10/16/17... We found some new people to teach this week--a truck driver, a family from Ecuador, and a lady named Joy.

Had a good week this week! Saw some great miracles. 

I don't know if I told y'all about the lady that we've been teaching who's a returning member. She is awesome. She left the church for 20 years and called us a while ago that she wants us to teach her. It took her a while but she was able to gain a really strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and had troubles with Jospeph Smith but she recently told us that because the Book of Mormon brought her closer to Jesus Christ, she said she knows Joseph Smith was a prophet. It was a pretty neat experience to watch her overcome her concerns and end up with a really strong testimony. She has been sharing the gospel like crazy. She just got called as a ward missionary and has come out finding with us the last 2 days. She talks with people really good so it is awesome to have her and be able to connect with people, then share the gospel with them. She is the best though and just got her patriarchal blessing. 

We found some new people to teach this week, a truck driver, a family from Ecuador, and a lady named Joy. One was a Book of Mormon referral.  Those are always a blessing!  Maureen and her fam were set to come to church and we were stoked but they didn't show :( Jo was going to come too but he slept in.  It was a bummer but it's all good, they'll come next week. 

A member gave us a book that she put together on the atonement. It was a study that they did while she was on her mission and it's 3 months and everyday is a different talk or chapter in the scriptures and it's amazing.  It's been so fun. I've learned a lot more about the sacrifice that our savior made for us. I think my favorite chapter in the bBook of Mormon is Alma 7. It's so good. Just jammed packed with doctrine. You can tell how much Alma has been through to get to where his understanding of the atonement is. He knows how important it is and how we need to live our lives and strive to be better to have it play affect in our lives everyday.  We're always indebted to the Savior for what he did for us. Justice would doom us all without the mercy that's comes from the Savior and his sacrifice. 

We taught gospel principles this week and it was really fun.  We had a good conversation about missionary work and the topic was a lot about angels-- how many of them are around us and go before us to prepare others to receive the gospel.

I'm gonna be sad when all the missionaries leave this transfer.  I know a lot of them, but I think I'll see most of them again in Utah for school which should be a lot of fun. 

Today's been pretty lax just went and played Top Golf which is always pretty fun. Then we went to church to play nerf with some other missionaries which is pretty boring lol. 

Love y'all 

Love you mom! 

Tell Sarah I said happy birthday! 

Qs
When do you get transfer calls?
This next Saturday night is calls. 
Connor Call just got transferred to another college campus area...Do you have any college campus areas in your mission?
Not totally, just areas that have a campus, that'd be super fun to be on campus all the time. 
What else do you want for your birthday???

Which gift cards do you want?
Subway, t bell, McDonald's. Chick Fil A. 
Do you have enough warm clothes? Sweaters? Workout clothes? Socks? Ties? Coat?
Ya I've got a good coat still. Maybe a sweater would be good. Good on socks. Maybe send me like a light wind breaker that's slim. Or just put some money on my card and I'll go get one I like, that might be best. 

Hand warmers? The cold is gonna come before we know it!!!

I know lol, I'm good on them right now I still have a bunch from last year. 

10/9/17... The NCCM life

What's up y'all! 

This week flew by so I'm just trying to remember what happened lol. 

MLC (Mission Leadership Conference) was this Tuesday so it was super fun. We talked a lot on planning because we got these new smart phones.  It's a  Samsung j3 and it's not a super great phone... but it's night and day to what we had, so it's pretty legit. We can Skype more members into our lessons to get more fellowshippers. The new missionaries starting in January are going to come out with phones instead of tablets. And guess what? The rumor going around at MLC was that Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat might be some of the apps that we start using to proselyte......ya that'll be crazy to see how those go and how we would use them. So send me some snaps when we get it. Naw I don't think they'd want that haha. 

Then right after MLC we went on exchanges with Elder Cannon and Elder Samuelson, who is a new missionary. I went with Elder Samuelson in our area while Elder Johnsen went to their area in South Carolina. Elder Samuelson is awesome--guess what, he loves baseball! And chance the rapper...(favorite rapper). But we had a really good day, we went and taught the Nigerian family and it was really good. We read the Book of Mormon with them and they committed to come to church and come and do a Church Tour that Friday. Friday we realized we had their wrong number. So we went over and talked to them and they were got ready really quick and met us at the church. They loved the church and were excited for Sunday. Well Sunday came and we were expecting them and they snuck in right at the end of sacrament. I guess they really liked it and are coming back tomorrow. 

We had to plan for our Zone Week that we are doing this next week. It'll be really fun...hopefully. Everyone in the zone gets on Facebook chat for 30 minutes and someone in the zone gives trainings or councils on stuff. Doesn't sound super interesting but it can be pretty good. 

We were able to find a couple new people to teach and one we are teaching tonight.  He's a teenager and plays basketball. 

Love y'all

Love you Mom

Elder Morgan

Here are some quick Qs

When are transfers?
October 24th 
Where is Elder Johnsen going home to? What are his plans?
He s going back to Ventura, California. He's going to play football at Utah State. I think he goes to school in January. 
WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY???
(I need to get going on it ASAP so I can get it in the mail. 😉)
Hmmmm. Send my Southridge watch out. Um I don't really know I'm pretty set. Gift cards actually. 

What is your weather like there??
It's been super humid lately and really hot. Starting to cool down soon hopefully.....probably not soon though lol. It'll be hot and humid for a good bit I think. 

Elder Morgan life is easy when we choose to follow our Heavenly Father and His commandments. I like what you said about being an example after your mission I think that is important.  Whatever you do make sure that you keep your spiritual side that you are working on now going when you come home.  It will look different, but I want you to always think about what is going to happen next in the context of making goals and striving towards them.  For example, what exactly do you want to do in school and how will you work towards that when you get home?  Baseball is important, but so is school and your career after baseball.  Also,  dating is important and getting married.  Those are things that are going to help you forever.  If you have not set some goals do so today during your p-day and send them to me so that we can both see them.  Love you and am so proud of you and all that you are doing.

Love,

Dad

Agreed it is a great day to be alive! 

...Honestly I'm just trying to make it through the rest of this transfer... ...He's an awesome dude but I'm just trying to help him finish at a descent rate...  ...I just want to do missionary work and it's so opposite for him we got in an argument because he wanted to go play basketball with 2 youth in our ward who are good kids on a Friday night from 7-9 instead of actually doing something productive. It's just been a trial. The Book of Mormon has been my buddy though. I think the most important thing I've gained a strong testimony of is the Book of Mormon.

 I've made a promise with Heavenly Father that I will read it everyday for the rest of my life, I've never been more committed to do something in my life. I saw it bless our family and I know it'll bless my family, help me prepare for marriage and have kids. I want to marry a wife that has a love for the Book of Mormon. And I guess I'll have a lot of kids because my wife will expect it from what my patriarchal blessing says. 

Anyway everything's going to be alright. We're going to have a baptism at the end of the month or beginning of November from an awesome Nigerian family. 

Love you dad. 

10/2/17... Man, I love General Conference, so much inspiration

Frank Kaminsky jersey I couldn't keep my hands off.

Thank you to all of you for your interest, love and concern for Brad.  He is doing great.  He loves his mission and everyone he is serving in North Carolina.  We miss him, but are so proud of all that he is doing.  This week he will have been out 14 months... which means only 10 months left!  ❤ (but who is counting?! 😉)

Brad has a birthday coming up on November 2!  He would love to hear from you...  

His email is bradley.morgan@myldsmail.net  

and his mailing address is: 

Elder Brad Morgan

9100 Fisherspond Dr. Apt E1

Charlotte, NC 28277

Again, THANK YOU for you love and prayers on his behalf.  You mean the world to him and to us!

Love, CHRISSY

...enjoy!

General Conference gang

Man, I love General Conference, so much inspiration in it all. I loved how Elder Anderson wrapped it all up at the end.  The spirit was so strong. And how he quoted Elder Hales's talk that he wasn't able to give. That was powerful. We watched conference at Star's house, who just got her patriarchal blessing this week. We watched Saturday's conference there with the Clays, who is our ward mission leader. Then the ward went to Chipotle for dinner before the priesthood session. Sunday was awesome too! We went to Star's with Jason and ate breakfast and then watched conference, then after conference we went back to Star's and we cooked out and grilled some steaks... it was so bomb. Such an awesome weekend filled with inspiration. 

We went on exchanges last week with Elder Olsen and Elder Kimball. It was really fun, Elder Olsen is super funny.  Exchanges are really fun-- you get to learn from each other but also share funny stories so we have a good time. We went to district meeting the next day and I gave a short training on planning since we got new planning guidelines that changed up the way we plan everyday.  It got switched to 6 steps that just help you set goals and make plans with whoever you're working with. And right after the meeting we had an appointment with President Sheppard in Uptown which was super fun.  He wanted us to teach one of his co-workers. It was interesting, he was really nice but wasn't totally into the lesson. He had a lot of doctrinal questions that he wasn't really open to the answers. We are going to try and connect him to the Book of Mormon and let that, combined with the spirit, soften his heart. It was still a lot of fun teaching in Uptown, I love it up there. 

We also got contact with Jo again this week, which was a miracle.  He is having some problems with family pushing back on him, so it's hard for him right now. He doesn't want to get baptized yet but we are still working with him. On exchanges Elder Johnsen and Elder Kimball went and taught Maureen and her family.  They went over and the mom had been talking to the dad and the dad said he really wants to learn more too and wants to be baptized. They watched conference and we are excited to keep teaching them! 

 

Yes I got the package mom! It was awesome thank you! How are the Seahawks doing? I haven't really heard much on them except they're not doing good. I don't even think I have to ask about the Mariners lol.

Love y'all! 

Love you mom! 

Shamok that Jason gave me.

Hey can y'all put some money on my debit card? We need to buy some things for the zone and I don't have enough money for it and food on my mission card. 

Love you! 

 

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.