the table while we're their and get my back adjusted. It was pretty good but my back has been hurting a bit actually after it. Then we drove back through uptown Charlotte....idk why it's called uptown not downtown but it is. Got some Prices Chicken for lunch when we got back and it was so bomb! Best fried chicken I've ever had. It's crazy how good it is. You've just never had any chicken this good. With some hush puppies and some slaw mmmmmhhhhmmmm now this is actually finger licken good. After dinner that night we went teaching with President Alexander and taught Jason. He only was able to come to one lesson with us, but after we had a meeting with President Hall, the stake President. We just talked mostly about how to improve the work in the zone with the members. Overall really fun day! Oh ya and I was with Elder Fife! My buddy from the MTC! We got to go on exchange and it was a blast talking again about all the MTC memories....still can't believe I can say that was over a year ago. 

Wednesday we had district meeting and then we had a meeting with he sisters and talked about our zone week we're going to do in a couple weeks. We gotta come up with a super fun zone activity to do as a zone to kick it off too. So if you have any ideas tell me!  We can't do a big group activity in public but we can go to a park or something. Let me know what some ideas are, I'm not super creative. 

We helped some members do an eagle project this week too that was pretty fun. Then we went and ate in uptown on our way back again and it was really fun.

We saw a lot of miracles this week too. Elder Johnsen and I were doing some finding, trying to talk to some people and we got in the car and realized we didn't have much time so we got out and said we'd knock 2 doors behind us and we'll find someone that is interested. Well we knocked the first, no one. Knocked the second and someone opened and it was a lady from Nigeria.  She asked us about wanting to come to church and wanted to learn more. We taught her again Saturday and had a really solid lesson with her and her daughter and put them on date for baptism. We're really excited to keep teaching them. 

We also went on exchanges this week with Elder Carroll and Elder Grieve who are companions again. It was pretty fun -- good to be back with them again we had a good time together.  

We go get pho with Jason and Star every Saturday which is a lot of fun. Guess what? Jason got the Aaronic Priesthood Sunday! It was awesome. He asked if I would do it so it was a gold experience for me doing that the first time. And another returning member asked if I'd ordain him to the Aaronic Priesthood as well in a few weeks too. Seeing people progress in the gospel is the best. I'm just grateful for the experiences I've been able to have here.

The Book of Mormon is the awesome and true. 

Love y'all! 

Q's

When did you send the package here? 

Is dad getting a new calling that he knows of? Mom what's your calling right now? 

How's Southridge football this year? 

How can I decide where to go to college when I get back if I have about a month until it starts? 

Prayer and fasting of course. What else? 

 

9/18/17... This week was definitely a test of faith.

Wasup  y'all! 

This week was definitely a test of faith. We were working hard trying to find new people to teach and things just weren't turning out all week. It's like people just hated us. They'd open the door and just immediately reject us... it was rough. We tried not to get discouraged at all. It was seriously worse than I'd seen my whole mission. People just weren't happy to see us lol. 

So it got to Sunday and we just prayed before we went out and had faith that'd we could reach our goals for the week. 

I prayed that we would find a family to teach and Elder Johnsen said he wanted to find 5 people interested in having us come back. We had put a lot of people who had potential in our plans and we hit it hard. First door we knocked on we met a lady we weren't trying to find and she was really interest in having us come back and teach her more. We kept going and we went over to the next apartment complex and we tried a Hispanic family that had some interest before and the dad answered and was really interested in what we shared.  They invited us back to teach them more. Literally this is the first 2 people we try and see after a week full of rejection after rejection, you could imagine we were stoked haha. 

A few days before we were in an apartment complex and heading to the car and we see an Isuzu Rodeo drive by and park. The lady smiled and waved and we both said we need to go talk to her some day...1 she's driving a Rodeo....best car on the road!  2 she smiled and waved she's gotta be nice. So back to Sunday, we go to this apartment complex knowing that Rodeo family is in here somewhere lol. 3 doors later and they open the door!  The mom was playing the piano and she just loved the restoration.... It was in Spanish so I was just trying to follow along.  I'm getting pretty good at it.  I can tell what they're saying, I just can't speak it.  It was great she invited us in right away but it was just her and her kid, so we couldn't go in. Miracle. So we were able to find 4 people in an hour. It was amazing.

After this we just prayed said thank you to heavenly Father. The whole week was just a test of faith and I think we were able to overcome the test. My testimony that this is the Lord's work was strengthened a lot. It was also humbling. 

This was pretty much the gist of our week, not much other happened. ...except I lost my lunch...

    

What is the new technology program you are implementing?  Oh yes! Soooooo this is sweet. In a few weeks at MLC they are implimenting Smart Phones in our mission! We will still have our tablets but we get to use smart phones now, don't know exactly what they'll be used for but starting in 2018 new missionaries are going to come out with Samsung phones. 

Have you been throwing a baseball?  Not as much as I'd be hoping too. I do miss throwing though. 

What is your favorite Southern food you've eaten?  What is your favorite thing about North Carolina?  Probably the culture, it's pretty different lot of country folk that open carry and it's pretty sweet not so much in Charlotte but still see it quit a bit. 

How are you doing getting up early now?  Good! Still not a morning person but you just gotta do it really. 

Are you still playing basketball a bunch?  Not much this week but next week we are, playing right now too. 

What are you doing for Pday?  Playing some b ball right now!

Scripture or quote of the week? Just reading in the book of Mosiah this week. And Abinadi quotes Isaiah in chapter 14. It's one of my favorite chapters. He uses ways to describe the Savior that make you think a lot and helps us understand the Savior and his mission. I'd invite y'all to read it. Mosiah 14. 

Do you know we LOVE you??  I can only pray. lol  ya I do 

I love y'all though! LOVE YOU MOM

Elder Morgan 

That's pretty fun Parker went and took a girl to homecoming that's nice of him. This week was pretty tough honestly, we have been working super hard and we hadn't found anyone all week. It Sunday and we prayed before we went out that we'd reach our goal of 3 new investigators. Elder Johnsen said let's find 5 and I said let's find a family too. We go out and miracle after miracle we end up with 5 new investigators and a family. It was amazing. It was definitely a test of our faith. And we could tell throughout the week, it was just rejection after rejection. 

Overall it strengthened my testimony a lot. 

I need to start throwing I'm gaining weight little by little though I think I can get 180+ by the time I'm home. 

Love you 

Elder Morgan 

 

 

9/11/17...Jason's baptism was so good!

Transfers are this week...........

..........i am..........staying in Pineville! No surprise there though. 

This week was pretty sweet! Tuesday we had MLC which is just in Charlotte so it wasn't a very far. But it was all on our technology. We got chosen out of 12 missions in the world to do this new program. Not sure what it is yet but it's a new way to proselyte I guess. We had a huge technology training to get everyone back to the safeguards so we can be ready to receive this new stuff. I hear some missions are getting iPhones and Instagram and other things so we'll see what's going to happen. .....maybe Snapchat lol. No probably not Snapchat. But we'll see idk when we'll learn about this stuff but it'll be soon. Then Friday we had a zone meeting and we trained on the technology stuff. It was pretty funny we were all set for the meeting and we had went and bought a HDMI cord and an adapter to the iPad and we plugged it all in and got it all ready.....the adapter was to the new iPhones and it didn't work. So we needed the slideshow on the iPad so 15 minutes before we had to haul over to Wal-Mart and by a new adapter. Ended up costing a fortune because those aren't cheap. Got there and got it all set up and got started 30 minutes late but hey it was pretty good meeting. It took a long time but it ended good. 

Last night was so long though, we got in at  about 9 and had a mission conference call with President about the hurricane coming in. Then we had to put in all of the indicators for the zone. Then we had to wait for transfer calls to come in and it was about 11:30 and they told us they'd come in the morning lol. We got them and President made so many changes it was so wild! Elder Johnsen and I are staying, but pretty much everyone is getting moved around. 

We got dinner one night with the Gunsons and Brother Gunson is super knowledgeable about the Book of Mormon so we had some really good conversations on it. The Book of Mormon contains somethings called chiasmus which is a literary device that was used by ancient people and wasn't discovered until the late 1900s.  It's in many chapters of the Book of Mormon. Alma 34 is a big one. Just another witness of its truthfulness. 

Friday night was Jason's baptism! It was really good! And it was a bit too long but it was good. The Cardenas Family was baptized too.  I'll send some pictures of it.  Jason's wife came. She works 2 jobs so we don't see her ever.  We're praying she can investigate, she seemed to really like church too. I got to confirm Jason which was a good experience, it was my first time so I just tried to follow the spirit. 

Other than that not much happened.  It was a great week we had some miracles finding as well. 

Love y'all 

Love you mom 

Qs...

Did you go into Charlotte for the MLC? Did you spend the night there?  or is it close enough that you just go back. 

No it's about 25 minute drive plus traffic time. 

Who all did you see at MLC?

Elder Shultz, grieve, Carroll, Sister Vonasek, Sister Peterson, Elder Fulmer, some other peeps it was super fun! 

And Elder Fife from the MTC is coming into the zone. 

Have you felt any effects of Hurricane Irma?

Ya it's raining pretty good here right now and it's about 30 mph winds

The Smithees said that a bunch of people from Florida were staying with people in Chelsea's ward in South Carolina... Do you have people finding refuge there too?  

No there's none of that going on here. But we are doing drives and stuff. 

Tell us the 3 best things about our mission so far. ...

Do you need anything?

Naw I'm good right now.

Who should we pray specifically for this week?

Pray for our investigators beryl, that she can recognize an answer that this is true, she believes it's true but we're helping her recognize the spirit. 

Oh... Did you get the Amazon Pantry package???  Did you like it??

Ya it was so good! Thank you so much! 

We had a an awesome week here as well! Jason's baptism was so good! He got baptized with a family the sisters baptized. I got to confirm him and it was pretty sweet experience. I feel like Jason could be a really good leader in the church one day. He is ready to receive the priesthood. It's really exciting seeing his progress. I can't believe that you're almost done in the branch. I have seen your love for others grow so much with this calling. I want to be able to be an example like this to my kids one day. Thank you for all that you do for me. 

This week is transfers we're stating together and pretty much our whole zone is getting switched around. Elder Kimball is coming into the zone to Fort Mill which should be fun. I know some of the other missionaries that are coming in too so it'll be a good transfer. Just gotta help elder Johnsen finish off strong. 

It just keeps hitting me how fast time is going. I'm going to be home so fast it's insane how I can already say 1 year ago talking about my mission.  Also....side note I think we should get some more guns, a pistol and maybe an AR. And each have some handgun training, especially Mom and Sarah. 

The works going well though, we might be starting to teach Jason's wife soon, she came to church and loved it so hopefully she'll start to investigate soon!

Love you,

Elder Morgan 

Wow the weeks seem to be flying by.  I do not know how you feel but it is amazing to me that conference is in 3 weeks.  We had a busy week, we got home late from Island Park on Monday night and I worked for a couple of days and then I went to Utah for Thursday to check out a business that I have been looking into for a while, then I flew back for Friday and got some stuff done then Saturday we watched BYU lose to Utah which almost gave me a heart attack.  Sunday we had a great day at church and the branch.  Mom and I met with President Call about getting released from the branch this week and I feel really good about it.  It should be the same way when you get off your mission.  Work hard and do your best and when you are done, know you left it all on the field and did your best.  So the week after conference we are going to be released.  As one of my favorite talks says as one door closes another one opens, Elder Morgan I am so thankful for a Heavenly Father that knows me and loves me so much that He sent His son to be my Savior.  I love you and know how dedicated you are as a missionary and know Heavenly Father knows that as well.  I hope that you have a great week and that you enjoy every minute of it.

Love

Dad

 

9/4/17... Everything's been going good down here in Pineville

Uptown! B ball court we found in the hood
that we're going to this Wednesday morning to play at! 

What's up y'all!

Everything's been going good down here in Pineville.  We are seeing a ton of miracles!  We found some awesome people this week. 

We went on exchanges this week with Sharon and I went with Elder Berryhill and it was so fun! Elder Berryhill is crazy haha He is so funny.  He knows how to make a bunch of bombs... He blew up a whole mailbox in high school haha. It was so nice going on exchange with a new missionary, they just have some fire about them that is good to be around. We had a good night, we had such a weird lesson though, there was a blind guy and his family that we taught and it was just weird, it was a decent lesson but just weird situation and the blind guy wasn't super interested. Let's just say he didn't really SEE the light of the message. 

Jason is doing really good.  We taught him Tuesday some commandments and focused on reading everyday, praying and following the prophet.  It was really good. Brother Malave came. Jason is the best, he is so funny the way he talks.  He is from Ghiana in South America and he always will say what's up baby or what's up mama to women.  He always speaks patwa like they did in Jamaica so I was trying to learn some 😂 wah gwan bruddah. 

Church was really good yesterday, we didn't have anybody make it.  Jason was out of town and David, Beryl's husband was sick so she couldn't make it either.  But there were some great testimonies shared. We talked a lot about service in 2nd hour as well and I just though a lot about the service that the Savior gave while he was here. Service helps us develop Christlike attributes. Like when the the Savior washed the feet of the disciples, it was such an act of service to them... that was a great example to us. 

This Tuesday is MLC and it should be super fun. It's my favorite meeting. President usually has some really good trainings and I'm excited. Jason's baptism is this Friday so it should be really good. 

Pic at the mission office 

Qs?

How's it going with Elder Johnsen?

Super good he is so funny and has been out quite a while...He goes home in 7 weeks so we're just working hard finishing it off strong for him. It's so fun though-- he likes sports, likes to hunt, so it's a good time.  We are like the same people almost sometimes it's crazy....his brother's name is Jeffrey Parker. His dad's name is Jeffrey, his dog's name is Max....ya no joke. 

How is it being the Zone Leader? 

It's good, just doing my best, it's just a little more responsibility sometimes but other than that it's the same. More stressful sometimes though. 

Are you getting it?

Yeah little by little... Its going though 

Has the humidity cooled down at all?

Ya this week was soooo nice! It wasn't humid much and it was so nice to be out working in the cool heat.  It was so nice towards the evening time because it was really cool. I guess there's a massive hurricane that might come our way too called Hurricane Irma... look it up. 

Is Maddi's friend in your ward?

Ya she lives right by us, super nice family. 

What is your scripture study routine?

Start with the Book of Mormon, read 5 pages and mark Christlike attributes, then I go to Preach My Gospel and study a topic and doctrine section. Then if I have time I'll go to the New Testament and study a chapter as well. 

Love you!

Elder Morgan 

We got to drive the big van for a night!

Then we passed the Nascar Hall of Fame on exchanges in Uptown.