5/28/18... Brought to ya courtesy of: The Red White and Blue! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

It's a miracle!!!  President just said we could go to this Knights game for Memorial Day! 

We had another super busy week here in da good ol queen city! This week was exchanges and we survived exchanges, which was pretty expected. It will be super interesting to see what happens this next transfer.  The end of this transfer is June 27th. I think Elder Anderson could stay and just take my place when I leave or he could get transferred and a new elder comes in, either way I think I'll be in a trio until the end of my mission! Crazy haha. 

A lot happened this week and I guess a lot didn't happen...we had a lot of things fall through, we haven't been able to get in contact with May and that family at all.  They've kind of been dodging us, unfortunately. We did kind of have a miracle with that though--A lady had ordered a Book of Mormon online so we went to deliver it to her. She was super interested in learning more, she lives in the same neighborhood as May. We go to knock on May's door one day to see if she is home and I look over and she is waving us over. So we walk down there and she had been telling all her friends about it and we ended up teaching one of her friends right there. Somehow we keep finding all these pregnant women though lol. That lady is about to have a baby so it'll probably hard to teach her regularly. 

Hmm let's see what else.... We taught Sandra a few times this week. She is progressing but not very fast, she didn't come to church yesterday and we don't really know why sooo that was kind of a bummer. 

We got a referral Friday from some other elders at the same place that we almost got shot last Friday and we had an appointment at night with him....He missed that appointment too so we didn't stay in there too long. Also when we drove in there, there was a black Israelite preacher with his speakers preaching and idk If y'all know about the Black Israelites but they hate white people and especially hate white Christian missionaries. I think they think we are the embodiment of Satan or something so we got out of there right quick. 

Our car is in the shop this week so we 're driving the assistants 12 seater van! It's a beast.  haha it's so fun driving that thing around. We drove to Gastonia on Saturday for a baptism of a lady that Elder Hull taught. And I just passed out in the back row on the way home-- it was a tender mercy. 

Reading the Book of Mormon has made me so much more patriotic! For those of you who don't know, the Book of Mormon takes place in ancient America (North and South America) and the Lord promises the people that if they serve the God of the Land who is Jesus Christ that they will be a free nation and won't be taken into captivity but will prosper. Knowing this has made me love America a lot. Ether Chapter 1 talks a lot about it if you want to read it today. I'll always be grateful for those that died for our freedom. #Murica! 

Overall it was a tough week but that's alright we got next week, and this is the Lord's work so it'll all work out!

I got to give a shootout to PJ for just being a stud, killin it in track! Then I got to give a shout out to SHS baseball for hanging some banners! And a shout out to Ellie for being a stud too!

Love y'all

Love you mom!

-Elder Morgan

 

It was so awesome!! Seriously I can't believe how fun that was haha 

5/21/18... Almost Got Caught in a Gunfight!

This week was seriously so crazy! Overall really fun week and we saw some awesome miracles!

Last Monday we went and ate some tacos.  There's a killer Mexican place, it's like the most authentic one in NC I think. Then played some frisbee golf with some other missionaries. It was kind of lame you spend half the time looking for other people's discs, I feel like, until you are really good. But later that night after a great lesson with Sandra we knocked on this lady's door who we had talked to before named Giselle. She said they were having such a hard time building a table right then and so we went in and helped them finish their table. It took a while and I was dripping sweat by the end haha. But after that they told us they wanted to feed us dinner! I think they'll be really open to the message of the restoration so that'll be really fun.  She had to reschedule once but hopefully that'll happen this week soon. 

Sandra is still doing really well! She had a little stumbling block for a minute because she didn't understand what she was reading in the scriptures so she wanted to restart. So she started over and the next time we went by she was so happy. She knew Satan was trying to stop her and this week she read a ton and understood it. It was pretty neat too, we took the family history lady in our ward and she set up an account for her and she found a ton of family members she had no idea about!  It was really great to see how happy Sandra was and get to experience the Spirit of family history. 

Then we went on exchanges Tuesday, that was a lot of fun. I went with Elder McFadden in Kannapolis. We tried to catch the bus but missed it, so we had to hop on our bikes and get going. It was pouring rain before that, but when we got going, it got super hot and I was drenched in sweat in like 5 minutes. But it probably helped because we knocked on a guys door and just asked if we could come in and cool down for a second and ended up teaching him a little bit and he invited us back! Then we biked a lot more, and I had just eaten Jack in the Box so that killed me! We were able to give a lady a blessing at the hospital which was another good experience we had. Then taught a crazy guy in an old folks home. 

When I got back from exchanges they had some appointments that I was excited about.  We had tried to go see a lady in the ward last week. When we knocked on the door the lady said that that woman had moved but that she wanted us to come teach her kids and her. So that was awesome, they went and taught them and they all were super interested in having us come teach them more. They missed their return apt yesterday, but hoping it still works out. Ok for the craziest story of the  all though.....Saturday night. We go to see this lady in the ward that no one really knew. We knock on the door and the guy yells for his grandma across the street. She comes over and she was really nice, really funny lady just was talking our ears off. She was speaking Ebonics so you couldn't understand really most of it. The guys, there are 4 of them, big guys, all super nice, step outside while we were talking. So we are talking to this lady a bit and a car screeches up and 4 dudes get out and they all start yelling at each other. The mom goes out and starts yelling at them all too!! She comes back in and we tell her we need to have a prayer...Elder Anderson prays and in the middle of the prayer they all start going at it again! I couldn't stop laughing, you know when you're trying so hard not to laugh but you just can't stop it. Then... amen. And we get up to go and the guy runs back in and said y'all got to go before they come back! He tells the story to us...man it was hilarious.... "Tony's baby momma's boyfriend pulled up on us! Said Why your boy Tony hiden from meh" We got out of there real quick! Idk If they all made it through the night. So I guess that was a miracle that we lived. 

We met another lady that we are really excited about too.  She is a member but her kids aren't and she told us she really wants to come again and get her kids involved! We are hoping to really start teaching them this week too. 

Ya so that's the deets pretty much! Oh ya we went to Bass Pro Shop today--That was awesome.

Love y'all!

Love you momma!

Hey the videos aren't working! I don't think they'll come through they might be too big or something, ill keep trying though. I don't think you should send them over Facebook, they've asked us not to do that

I wish I could send you a video I took this week. We almost got caught in a gun fight in the ghetto Saturday night! It was so wild! These huge black guys were screaming at each other while we were trying to pray with this lady so we could get out of there! It was honestly the funniest thing ever! Craziest lesson of my mission probably haha. I'll write about it in my big email. 

How are you doing?

Any update on the classes thing? 

5/14/18... Happy Mother's Day!

This week was a complete blur haha  

All I remember is I went to bed every night exhausted and woke up wishing I had more time to sleep!  We had to take the car into the shop this Thursday because the elders who lived here before us rear ended someone before we got here. So Thursday we lucked up and got to pick up the mission 12 passenger van and drove that the rest of the night. 

Then Friday we had our zone conference, which was really good. Had a lot of talks on using family history work to find new people to teach, kind of keeping that in our mind. We talked about how we can strengthen our testimonies of it before we share. My testimony has grown a little bit with it when I am helping people do family history and a few names that they didn't know will pop up and fill in and to watch their faces and how they react is pretty cool to watch. I haven't really had that experience for myself, but I hope to one day. I gave a short talk too on being personable yet dignified. I thought there were two main points that stuck out to me about it--one was to be confident that the Lord has blessed each of us with different talents and abilities to bless the lives of others. And two was to remember that our purpose as missionaries is to help people come to Christ. I think it helps you be yourself knowing you're unique and have been placed In a certain place for a reason. And remember the purpose you are here helps you be dignified. Idk I hope it helped someone at least. 

Saturday was a crazy day! Everything seemed to just go wrong haha. I'll walk ya through the day. I tried to patch a hole in my bike tire before studies...because i was racing the other elders in one night and threw my bike over the rail and tried to go through the back door and my tire popped😤. So the patch ripped and my tire was flat again. The assistants dropped us off with our bikes at our first appointment at 10. No answer. Thought we could walk to a close bike shop....nearest on is 3 miles. Walk to a gas station thinking they'll have one and it didn't work. Tried Family Dollar, nothing. As we were walking out, a guy yelled and told us he has a compressor in his truck! This man is a saint. haha  We were so frustrated at this point. His pump could only get it half full so we biked to our next appointment at 12. Had lunch with them too. Their neighbor had a compressor and it wasn't working...then right before we were about to walk to a different bike shop, he runs out with a hand pump that did the job. FINALLY! Then we mobbed to a few people after that, stopped at the church to crack some cold ones ( a dewsky of course). Then biked to our dinner appointment.  It was the 2nd counselor so we had a good talk with him about the missionary work in the ward. Then we met with bishop that night too.  By this time we smelled like pigs. Had a good discussion with him too. Then we got a ride home from the assistants. It was a long day to say the least! 

Then obviously got to top the week off by talking to the fam yesterday which was super fun! So good to see everyone and get to talk.  It was awesome. This week should be super busy again so I'll try and remember what happens, and take lots of pictures, Mom! 

Just got done playing some disc golf. It was pretty fun, I was super tired so I wasn't too into it. I can chuck the friz pretty good I just don't totally know where it's going lol. We're going to help someone move tonight and then have an appointment with Sandra and a lady named Tonya who hopefully we'll be able to have a good lesson with them tonight! 

Love y'all! 

"Live in the now!"

Love you mom 

Elder Morgan 

5/7/18... Every goal we set this week, each day we actually accomplished...except 1

Hey what's up y'all!

It's been super busy week. We had a long meeting almost all of Tuesday. It was actually a really good meeting though, we felt inspired to focus on setting daily goals. So everyday this week we set goals, either contacting a certain amount of people, finding a new investigator, planning for something. Every goal we set this week each day we actually accomplished...except 1 :(. But it was super inspiring to see that, once you put your mind to something and keep it on your mind for the day you get a lot done. We put a sticky note in our car of what we wanted to focus on. I think I actually want to try and make this a habit and do it when I get home too. It'll be hard to remember but you feel so accomplished when you set a goal and reach it. We also talked about doing church tours with people to help them get familiar with the church building before they come. We actually had a church tour the next day with President and Sister Alexander. Sister Alexander had been sharing the gospel with her hair dresser for a few months and she wanted to come see the church. So we showed her around the church...honestly it felt a little but awkward with President watching our every move, he didn't talk much so it was weird. But she seemed to really like it, she even started to cry a bit at the end, I think she felt the spirit while we were sitting in the chapel. Then President took us all out to dinner afterwards to a little pizza place, that was fun. 

Wednesday we had interviews with President. Those are always really good, good to be able to talk and get some advice from him. He talked to me about possible classes and said he would talk to me more about business before I go home, which I would like a lot because he is a very successful business man. He told me to do 2 things with my time left. Enjoy it, and pass on what I've learned to younger missionaries. He also talked about how we need to live in the now, not wait for the next event in life to be happy. Don't wait to graduate college to be happy but enjoy college and try your best now! Tyler would always say that! It's a good life motto!! 

We found a few new people to teach this week and I'm actually really excited for a lesson we have tonight, with a referral. She seems super excited about the gospel so I hope it pans out and she feels the spirit in our lesson today. Later tonight we have a dinner with an investigator at a her house too so hopefully that all goes good and she enjoys that. That's with Sandra, and Sandra actually fasted for the first time this week!  We started the fast with her and so we will see tonight how she enjoyed that....they're obviously hard to enjoy haha but hopefully she has felt some spiritual strength from it! 

Today we got haircuts in uptown from a member in our ward and he pretty much cut all my hair with a straight razor! It was wild he was so good! It was really impressive to watch him do it. He shaved my neck too which was awesome! Barbers are legit, idk If I want to to to just any great clips anymore haha. Then had some activity, and we did an Olympics where district competed against district and chose one person for each event. It was pretty fun I think people had fun. Then we played disc golf after and I had a lot of fun, I didn't think I'd really like it but it was fun. It was super hot so I day dreamed of getting out on the boat in a few months a little bit today eeehhhhh! Time has been flying... But I still got a good chunk of time left out here. 

Overall great week. We unfortunately didn't have anybody at church one of our investigators we thought was going to come was totally MIA all week. It was a bummer about that but hopefully things work out this week, cross your fingas. 

Qs

FIRST THINGS FIRST...WHEN ARE WE SKYPING???!!  D MINUS 7 DAYS by my count!!!  I am SO excited to SEE you I can hardly wait.  I watched the video of our whole Skype from Christmas the other day... I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

--Our church is at 10am-1pm Pacific time which is 1-3pm your time.  I may have Ward Council at 8 but I would much rather Skype with you if it is better for you in the morning.  

Let's plan on skyping at 4pm my time. So right after church for y'all. Does that sound good? We just have church at 9-12 est. Then with y'alls church, we can do if after that at 4 my time. 

Does your mission do the "After Mission Prep" program?  I remember when Tyler was out, they started a program where the missionaries would set certain goals and make plans for their futures after the mission. I was talking to Sam Smith at church today and he told me the sister missionaries in their ward are doing it... Does your mission do that?

Ya it starts when you have 6 weeks left, so I'll start mine in about 6 weeks. It's called my plan and I guess it goes through like dating and temple marriage so that'll be fun 😊

How are the tablets and smart phones going?  Dad went to a lesson here where the missionaries had a family just watch the restoration video on their little phone while the missionaries and dad just sat there because the screen was so small they couldn't see it...  Are you allowed to use a cord to hook your phone to the tv?  That would have been nice... then they could have all seen and discussed...  just wondering what all you are doing with the added technology.  It is so amazing.  

They're good, I definitely wouldn't watch the restoration movie on a smart phone, that's a little weird. They're really good for showing pictures of what you're teaching, or a small video for the kids. I use my tablet for videos way more than the phone because it's so small. I think they're great though. You can if you buy a cable that hooks to a tv but those are pretty expensive I think. 

Did you get the shirts???  It said they were delivered last week.

Yes they're perfect....the office didn't notify us, which is kind of annoying but oh well

Did you get the Amazon Pantry?  Did you like it?  I hope the brands I picked were okay.. I know you don't like spicy stuff so that was literally the only non spicy chili and mild salsa... they don't have the Pace mild chunky that you like so I try to get the next best thing.  Hope it all tastes okay. 

Yes loved it! You're the best, I've gotten a little better with spicy foods since being on my mission lol. Like I can eat some siracha sauce on my food now, but it destroys my insides if you know what I mean! 

Love y'all!

Love you mom! Talk to you soon!

Elder Morgan