Noche de Luz, Noche de Paz

Helllooooooo Everyone! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! I hope that you all have a wonderful day with your family and friends and that you continue to remember our Savior, Jesus Christ, during this special season!

This past week was actually SUPER good! We got our 2 investigators, Jeremy (9yrs) and Jared (11 yrs) with a BAPTISMAL DATE!!! WOOOHOOOOO! I am seriously so excited for these kids! They are just soaking up the Gospel and I am loving every single moment of teaching them. They are going to make fantastic Missionaries in the future! They can get a little rambunctious at times.......but every time we check for understanding they can teach us back everything and have even come up with their own analogies for Gospel principles! They seriously just amaze me!

Some of my favorite quotes from them this week have been:

"What's Adultery?"-Jared

"Ohhhh I know what that is! Its what Adult's try to do!"-Jeremy    HAHAHAHAHAHA

"We go to 2 different churches.........the Church of Jesus Christ............and Church's Chicken!!"-Jeremy

I love these kids!

They have seriously changed my whole outlook on teaching this Gospel and I am SO grateful for that! They have reminded me about what things are truly important and how simple this Gospel truly is. I can't wait until January 4th when I can see this young men enter into the waters of baptism and begin this wonderful new journey with their family!


District Caroling!

This past week our District decided to go out Christmas Caroling in our 2 wards and we just had a "Blast-aaaa!!!" I seriously love our Elders......they may be a little tone deaf but it was still so fun to spread Christmas cheer by singing loud for allllll to hear. You all will be so proud of me, I even sang "Silent Night" in SPANISH! Its the most Spanish I have ever spoken and I can't think of a better song to remind others about the life of Jesus Christ.

One of the Mormon Messages that has really hit me this year is called "The Reason Behind Christmas". Its kind of a little cheesy, but it has a really powerful point to it! What will YOU give to Christ this upcoming year?

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2874125972001&cide=HPFR122013285

I hope that all of you are able to reflect on the life of Jesus Christ and remember all of the many blessings that you have because of Him. I want you all to know that I love my Savior and I am so humbled and honored to be a Representative of Him at this Christmas Season and to wear His name over my heart everyday! I love being a Missionary and I can't imagine being anywhere else right now! For those that I won't get to talk on the phone with tomorrow, I love you and I am so grateful for all of your support!! Merry Christmas!

xoxoxo Sister Morgan

Just be the best missionary you can possibly be and don't forget to smile!

Hey Everyone! Christmas is quickly coming upon us! I'M SO EXCITED! I can't wait to talk w/ my family! But I'm also kind of really dreading this time of year. Everyone is gone, or spending time with their families, and some of my favorite people in the WORLD are leaving the Valley tomorrow :/

Christmas Time in the San Diego Mission Office!

Elder and Sister Scott are the Senior Missionary Couple that have been out here for the past 23 months practically living in the Family History Center. They have been teaching Institute for the YSA and for the Adults and are one of the main reasons why my 2nd Baptism, Crystal, is SUCH a solid member of the church now! It was at adult institute that she received the revelation to be baptized and that was hugely related to the special spirit that Elder and Sister Scott have and teach with. The Scott's have been like our family out here and have seriously been such a huge inspiration for me to become a better missionary. They are such Christ-like examples of charity and dedicated service! Every time we leave the FHC I always ask if there is anything that we can do for them and Elder Scott always responds with, "Just be the best missionary you can possibly be and don't forget to smile!". That phrase will be implanted in my mind forever just like my Dad's famous line, "Have I told you lately that I love you?" I am grateful that I was so blessed to meet the Scott's and to have learned so many things from their wonderful examples!

This past week was the busiest week we have had in a long time though! We taught some suuuper good lessons and even added a couple more investigators which was exactly what we needed! We had another lesson with the Cole family in Calexico and those boys are SO STINKIN SMART! We taught the Restoration by using these cups w/ pictures on them to show how Christ established His church and I swear, by the end of the lesson the boys could teach us the whole lesson on their own!  And these kids are seriously the funniest little boys I have met since my little cousin Cameren Farr. The youngest one, Jeremy who is 9, reminds me SOOO much of Cameren it almost scares me!

We taught them how to pray and as we were bearing our testimonies to them we mentioned that we know that God loves them very much. Then Jeremy raised his hand and said, "Did you pray to know that God loves me?" AHHHHHHHHHHHHkjsdhfklsjdhdkfsldkhfsdlksdhfsdlkhsd CUTEST THING EVER! I could instantly feel God's love for that child and it seriously is the best feeling ever! In Jeremy's closing prayer he said, "Thank you God for sending your daughters to come and teach us more about You". I KNOW that each of us are sons and daughters of GOD! Once we truly understand that relationship, then living the Gospel comes naturally! I am grateful that I was able to learn that lesson from an incredible child of God and that he was able to teach me about how I can feel God's love for all of His children!

I invite you all, especially during this Christmas season, to pray to feel God's love for all of His children. Even those that you might not particularly want to love right now. But I promise that if you do that, then you will be able to enjoy this holiday season more fully!

I love you all!!

xoxo Sister Morgan

When Hell Freezes Over

Hey everyone!!! I hope you all have been enjoying this wonderful Holiday Season! This week "Hell Centro" finally caught on that it is supposed to be cold in December! And let me tell you, it has been real cold for us pathetic Californians. The past week it has been in the 50's to low 60's and the wind has been suuuuper killer! And this morning when we went outside for our District "walk around the block" with the Elders for "exercises" it was 37 degrees out!!! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! But we can definitely blame it on the humidity.....that makes it feel way worse than it actually is haha

But besides the cold weather we had a pretty good week! It was slow and my companion was sick which really took a toll on how much we were able to do. But thanks to beautiful inventions like Day-Quil and sleep, she is feeling much better and we were still able to accomplish a lot!

Last Tuesday after P-day ended and before we had Institute w/ the YSA we decided to go and contact some names off of the ward list. We came to this one house and the guy was home alone so we had to just talk on his door step for a little while. He has had Bronchitis for the past week and was just feeling pretty down on himself. We asked him why they hadn't been to church in a long time and he said, "Well, we just don't really know anyone any more". So we just responded and said, "Well lets change that! Come to the Ward Christmas Party next week!" and then we shared the scripture Helaman 5:12 w/ him that talks all about building your foundation on Christ so that when the storms of life come beating upon you, you will receive strength from the Rock of your Redeemer.

As I was bearing my testimony to him about that, we could see some tears rolling down his cheeks. It was a tender moment for me and a reminder of why I am here sharing my testimony with all those that I can! But I also learned another important lesson-never let ANYONE be forgotten! If there is someone that you haven't seen in church for awhile, go find them and brighten their spirits with the Pure Love of Christ during this Christmas season. My super awesome cousin, Elder Farr, recited in his email on of my favorite quotes from President Thomas S. Monson, "To catch the real meaning of the spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable and it becomes the spirit of CHRIST" So go and spread the spirit of Christ with all of those that you can! And I can PROMISE that every effort will not be wasted, because the pure love of Christ NEVER fails.

I love you all and I hope that you can continue to enjoy this beautiful time of the year and can find some way to spread the true meaning of Christmas! Here is my gift of the week to help you feel the love of Christ through music :)

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-00-0120-o-come-emmanuel-christmas-version?category=topics/christmas

Love,

 

xoxo Sister Morgan

"Would you like a Thanksgiving-Day Roll?"

It's finally "Fall" time in California! ;)

Hey everyone!! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Life here in the Valley has been prettttyyyyyyy slow this past week.......It seems like when there is a chance to leave the Valley everyone takes that opportunity and leaves us in the dust :/

But HEY! It's totally fine, you know why? Because the Lord's work never stops! That's right. Even when it seems like everyone and their mom's, and their dog's, and their cat's, and their dumb annoying little chihuahua's leave, the Lord is just making it easier for us to find those lost and lonely souls who are in need of hearing our message.

In my Dad's email to me last week he told me this really touching story about a Thanksgiving on his mission that really hit me to the core. He invited me to go and find those who are lost and lonely during this Holiday Season and help them to feel the pure love of Christ. So the day before Thanksgiving we went all over town trying to find some service opportunities that we could do in the community but all of them fell through. My Dad's email really inspired me and motivated me to go and find those people, but once Thanksgiving came I really had no idea how we were going to do that!!



Freshly baked Thanksgiving Day Rolls!

So on Thanksgiving Day we went to our old Bishop's house and learned how to make some very delicious homemade rolls (that's right everyone, I'm learning how to COOK! Woohoo!) w/ his wife. We spent most of the morning making them and had about 45 mins free before our next appointment. So w/ 2 dozen, freshly baked, STRAIGHT out of the oven dinner rolls, we decided to go to Bucklin Park and hand out "Thanksgiving Rolls" to everyone we saw. At first I felt a little weird just handing out rolls to people....but then this one lady practically waved us down from her car in the parking lot. At first I totally thought she was a member because she looked like she recognized us and even asked us if we had a family to go and eat with. Of course I was thinking about the Suamataia Family that we were about to go eat with and not my actual family (sorry fam-bam haha)

Then all of a sudden this lady just got tears in her eyes and let out a little whimper as she whispered, "I don't have a family anymore...I don't have a family anymore" (HEART=BROKEN) She had just been sitting in her car all day watching families at the park and listening to Christian music on the radio. At first I was speechless, I had no idea what to say to this lady. But then I realized (more like the Spirit taught me) that what I would give to this lady would be so much more powerful than my words of condolence. I instantly pulled out a Book of Mormon and testified to her that if she would read it she would NEVER feel alone and would understand more about God's purpose for her in this life.

It wasn't until that moment that I realized how precious and close to my heart the Book of Mormon is. It isn't just a bunch of boring scripture, or a historical record of the ancient Native Americans. But it is evidence that God still speaks to us today and has given the fullness of His Gospel so that we can learn more about our Savior Jesus Christ. Who, as we know, is the greatest source of peace in this life.

I am grateful for the word's of wisdom my Father gave to me. He inspired me to experience one of the most humbling experience's I have had on my mission so far. Even though it was something as simple as handing out dinner rolls and a free Book of Mormon, I know without a shadow of a doubt, that we helped bring the light of Christ into someone's life. And in that one moment, I learned so much about myself and what things I truly am grateful for that I will NEVER forget in my life.

I love you all! xoxoxo

Sister Morgan

Welcome December!

"I'm thankful for toys, churches, my family, and temple blessings!"

Welcome to Sunsets in the Imperial Valley!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!! Wow, I can't believe it is already this time of year! As I reflect back on this past year there are SO many things that I am thankful for, it literally would take days for me to list them all out! So because of time constraints I will just list off somethings that I am thankful for :) 

1. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to spend ANOTHER 6 weeks out here in the Valley with Sister Blair! I am thankful for all of the amazing people I have met that have truly changed my life and have taught me so much about the love that Jesus Christ has for all of His children. 
2. I am thankful for my loving Heavenly Father who answers prayers and is so mindful of us! Sister Blair and I had a super amazing experience w/ prayer this past week! We went to go contact a name off of the Ward List that we didn't know during the middle of this crazy rain storm we had on Friday. The GPS takes us to this gated complex and we had no idea how we were going to get in. So we say a prayer in the car that God will guide us to this family and we get out and see this man walking into the complex as well. He looked back and saw 2 white girls running towards him in hooded trench coats, knee length skirts, and soaking wet flats......the light of Christ within this man must of had a moment of compassion because he kindly held the gate open for us. Once we got inside the complex we wandered around for a minute right up to the building that this family supposedly lived in. We stood there for a minute and stared at the building because we realized that we didn't even have the apt number for this family! So in the pouring rain we huddled next to each other and bowed our heads in humble prayer to ask the Lord to guide us to this family's apartment. We decided to go to the other side of the building and knock on one of the doors that we saw had a car parked in its assigned spot. We knock on the door, a woman answers the door, we ask if she is the family we are looking for, and she says YES!! We were like "for real?!?" haha she invited us in for awhile, we had a super amazing lesson, and we even got a return appointment to have a Family Home Evening w/ them! Whats even better.....the Mom is the only member of the family! Woooohoooooo! 
3. I am so thankful to be serving my God and to be sharing this Gospel and my Testimony of its truthfulness with everyone that I can! I am thankful for the joy that I have felt seeing this Gospel take root in people's lives and for open hearts that have received it.
4. I am thankful for my wonderful family and for the examples that they are to me! I am thankful for their continuous support and prayers in my behalf. I am thankful for the relationship that I have with each of them and for the love I have for them as well. 
5. I am thankful for all of my extended family, friends, and ward members and the support they give me as well! 
6. Last but not least, I am thankful for the relationship that I have with my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. If it wasn't for that relationship, I would not be here today! I am thankful for all of the many blessings They have given me-especially this Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! I am thankful for the guidance and direction that it gives me in my life and the knowledge that I have of the Divine Plan of Happiness. 

The Celestial District is still together!

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with all of your loved ones! 

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#in-the-spirit-of-thanksgiving

xoxo Sister Morgan

District Walk in the Rain

Have You Ever Wondered....

Hey Everyone!!! It has been another great week in the work of the Lord! We saw a lot of miracles and tender mercies this week and I seriously just feel like I have been on cloud 9! AND today is my companion's 21st Birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS BLAIR! Not too many people can say they celebrated their 21st birthday by serving the Lord....so we are definitely enjoying this day :) OH and real quick-CONGRATS TO JESSICA AND JASE FOR CREATING ONE BEAUTIFUL BABY! SOO happy for you guys!

So we had a SUPER awesome day @ church this past Sunday! It was another super great Missionary Farewell and it brought up so many different emotions for me! It was exactly 7 months ago on Sunday that I gave my last farewell talk and said goodbye to my family and friends as well. It is amazing to see how much has happened during those 7 months and to see myself sitting in the pews with a name-tag on instead of standing at the pulpit.....crying. haha

But we FINALLY got one of our less-actives that we have been working with forever to church !!! WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO! AND she even walked to church which was a HUGE deal for her. You could just see how happy she felt after taking the Sacrament for the first time in years. It was amazing!


Sister Blair chalking it out!

On Saturday we just felt prompted to go to this huge park by our Church-Bucklin Park- and go chalk out the Plan of Salvation! IT WAS SUPER COOL. Not going to lie, we did a boss job of drawing it out. We wrote really big in the middle of the sidewalk "Have you ever wondered...." and then under every step of the Plan of Salvation we put one of the questions of the soul, (i.e Where did we come from? What is my purpose in life? What happens after this life? etc) We didn't want to put our phone # down just cuz Bucklin Park can be a wee bit sketch.....so we just wrote out "Check out Mormon.org" EVERYWHERE! So who knows. Maybe one of these days we will get like 9 mormon.org referrals from it :)



Part of our Drawing!

After that we felt prompted to drive down to Calexico but we couldn't contact any of the people that we normally do. So we decided to go visit some people on the ward list and we had a huge miracle happen! We went to go visit this guy Joe but we found out that he doesn't live there anymore. BUT his Sister does and she is a suuuper less-active member that hasn't been to church since 2002 and wasn't even on our ward list! We talked to her for awhile and she really wants us to come back and start teaching her AND her non-member sons who are 11&9 yrs old! YAYYYY I'm super excited to finally teach some kids w/ parental support! And young boys who can be potential missionaries in the future! After visiting with her we were just like little kids on Christmas haha

It is just absolutely amazing to be apart of the LORD's work and to see His children developing and strengthening relationships with Him. I love hearing stories from back home of my family and friends being super amazing Member-Missionaries and I just KNOW that the Work of Salvation is truly hastening! I hope that you all continue to feel of God's love especially during this time of Thanksgiving, and will continue to share that love with all of those around you!

I love you all!
xoxo Sister Morgan

How Sister Missionaries Weekly Plan

Hope is like the Sun

Hey Everyone!! Hope you are all enjoying the cooler weather and getting ready for the holidays! Its amazing how fast time is flying and that I am almost at my 7 Month mark! Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Well this week was pretty good! It was a little slow at times but we were able to do a lot of service which was nice! We washed some windows, vacuumed some rooms, packed up some dishware and office supplies, and even steam cleaned some carpet! It was fun though, I love being able to do service!

But besides that we had some pretty great lessons! We got a call from this one member who is a little on the wacky side and she had these referrals for us. We asked her about them and apparently she followed some humming birds to these peoples doors and just knocked on them and introduced herself to them! Soooooo props to this lady for having the guts to go knock on a random persons door! But we went and contacted one of her referrals and it was super awesome! This guy is really receptive and we have a return appointment with him! So lets keep our fingers crossed that this one goes somewhere!

On Thursday we went to go see this one Less-Active lady in Calexico and at first when we got there she was not really wanting any company. She had had a really rough week and was feeling super low. So we were just talking on her doorstep and we kept hearing this kitten crying in one of her neighbors yards. She is a huge animal lover so we went to go find it with her but sadly it ran away from us :( haha But after that she just invited us into her house and showed us her huge vintage jewelry collection for like 2 hrs and even let us keep a couple of pieces! It was awesome! But the best part was after we shared a message with her and prayed, she turned to us and said, "Thank you so much for coming by today! I was feeling really down but now I feel 100% better!" I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! It just brings tears to my eyes knowing that I was able to be a bright light in someone's day. That is the absolute best feeling in the WORLD and there is nothing that could ever replace that.

I am so grateful for this Gospel and how IT is a bright light in my life everyday! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest source of hope in this world and I am so eternally grateful to have that perspective! Our Savior Jesus Christ is the greatest source of light and I am so humbled to be a Representative of Him and to share that light with others.

Here is a quote from one of my all time favorite talks, Hope an Anchor of the Soul by James E Faust:  Samuel Smiles wrote: “‘Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.’ … Hope sweetens the memory of experiences well loved. It tempers our troubles to our growth and our strength. It befriends us in dark hours, excites us in bright ones. It lends promise to the future and purpose to the past. It turns discouragement to determination" http://www.lds.org/ensign/1999/11/hope-an-anchor-of-the-soul

And just replace the word "Hope" with "Jesus Christ" and "it" with "Him"    :)

Love,

xoxo Sister Morgan

Playing Ultimate Frisbee with a Pill Ball!

Celestial Valley Zone Sports!

"See Jesus Moments"

Hey everyone!!! Hope you all had a great Halloween!! It was a pretty slow week for us here in El Centro. For Halloween we had to come in early at 7, so we got to clean out our area book and get organized a little bit and then read in D&C 84! It was super fun though, we just pounded down some candy and had a fun time.

I don't know why this week it has been super hard for us to find some people at home, but when we did, we had some awesome lessons! Yesterday we went to go see this investigator, William, and had the best lesson EVER with him! He's 85, his wife was a member but passed away last year and he has just been super depressed since then. We have been meeting with him every now and then because he just keeps talking about how he doesn't know how to open his heart and have faith. So yesterday we read out of Alma 32 with him and had a really great discussion with him! And at the very end we FINALLY got him to say his very first verbal prayer!!!!! WOOOOHOOOO!!! It was AMAZING! It is so cool to see someone humbly acknowledge their Father in Heaven no matter what age they are. Watching him pray was definitely the highlight of my week and one of the coolest experiences I've had on my mission so far. I have such a strong testimony about prayer and how vitally important it is that we communicate with our Father! "Prayer is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings!"-Bible Dictionary

We also had a really great lesson with one of our LA's. We met at her house and both of her parents were there. She has been a member for 3 years now and her parents were super against her being baptized. But when we had our lesson her mom still stayed in the room and even asked us some questions and participated in the lesson! And then randomly in the middle of the lesson she turned to her mom and said, "Mom, will you come to church with me on Sunday" and her mom said YES! TOO AWESOME! In our District's standards, that was a "See Jesus Moment" :)

Well, sorry for the short email this week. But we are having a Zone party at one of the Bishops house and are a little limited on time. Just know that I am absolutely loving being a part of this work and seeing the Gospel take root in people's lives! THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE!

I love you all and am sooo appreciative of all your prayers in my behalf!

xoxo Sister Morgan

Receiving Revelation

Hey Everyone! It has been another great week in the Imperial Valley! I can't believe how fast time is flying, I will be home in exactly one year from now! TOO CRAZY. I don't even want to think about it haha

But this week we had some super good lessons with our investigators and Less-Actives! We talked a lot about receiving revelation. We watched these Mormon Messages by Elder David A. Bednar and they really helped put things into perspective! Sometimes we feel like God has to answer our prayers instantly, and when He doesn't, we just assume that He didn't answer our prayer. But as Elder Bednar describes it, sometimes receiving revelation is like a sunrise, or even walking through the fog towards a bright life. I never realized before how much trust and patience revelation requires. As I look back on my life, I can definitely see so many times were I received revelation inch by inch but just didn't realize it because I was looking in the wrong direction.

We also had a really boss lesson with one of our LA's about the importance of the Sacrament. She kept saying that she was worried that if she went back to church, it wouldn't be as good as it was before. I instantly pointed out to her that that was Satan whispering into her ear. I had her read in True To The Faith this paragraph out of the Prayer section: 'Never give in to the idea that you are not worthy to pray. This idea comes from Satan, who wants to convince you that you must not pray. If you do not feel like praying, pray until you do feel like praying'.

Then I had her interchange the word "pray" with "go to church"-'Never give in to the idea that you are not worthy to go to church. This idea comes from Satan, who wants to convince you that you must not go to church. If you do not feel like going to church, go until you do feel like going to church'

It was such a powerful testimony to me of how vitally important it is to go to church and partake of the Sacrament! I have truly come to rely SO much on partaking of the Sacrament each week because I know that by doing so I am renewing my Baptismal Covenants and essentially being washed clean again. Going to church is that spiritual boost that we need each and every week so that we can continue to go out and be worthy to have the Holy Ghost to guide and support us at all times.

I love you all and I am truly SO grateful for your prayers and support that you give me. I truly do feel them everyday pushing me to continue to work hard and do my very best.

xoxoxo
Sister Morgan

Funniest Costume at the Trunk or Treat!

My BOSS Recent Convert-Andrew. Business in the front, party in the back!

"Can I get a WOOT WOOT?!"-Farrah&Gavin

"I have received an update!"

Welcome to El Centro, CA!

Hey Everyone!! Things in the I.V are going super swell! On Wednesday we got to go back into San Diego for the first time 2 months and I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Blair and she is from American Fork, UT. She is super awesome and we are already having a "Blast-a" together! We actually came out on the mission at the same time so it has been pretty exciting to know we are "big kids" now! :)

My New Companion, Sister Blair!

This week was pretty good though! On Thursday we FINALLY got one of our investigators into the church building and had an awesome Church Tour/Lesson with one of our members present! We ended in the Chapel and had a lesson about the Sacrament and read the Sacrament prayers in Moroni 4&5. It was SUPER good and he was able to recognize the sacredness of the Chapel. Wooohooo!!! But besides that we actually had a little bit of a rough time finding people at home!

Giant goose egg and horrible tan lines!

On Monday we finally found this one Less Active family home and we wanted to watch one of the Bible Videos with them. But of course, I forgot our DVD player at home. SO we started setting up her DVD player and I began to push open one of the cabinet doors on the entertainment center when all of a sudden a came off and fell RIGHT on top of my foot!!! I was so surprised I kept my cool and just shook it off. But as we were watching the video I kept looking at my foot and I saw it getting bigger and bigger.......so we made our way to the church building and the Scott's got me an ice pack for the GIANT goose egg I had on my foot. It was pretty nasty but thankfully one of our appointments that night was an EMT so I got some advice on what to do to help it heal. I woke up this morning with a niiiiiiiiiiiiice grapefruit sized bruise on my foot, but I can still wear shoes so its all good! It was TOTALLY worth it to watch my favorite Bible Video and to bring the Spirit into their home.

We had Stake Conference this past weekend and Elder Craig A. Cardon of the Seventy came and it was SO GOOD! The Saturday Night Session was super crazy good! We had Pres. and Sister Clayton there and they were going to give some talks but Elder Cardon jumped to the stand before them and said, "I have recieved an update!" and he just improvised the WHOLE THING! TALK ABOUT REVELATION! It was awesome! He totally said so many things that our ward and ward council needed to hear. He would ask questions and have who ever those questions apply to stand up and then he would pick one of them and have them come up to the stand to talk about their calling, or hastening the work of salvation, etc. So he had our Bishop come up there and talk about the ward council and working with the missionaries and Bishop mentioned something about how some of our Recent Converts were even there that night. So then Elder Cardon asked Richard and Crystal to come up and bear their testimonies! IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!! it was SO cool to see my RC's participating and meeting apostles of the Lord! They did amazing, I was definitely a proud mamma!!!! But what almost made me tear up was watching Crystal particpate in the Stake Choir. Its just SO cool to see them become part of this family and fitting right in!

Well everyone, just know that I am absolutely loving my mission and being in the service of my Lord. I KNOW that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer! I know that He is always there for us no matter what and loves each of us more than His own life. I will share my favorite Bible Video with you all so you can understand why it was totally worth sacrificing my foot for :) http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-10-042-for-god-so-loved-the-world?lang=eng

I love you all!!! God Bless!

xoxoxoxo Sister Morgan

"God wants full custody of your life. Not just weekend visits!"

Local Baptist Church sign right by our apartment

Hey Everyone!! I hope you have had a fantastic week! Things are going well out here in El Centro. My companion, Sister Munns, is getting transferred tomorrow so that is a big bummer! I'm going to miss that crazy lady. But I'm excited for some change and to switch things up! Half of my Celestial District is getting transferred too so that makes me suuuuper sad. We have all grown so close together!! But I know they will all do amazing things where ever the end up.

This week was actually super good. We finally made it out to the Imperial Valley College to do a booth in the commons area and that has been super fun. We have met quite a few people and even contacted a deaf guy yesterday! It has been cool to see a lot of our YSA out there too. We also had a lot of referrals this week and contacted some pretty solid people! We met this one guy who hasn't been to church in 40 years and his wife is not a member but is super interested in learning more. They took the missionary discussions like 10 years ago but had some addictions that they weren't quite ready to give up. But now those things aren't even a problem so we are super stoked about that! And this world is super small, because he even knows some 'Morgans' from Sanford! So that was super exciting and will be a really good foot in the door for us.


At the Border

At the Border

Besides that we had a lot of really good lessons with our Members and visited a lot of people so Sister Munns could say goodbye. Today we went out to the Calexico airport and visited our Recent Convert, Andrew, because he is a helicopter pilot for some crop dusting business. So we got to see him at the hanger and he gave us our first lesson in helicopters! It was super fun, I love that kid. We also had to be tourists a little bit and finally got pictures with the Mexican Border Fence! :)

Inside a Crop Dusting Helicopter

Us with our BOSS Recent Convert - Andrew!

Well, I just want to leave you all with my testimony of the truthfulness of this Gospel. God truly does work in mysterious ways, but He knows what's best for each and every single one of us. And usually His idea of what needs to happen is WAY better than our own. The knowledge of the Plan of Salvation also gives us so much guidance and direction in our lives which is such a blessing that we tend to take for granted! In Relief Society we were talking about all of the difficult things we deal with everyday and then we had to think about dealing with those things without the Gospel in our lives. I can't even imagine how SO many people do it! But that's why it is so important for us to go out and share it with all of those who don't have the blessing of this Church in their lives.

I love you all and you are always in my prayers! Thank you for all of your love and support!

xoxo Sister Morgan

At the Border

Lunch with Our Family People in the World, Ricardo and Crystal!!

Salvation Mountain

Celestial District @ Salvation Mountain

Hey everyone!! Hope you all had a fantastic General Conference weekend! Congrats to my cousin Paige and her new baby! YAYY BABIES! :)

This week was just a combination of things. It was super stressful, spiritual, fun, boring, yadda, yadda, yadda. Transfers are coming up next week and we are pretty positive that Sister Munns is getting the boot out of the valley. So thats a bummer! I'm going to miss that crazy lady. But I'm also excited to get some fresh eyes out here too!

Sister Munns and I

Even though this week was pretty stressful we still taught some awesome lessons! And General Conference was AMAZING!!!!! This was the first time I've watched all of the sessions and not fallen asleep! wooohoo! haha But it was definitely one of the best conferences ever! I loved all the talks and loved how straight forward they were! After Elder Oaks talk all of us missionaries were like, "BOOM ROASTED" hahaha SO GOOD! Plus, I totally got a shout-out from Elder M. Russel Ballard! I'm one of those awesome missionaries he visited and talked about in his talk! :)

But this week I had the best referral contact I've had on my mission! This guy was SO legit! We talked with him for probably an hour and a half and we were just relating everything back to the Gospel! But my favorite part of the conversation was when he was talking about how he met the Elders. He was playing some street ball when all of a sudden the Elders kind of showed up out of no where. At first when he saw them he was just going to avoid them, but then he felt like he should really talk to them. So he did and he said that after he met them the rest of his day went SOO good and practically perfect! I LOVE hearing stories like that! It makes me so happy when people recognize the Spirit in their lives!! Sadly, this kid had to move back to NYC this week. So hopefully he gets some awesome missionaries there and becomes a member ASAP!

Well on a spiritual note, this week in my reading of the Book of Mormon I read one of my favorite chapters EVER! Mosiah 24. http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/24?lang=eng   I love love love this story! Its about a group of people who were being severely persecuted and enslaved and how they turned to the Lord during their afflictions. My favorite part is how the Lord says that He knows the covenant the people have made with him and because of that, He relieves their burdens and eventually removes them. Its such a strong testimony builder to me that no matter what I'm going through, as long as I turn to the Lord, I can be supported during my trials. I am so grateful to have this Gospel in my life and grateful for the opportunity that I have to share it with others!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! xoxoxo

Sister Morgan

P.S. All these pictures are from Salvation Mountain. It was built by one guy and took 28 yrs to build! Its SO crazy weird! haha but it was way fun! Check it out on Google Earth! :)

Sent my first letter back to my old address and brand new house!! WOOHOO!

Sister Sea-Warrior holds an Iguana

Hey Everyone! So this past week was a little rough, I got super sick! Things were a little bit slow movin', I hated feeling lazy but I needed to take care of myself so I could better help others. It was definitely NOT fun! But I feel SO much better thanks to lots of prayer, sleep, and this horribly beautiful invention called a Netti Pot. For those of you who don't know what a Netti Pot is.........its this thing where you pretty much squirt purified water mixed with a saline solution up your nose and it goes up one side and out the other with everything in-between...........SUPER GROSS! But I feel a million times better now thanks to that!

So besides being sick this week was pretty solid. We went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders on Thursday and that was super good. We had to drop Daniel because of some red flags that we've been noticing that wasn't safe for us to teach him anymore so that was realllyyyyyy not fun. I had to do that while we were on exchanges so that was super hard without my comp. But it really is for the best for all of us.

But on Saturday we did some service for a family where we helped them rip up some tile and that felt SUPER good to get my hands dirty! But while we were there they kept calling their 1 yr old baby 'Sea Warrior' so we finally had to ask why. I guess his middle name is Morgan and in some odd language 'Morgan' means 'Sea-Warrior'!!! So I probably should order a new name tag that says "Sister Sea-Warrior" on it so my name can be legit!!! hahahahahahahaha We have the BEST members!

On Monday we had dinner with our Bishops family and one of their sons just walked out into the kitchen with a baby IGUANA on his shirt!! It super freaked us out at first! But then they finally convinced us to hold and and I'm proud to say I even let it hang out on my shirt for a couple of minutes. It was super random but now I can check off "Hold an Iguana" from my bucket list!

This past Saturday we watched the Relief Society General Broadcast and that was SOOOO GOOD! It was such a spirit filled meeting and for those who didn't get a chance to watch it, go to lds.org RIGHT now and watch it! They talked a lot about keeping our covenants and one of my favorite quotes was, "We go to the temple to make covenants and we come back home to keep them". They also talked about our baptismal covenants and how important and easy it is for us to keep them everyday! Just by doing random acts of service we are keeping our baptismal covenants! But another part of keeping our baptismal covenants is standing as a witness of Christ "at all times, and in all things, and in all places". By doing that we can share the Gospel through our example with EVERYONE we meet!

I am probably more excited for General Conference this weekend than I am for Christmas!!!! It is going to be SOOOO GOOD! I KNOW that we have a Prophet on the Earth today and that he is the true mouth piece of God. I know that if all of you pray and have some questions in mind as you watch conference, that you will receive the inspiration and answers that you need! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!

I love you all!!! xoxoxxoxoxoxxo

Sister Morgan

His Hands

Hey Everyone!!! So life in the Imperial Valley is FINALLY starting to cool off! Yesterday it was only 80 when we went outside to exercise it was AMAZING. I almost thought about grabbing my sweatshirt. But during the day it only gets to about 101 so that is exciting!

So besides the weather, this past week has been pretty rough. On Wednesday we found out that our one investigator who had been lying to us had been assaulted over the weekend and Mexicali and left for dead. Once someone found him and after he got back over the border he was flown to Palm Springs ICU and had to have some major reconstructive surgery on his shattered jaw and cheek bone. They honestly didn't think he was going to make it. But on Thursday our whole Zone did a Zone Fast for him and I know that the windows of heaven were poured upon Daniel! He has had a miraculous recovery and on Monday he was able to come back home. He is still in pretty bad shape; he has 2 huge black eyes, his eye balls are completely red, face swollen, staples on his head, and stitches on his forehead and eyebrow. Someone took a baseball bat to him......so you can definitely imagine what that would look like. So if everyone could keep him in your prayers we would really appreciate it.

Pray for my companion and I as well......it has been a pretty emotionally exhausting week! On top of everything with Daniel, we found out one of the Elders in our District was going home on Monday, my companion got a ticket for not fully stopping at a stop sign by a Highway Patrolmen in the middle of the city and I have to pay for half of the ticket, we didn't get much sleep since we were stressed out, and I seriously had the biggest mental block in preparation for my talk on Sunday, and I'm starting to get sick!

But even though things have been rough, my faith has never been stronger. I have spent a lot of time praying to Heavenly Father and have received so much comfort and strength from Him. It was such a humbling experience; for my talk on Sunday I literally had the hardest time preparing for it! I had no idea what to talk about and was loosing even more sleep about it. On Saturday night I was just tossing and turning the whole night and at 2 AM I finally decided to get up and try to write my talk. The main inspiration that I received was to read the lyrics to this song called "His Hands" by Kenneth Cope. So for my talk I was the concluding speaker, but only had 10 mins to talk. I stood up and began to talk and it was like my thoughts were instantly clear. I read the lyrics to the song for everyone and was in tears the whole time. I testified about being Disciples of Christ and how important it is for us to extend our hands out to those who are lost or struggling and helping them to come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ. It was super powerful and the Spirit was so strong in that room!

I am truly SO grateful for my Redeemer Jesus Christ and the sacrifices He made for me so that I may be able to receive strength and comfort everyday. So here are the lyrics to the song:

"His Hands, tools of creation, stronger than nations, power without end. And yet through them we find our truest friend.

His Hands, sermons of kindness, healing men's blindness, halting years of pain, children waiting to be held again.

His hands would serve His whole life through, showing man what hands might do. Giving, ever giving endlessly. Each day was filled with selfessness and I'll not rest till I make of my hands what they could be. Till these hands become like those from Galilee.

His hands, warming a beggar, lifting a leper, calling back the dead, breaking bread, five thousand fed.

His hands, hushing contention, pointing to heaven, ever free of sin, then bidding man to follow him.

His hands, clasp in agony, as He lay pleading, bleeding in the garden, while just moments away other hands betray Him out of greed, shameful greed.

And then His hands are trembling, straining to carry, the beam that they'd be nailed to, as he stumbles through the streets, heading for the hill on which He would die.

They take His hands, His mighty hands, those gentle hands, and then they pierce them. they pierce them, He lets them, because of love.

From birth to death was selflessness, and clearly now I see Him with His hands calling to me, and though I'm not yet as I would be, He has shown me how I could be, I will make my hands like those from Galilee."

I love you all, thank you for all of your support and love! xoxoxoxo

Sister Morgan

That We Might "Not...Shrink"

The M&M Sisters have the greatest adventures!

Hey everyone! It has been another great week for Sister Morgan out here in the Valley! Shout out to everyone starting school this week at BYU-Idaho! Especially my seesta Katie Kaaaaaang! Everyone better keep an eye out for my little short stack! :) So funny story about BYU-Idaho that happened this week. One of our investigators is dating a girl who just went back up to Idaho for school. We were texting him and jokingly started talking about doing a road trip to Idaho to go see her. So then he said, "If Nephi got to America on a boat we can get to Idaho in a car with Tiwi!"  (Tiwi is that little machine in our car that is a GPS so we don't leave our mission boundaries and monitors us so we don't speed or not wear seat-belts, etc) SOOOO FUNNY! We just about died! I don't know why all of our funniest stories with investigators have been based off of Nephi building a boat to sail to America......but i just love them all!

Only "One Way" to Heaven!

This week though was actually pretty good. We had some really awesome Member Present Lessons and I just love that our members are becoming more missionary-minded! Sister Munns and I both have to talk in Church next week about Missionary Work so we are pretty excited for that! But this week we also found out that one of our investigators hasn't been keeping his commitments and has been lying to us about a lot of things.............so that was a HUGE bummer. It made us super sad, but it also brought a lot of peace to my heart because I finally understood why I kept having an uneasy feeling when we would pray to know what we could do to help him prepare for baptism. So it sucks to see the downside about missionary work, but I know that this is the Lord's work and that we just need to be conduits for His Spirit to help His children.

Celebrating Mexican Independence Day

We had a super awesome lesson though with this guy Frank about Faith that totally strengthened my own faith in my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that no matter what, I can always put my faith and trust into my Redeemer because He has felt everything that I have felt and knows how to succor His people. On Sunday one of the Counselors in our Mission Presidency, President Morgan [No direct relation that we know of yet, but I claim him as family (: ] gave the best talk EVER in our Ward's Sacrament Meeting. He read from Alma 36:3 that says, "Therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn from me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day" And I just absolutely LOVE that scripture! He talked about how there is absolutely nothing in this world that doesn't fall under trials, troubles, and afflictions, and that no matter what we are experiencing, as long as we put our faith and trust in the Lord, He will support us!
 
I can testify to that and know it is true because I have experienced it in my life on dozens of occasions! I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who sacrificed Himself so that we may be able to live with our Heavenly Father and families for eternity. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the one and only true church of Christ that has been restored in these latter days. I know that if any of you put your trust and faith into Jesus Christ, that you WILL be supported in your trials, troubles, and afflictions. Christ cannot take those burdens completely away, but He can help us to endure them and give us the strength to continue to push forward and learn from the experience. One of my favorite talks EVER is called, "That We Might 'Not...Shrink'" by Elder Bednar. If you get a moment, PLEASE read this talk. I hope that it can bring as much comfort and peace to your hearts as it has to mine! http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng

I love you all!!!!! xoxoxoxo
Sister Morgan

Everyday Life in the Valley

El Centro Sunsets

Made Awesome Cupcakes for RC Andrew's Birthday!

Candy Comma

In West Philadelphia Born and Raised....

Hey Everyone!! Hope all is well at home! Things are going super well here in El Centro. Transfers were last week and both Sister Munns and I are staying out here in the Valley for another 6 weeks! Woohooo!

We had Crystal's baptism on Saturday and it was so amazing! Its crazy how things can go completely wrong, but somehow working out for the best. We were kind of scrambled getting things ready for the baptism and were super worried that not a lot of people were going to come. But at about 5 mins till, a TON of people showed up. The support was amazing! So normally for our intermediate presentation that we do as the person who was baptized is getting dressed, we show a mormon message and then bear our testimonies at the end of it. But for some reason, the DVD player just decided to NOT work for us. So we went to Plan B and just bore our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and the journey we have had with Crystal. It's crazy how the Spirit works and afterwards everyone kept telling us that we should always just stick with Plan B because it was so much more powerful.

At the end of the service we had Crystal bear her testimony and it was one of the strongest testimonies I've ever heard! It has been such an honor and blessing to have been apart of her journey and I can't WAIT to see what great things the future holds for her. On Sunday she received the Holy Ghost and Richard was sustained to receive the Priesthood, so that was SO cool to see how much the Gospel can bless a family! AHHHHHHH I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

Well besides that our week was still pretty good. We don't really have any progressing investigators right now since we have baptized them all, so this will be a great opportunity for us to start finding some new people to teach!

Well some funny things that happened this week:

• Some of the Elders tried to rap the Fresh Prince of Bell-Air song and totally butched it, I was SO upset. I love Will Smith. So I totally showed them up and rapped the whole thing for them, it was pretty epic! Everyone was totally shocked I know it all haha But now that song has been stuck in my head all week......
• We have been having some CrAzY weather here lately and it has been raining BUCKETS every other day or so now! And so on Saturday night we had an appointment that we decided to walk to since it was only sprinkling a little bit and we had the Elders with us. So right when we get to the door the clouds decide to just POUR on us and the wind decided to change directions! We had this little tiny umbrella that we tried to use to block the rain, but our heads and skirts just got completely soaked and the poor Elders had nothing to hide under. I was pounding on the door but no one answered until right when we decided to leave. We let the Elders go home, but we had to stay and teach a whole lesson soaking wet.....haha

Well I hope everyone has an awesome week and just know that I am LOVING being in the service of my God and serving the people here in El Centro! THE CHURCH IS TRUE and JESUS LOVES YOU!




xoxoxo Sister Morgan

Storm Chasers

Celestial Valley District

So this past week was super good! Birthday's on the mission are totally different but so awesome. Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes and love and support. I appreciate it SO much! 22 is going to be an incredible year for me!

So when I first got to the Valley, all that everyone talked about was how miserable the heat is in August. But they forgot to tell us about the CRAZY MONSOON/SAND STORMS that come from Arizona! On Thursday we were teaching our investigators Crystal and Richard out in Seely and during the lesson I could see the wind pick up and the clouds got pretty dark. As I'm talking about the Law of Chastity I see this huge flash of light and a booming crash right outside the window in front of me.........the wind was so bad that the power lines were crashing together and sparking! It happened a few other times during the lesson but once we started the drive back into town we realized that we had missed a super crazy sand storm! Then around 8:00 pm we started to have a lightening and rain storm (but since there was so much sand in the air it was like a mud storm!) We decided to go to this one members house who lives out in the boonies off of some dirt roads and as typical Sister Missionaries, we got lost. We pull over by the intersection of 2 roads to try and read this street sign that is being blocked a little bit by a massive tree in someone's yard.

Sister Munns: "You brave enough to go out there and read that sign?"

Me: "Pshh, of course! I'm a big girl, I can handle myself!!"

BIRTHDAY RAIN!

So I get out of the car (leave the door open) and go about 15 ft towards the sign. This stupid tree branch was blocking the sign, so I lift my hand up to move it away when all of a sudden we hear this deep growl/bark and 4 legs coming SUPER fast and close to me! The next thing I know time is moving in slow motion. I saw my life flash before my eyes. I bolted to the car and wacked my left shoulder on the frame of the door and slammed the door closed behind me. Sister Munns throws the car into gear and we peel out as fast as we can (without Tiwi yelling at us of course). Once we get a little bit away we pull over and just look at each other and start laughing! During those 2 minutes the only thing I could think of was all those crazy stories of Missionaries getting attacked by dogs and I just thanked the Lord that I wore good shoes with traction that day. It is probably on my top 5 list of the funniest things I have ever experienced on my mission and I think I had a dead arm for the whole rest of the night! haha

But besides having a crazy bruise on my shoulder now, my birthday was SO good! We had another rain monsoon and it rained THE WHOLE DAY! PRAISE THE LORD! I have never been so happy to see rain and to see the thermometer drop to 85! It was so cold that during studies we pulled out our sweatshirts and sweatpants, I was the happiest person ever! But everyone here was so nice and Crystal and Richard bought me birthday cake. The YSA even sang happy birthday to me in English and Spanish! :) It was a GREAT DAY!

Birthday cake with Crystal and Richard

So for the next story I am just copying and pasting it from my companion because it literally was the FUNNIEST THING EVER! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

"Monday: BEST STORY EVER....well if you have never seen the youtube video Shiz Mormons Say you might want to look it up! But it think missionaries need  to make a video about Shiz Investigators say... ;] I have never laughed so hard in my life yesterday at this conversation with our investigator:

Daniel: Sisters, what is up..I am on chapter 19 now in the BOM. You proud of me? Are you going to come visit me now?

Us; Heck yes we are. You are doing awesome.

Daniel: ya i keep getting distracted but at least i am reading.

Sister Morgan: That is ok. Just pray every time you read and it will get better. Are you understanding the things you are reading?

Daniel: ya kind of. if i dont i sit and think about it for a while or re read it! But why is Nephi building a boat?

S.Morgan: To go to America.

Daniel: WHAT? Why did he need a boat though? Did he think he would drowned?

S. Morgan: No he was going to cross the big waters and go to the promise land remember?

Daniel: What is the promised land?

Me: AMERICA

Daniel: What? He isnt in America? Where is he?

S.Morgan: He is in Jerusalem!

Daniel: JERUSALEM? What the hell is he doing there?

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA i lost it completely!! could not hold in my laughter!

How many times does it say in the Book of Mormon Chapters that they were in Jerusalem. In the chapter heading of 19 it says Lehi leaves Jerusalem!

Daniel: When did all this happen?

Us: A long time ago.

Daniel: is this all before Joseph Smith?

Me: Yes like 600 B.C.

Daniel: no way before Christ..that is when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I thought Nephi was related to Joseph Smith

BAHAHAHAHAHA isnt that the best conversation ever!! We think Daniel needs a study buddy! But hey at least the effort is there and he is reading! Bless his little heart! Hopefully soon we will be able to add him and begin teaching him again!

Oh the shiz investigators say..."

Sorry for the super long email but I just wanted to share with everyone how AWESOME it is to be a missionary! I love the people out here SO much and I am just having the time of my life! My words of wisdom for the week: Remember that Jesus Loves YOU! :)

Love,

Sister Morgan xoxo