1/29/18... We had some more great lessons with Destany

This week was amazing, we had a lot of great things happen. I had been praying super hard for some miracles and for us to be able to find some more people to teach. We a few people we are teaching but it was just a lot of trying to find people and it had been going slow. 

Heavenly Father definitely heard my prayers and blessed us a lot this week. We had some more great lessons with Destany. She is on date for the 17th and is super excited. She even mentioned wanting to serve a mission! Her sister isn't too supportive of it because she wouldn't see her for a long time but she just knows what's right and wants to do it. 

Brother Hickman comes out with us every Friday. And we visited a lot of around 20 people, mostly less actives. It went really good, we found a lot of part member homes that we didn't even know about that would be sort of interested. We found a family who didn't want any contact with the church that turned out to be really nice and invited us to come back whenever we can make it. We went out to a town called Casar which is a super spread out country town, and it was beautiful. It was just a really productive day and it was so nice to have Brother Hickman who just loves to serve. 

We also got a message from some missionaries that said there's a guy who wants to meet with us and learn more. We had a lesson with him Saturday and it was so good, he really wants to learn truth not just what he's grown up learning but what is really doctrine. The lesson went super good, elder did really good, he is getting a lot better at teaching it was really impressive to watch him. The guy is reading the Book of Mormon and praying, he couldn't come to church but if he continues he will feel the spirit and continue to progress which is awesome. 

Something amazing happened on Sunday, we were sitting there....oh ya I gave a talk on Sunday... first one since I left on my mission lol. I mentioned the paper I wrote in english class about flying under the radar and how I flew under the radar and didn't give a talk until now haha. People thought it was hilarious. But right before sacrament a family walked in that I have never seen before, thinking that they were members and they turned out to be the mom just moved from Philippines and the dad lives here and is not a member. They're getting married but the mom said he needs to join the church, we'll he walked in and said he is wanting to get baptized. It was so great! Such a miracle, and an answer to my prayers. Jason came to church today as well and it was great to have him their because we just felt like we should call him and invite him on Saturday and he said yes so we got him a ride. But it was a great Sunday

Today we had a zone activity and we played kickball, on a wet field lol everyone was slipping and getting super muddy it was fun, had a cookout, the Hickmans came. A lot of fun :) 

So overall it was an awesome week! I loved it. 

Love you mom, 

Love y'all,

Elder Morgan 

1/22/18... The week was going pretty good, started with a fun p-day...until it got rudely interrupted by the flu.

I currently have the flu so thatll tell ya how part of this week has gone unfortunately. I started to get sick Friday and Saturday and then Sunday it just got worse so I was in bed all day, then today im still not feeling too great. But before that the week was going pretty good, until it got rudely interrupted by the flu. 

Transfers were this week, but we aren't going anywhere so nothing was different for us.

It snowed this week again, it was crazy! It snowed about 4 inches one day, which is a ton of snow for here... they pretty much closed school down for 3 days, and after 1 day almost all of it was gone. You drive down the road and you just see wreck after wreck from people that don't know how to drive in the snow, it's ridiculous! Also whenever it snows all the eggs, milk, and bread get bought out of almost every store. Why those 3? No idea! Every time though.  

We were able to teach Destany over video chat.  It was so nice to do that, because we haven't been able to teach her really at all because of their schedule. But with video chat we can teach her 3 times a week no problem. So it's definitely a blessing to have technology in our mission. She is so great too.  She loves the temple, she loves how pure it is and she wants to go. Yesterday we had to cancel our lesson because I was sick and she said, "oh ya sorry I forgot I was working on my personal progress."  She just loves the gospel and it's amazing to be able to watch her learn so quickly. She understand the gospel a lot better than a lot of adults, it seems. It's been an inspiration to me really.  She is 15 and is standing up to her friends that give her anti because she just picks up on truth so quickly. She carries a 13 articles of faith card so she can tell people that try and tell her what we believe, what we actually believe. It's amazing. So that has definitely been the highlight of my week being able to teach her. We will probably figure out this week when she wants to get baptized. 

Friday we went out with brother Hickman and visited a lot of people in a town called Cherryvillle, pronounced chur-vul. And it was a ton of fun.  We met a lot of new people.  We pulled up to this one house full of just thugs and they totally thought I was a cop so they started asking me questions and stuff.  We ended up giving a lot them copies of the Book of Mormon and then we told them when we come back we'll beat them in some streetball haha . They talked a lot of smack after that. 

Saturday I was feeling terrible but we were still out trying to find some people and we had 3 people that we talked to say they wanted to come to church Sunday. Now I don't think any of them went but maybe if we are able to teach them this week more they'll start to come!

Qs

How is your comp?

He's doing great.  He is such a good guy.  He really just wants to learn. He studies whenever he has extra time too. He plays a ton of sports so he likes to play catch on Mondays when I don't have the flu lol. 

Looks like you are going to have a nice warm day tomorrow--60!  We are too but only 50!  but that is WAY better than the 30s!!!  

Are you staying warm enough?? 

Ya I'm good on winter clothes!

 Did you exchange the ginormous camo thermals at Walmart?

Can I exchange them without a receipt or anything though!?

Are you ready for another Amazon Pantry box?  

   --Requests?  Things you don't want or you have enough of?

We are pretty good right now--We still are eating the last one! Thank you though! 

Love y'all!

Love you mom! 

Here are some pics of our hike on pday--

1/15/2018...the biggest part of being a missionary is being able to be yourself and sharing the gospel by being you!

A lot of good things happened this week but also a lot of things fell through so it was up and down. We had 2 meetings and interviews with our mission President this Wednesday which is always super fun! President even talked to me about baseball and if I'm still throwing and what not, we have a pretty good relationship, I'm sad he goes home a transfer before I do. I made sure that he was going to give me a departing interview before I go home.  We also found out this week who our new mission President is, he is from Germany!  His name is President Adler coming from the 3rd quorum of the 70. I bet he has a lot of President Uchtdorf stories haha. It will be really fun getting to know the new president probably. 

Tuesday we had our trainer and trainee meeting which is my favorite meeting! We talked about a lot of the basics but also just sharing the gospel in a more natural way, instead of a wrote way to say things. That's really the biggest part of being a missionary is being able to be yourself and sharing the gospel by being you! But it was fun, I got to see Elder Carrol and some other people there, Elder Luna said he liked it too! 

Then Wednesday we went to interviews in Gastonia. Later that day we were trying to find some people that were interested in our message and we knocked on this ladies door and she comes out and just starts going off! In a good way, she was preaching at us haha she broke out in an old gospel song right there and was just singing super loud. It was really funny. Friday we had another meeting in Gastonia. And went on exchanges with Elder Galvan a Spanish elder. We had a good time but all of our appointments fell through that day so we had a lot of time to find and were only able to talk to a few people so it was fun but not a lot happened. 

Saturday was a ton of fun though! We exchanged back and our ride took so long to get us back into our Area lol they wanted to go out to dinner and then wanted to get something at value village that took about an hour, and before my mission I would have loved to check out some value village gems as Tyler would say haha. Then we went to a lesson with a guy named Eric we've been teaching, who loves to talk and go off on some gnarly tangents. 

After that we got a ride to head down to Pineville to go to Maureen and Gifts baptism. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone from Pineville and talk to the Sheppards again. I'll send some pictures too! 

It's been cold again for some reason this week! I'm ready for some 80s again haha. 

There's so many good things that are about to happen in our area, the ward has been awesome and helps us out a lot!

Love y'all

Love you mom!

Elder Morgan 

1/8/18... Elder Luna and I went to get a hair cut....went terribly wrong

Hey y'all

So the week huh 

Well let me tell ya about today real quick. We went to a local baseball store and checked it out and the worker wouldn't talk to us because we were Mormon. Then Elder Luna and I went to get a hair cut....went terribly wrong. Usually you go to a barber shop and the barber is a hair wizard...not here. I'm pretty sure this guy was drunk. He didn't know how to do a 5 on the sides and an inch on top. He left half of the top full length and half of it at a 5....i told him after to just buzz all the top with the longer one and he buzzed it all with a 5. So I've got a buzz cut now. It's alright though, I'll live I think. 

This week a lot of things fell through unfortunately, it was just one of those weeks that were a little harder than usual. We had 3 appointments fall through with the family we were teaching which was unfortunate, the daughter did come to church though! 

Oh also, Maureen from Pineville and her daughter are getting baptized this next week so Star and the Clays are coming to pick Elder Luna and I up so we can make it down for their baptism. They're such and amazing family. Star and Jason both came and took us to lunch one day and I got some news that really strengthened my testimony of a miracle that happened. Monday (thats his name) the dad of the African family, was in need of surgery on his kidney or else he was going to die eventually. It may have been a tumor or something like that. Well a while ago elder Ward and I gave him a blessing, where we lay our hands on his head and by the priesthood authority give him a blessing from Heavenly Father. And in the blessing I felt inspired to tell him he was going to be healed through his faith. After about a month Star said he went to the doctors and the doctors couldn't find anything and he had been completely healed. After the blessing he said I know that this is not your authority or power but it's from God. And he was exactly right, I am so grateful to hold the priesthood, such an amazing blessing and responsibility to be worthy of at all times. I know that this authority was restored by Peter James and John to the prophet Joseph Smith. Through exercising our faith and having experiences our testimonies grow and strengthen of the gospel and of Jesus Christ. 

I am grateful to be in Shelby too, it's such a humble place.  It was our first fast and testimony meeting (happens once a month) in the ward and it was one of the most powerful testimony meetings I've ever been too. Something that a lady shared with us is a story that she always remembers when she is going through hard times. A boy said that he wants to be buried with a fork in his hand. The mom said why would you want to be buried with a fork in your hand?. He said well after dinner is the best part, you have to keep your fork for dessert. When I die I know the best part is about to come so I want to take my fork. 

I thought it was pretty cute but really true, sometimes life can feel like it's the hardest thing and that we are alone. But if we just endure and endure with faith and hope we can know that the best part is yet to come and that it's all worth it. 

I love it here, it's been a little bit harder to be back in the country but I just need to adjust a little more and keep working hard and miracles will come. I love this work. 

It's been really cold here for the South. I think it was a record low actually since the 20s. It was below 10 a couple times in the morning and at night. But we have the car and were alright, just threw some leggings on and some gloves. It's going to be a lot colder now with a buzzed head lol. 

We've been teaching this great guy named Eric this week. He is a really good guy, and very open to the gospel. He works on all of the churches in the Charlotte area for landscaping and a lot of his coworkers are members and so they have a lot of gospel conversation which is really good. He can't drive which is touch and his ride didn't workout for Sunday which was a bummer because it was such a great meeting. Oh well, next week it is. 

I hope everyone had a great week and is staying warm! 

Love y'all 

Love you mom!

1/1/18... Christmas in Shelby!

I'll have to give some details of the last 2 weeks.

Last week we had our Christmas conference! It was so fun, it was the first time since the MTC that I saw Elder Smith, Elder Fife, and Elder Zesiger in the same place. It was way fun seeing all of them. It was pretty wild too haha.

We all split off into groups and played different games, we played Signs and made cookies. Then they finished it off with a game of jeopardy and it was pretty funny! Everybody got to the end and went all in and the final question was whoever could lasso President first would win. Elder Zesiger, lasso'd President and we took the W for the day! Everybody was going crazy all jumping in the air and stuff, it was fun. President came walking out in a full Santa costume. We had a talent show that was pretty sweet, someone was a clown and made a bunch of balloon things.

It was a lot of fun, then we drove home which was like and hour and a half pretty much and a family invited us to go caroling with them to their neighbors and try and share the gospel, so we went and everyone bailed on caroling so we just ate dinner. 

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun, we went to the Hickmans and had dinner with their family, none of their family is members so we got to know them and they were really interested in what we did as missionaries. 

Christmas was seriously crazy lol. We had 3 lunches and a dinner....at 10 we went to the Hickmans for breakfast with their family, then to the Jones and had pizza and then to the Taylor's at 2....and wow let me tell ya it was a ton of food! 

The Hickmans and their family got us some presents! Thermals and socks and some popcorn haha. So nice of them! Oh ya mom i don't think you realized but the camo thermals you got me were size 38 to 40 😂. They were just a little big when I tried them on haha. Then the Simpson's had us for dinner and their kids are wild, they got us some stockings and we had a good time over there. The ward really makes you feel at home here so it's really nice. And a lot of them love to share the gospel so we are hopefully going to start teaching some more friends this week which will be really awesome.  I love teaching friends because there is so much love in the lessons.

One of the daughters in the family we are teaching has been getting some anti Mormon stuff from her youth group and she has been doing so well with it, she has overcome all her concerns with it and loves to learn more about the restored gospel. We also had dinner with this family on Saturday and ate some tacos, and watched the restoration video with them, it was great. They're also reading the Book of Mormon on their own! It's amazing to see the Spirit and growth that comes from really reading the scriptures and praying on your own. 

Then...this week we ran out of miles so we had to pop the bikes out and get ridin. It was my first time on a full bike week since Winston-Salem😂. It's been a while haha. But it was nice to get ridin again, we were able to talk to a lot of more people.

One day we were biking home while on exchanges and I was riding and a thought came to my mind "you should knock on that yellow house" well obviously at first I thought I was just thinking this and then I stopped and thought maybe it's a prompting from the Spirit. So we turned around and go knock on this door and we were about to leave and he opens up and comes out to talk to us. Turns out he is a very devout Christian who is very humble and seeks truth and knowledge about Jesus Christ. As he was talking we knew we needed to testify of the restoration and the restored truth that we can share with him. He loved it and invited us back to teach him more. It was a great experience and I'm grateful i didn't keep biking. 

We've been planning with the members in the ward about how they can share the gospel and it's been going so good, so many people are coming up with people they want to share the gospel with.

Something I've been studying is being born again or being spiritually reborn, be coming a "new creature" as the scriptures say it, becoming sons and daughters of Jesus Christ. It takes a lot of immersing ourselves in the gospel and transformation to occur to get to a spiritual point where we are new creatures in Christ. I would invite everyone to study and think about being spiritually reborn, maybe what would need to change in our lives for this transformation to start it's process. Anything is possible through Christ who strengthens us! 

Oh funny story before I end this letter. We had a lesson with a lady named Amy and she goes, was that y'all that was riding you bikes through the neighborhood a bunch. And we said ya did you see us? And she said the whole neighborhood thinks the cops or detective are on bikes now!! 

This neighborhood was a wee bit ghettooo haha. 

Things are going well with Elder Luna. He's been doing pretty good with teaching, little by little he's getting more comfortable with it. Mostly getting outside his comfort zone and talking to people more. I've made him knock on a lot of doors and talk lol. It's been a fun transfer so far though. We are actually going to play catch right now too! 

Anyways I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Love y'all 

Love you mom!