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

Signs of the Times!

Hey everyone!! I hope you all had a great week!! This week was a little slow for us, but we really learned a lot. I have really come to learn that when opposition comes I just need to push forward with faith and change my perspective so that I can learn what ever the Lord needs me to learn!

So this week we decided to re-evaluate our teaching pool and dropped a couple of people that we shouldn't have dropped awhile ago because they just weren't progressing and the Lord needs us to put our efforts somewhere else for the time being. Because of that we had a lot more open time which was actually really good for us. It gave us a chance to go through the Ward List and try to see some people that haven't been visited for a long time. It was really frustrating at first because most of the people had either moved or weren't home (they were probably in stupid Mexicali....) but after a really long day we finally found a returning less-active at home and just had the BEST conversation with her! I seriously love when the Lord blesses us with tender mercies like that.

But for the most part, our week consisted of: driving, jamming to some MoTab and Piano Guys, waiting till the very last second to turn off the air conditioning as we got out of the car, instantly sweating on the walk to the door, knocking on doors that burn your knuckles, looking around awkwardly trying to listen for movement inside the house, waiting, doing 2 more blistering knocks for each of our salvation, jamming a mormon.org card in their door, speed walking as dignified as possible back to the car, blast the air conditioning, and repeat.

We were able to talk with some awesome people though, so it was totally worth it! And as we were driving around we were able to see some very interesting signs in people's yards....people in the valley are just a wee-bit crazy...but it totally made us die of laughter! But the highlight of our week was definitely our lesson last night with our investigator who is getting baptized in September. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and in her opening prayer she said, "Thank you for sending me the girls to teach me about the words of wisdom, which by the way, I am already keeping Sir!" Easiest.Word.Of.Wisdom.lesson.EVER! It was so awesome, I LOVE being a missionary!

This week though I learned a LOT about prayer! I don't have much time left to explain it, but everyone should study Prayer in the Bible Dictionary: http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/prayer?lang=eng&letter=p and in True to the Faith as well! SO GOOD!

But I love you all and I appreciate your love and support SO MUCH! It really does mean the world to me! xoxoxo

Sister Morgan

The Worth of Souls

Hey everyone! Sorry my letters lately have been super lame and non descriptive....so much happens each week that I never know what to talk about! So hopefully you all don't mind that I go into missionary mode and just teach you something that I learned :)

But this week I'll be better and give some more details!

The weather in Hell Centro hasn't been too bad this week! Everyone keeps telling us that August is the worst, but it has only been about 110-115 lately and hasn't been muggy either! So hopefully I didn't curse myself by saying that.....But I'm in the Imperial Valley 2nd Ward and it covers about 5 towns: El Centro, Heber, Calexico, Seely, and Ocotillo. I've been about 2 blocks from the Mexican Border. We HATE Mexicalli since its just right outside our Mission Boundaries and everyone goes there on the weekends. But surprisingly I haven't really learned any Spanish yet...but I already have a step above Elder Jonathon Farr since I can roll my R's hahaha We've taught quite a few lessons outside and let me be the first to say, the Holy Ghost can even be felt in Hades!

But this week we had quite a few tender mercies! We had a rough weekend and were in some serious need of a pick-me-up. So we decided to go visit a Less Active member that no one has contacted in a long time but instead met the family that has lived in that house for the past couple of years. We got talking to this man and he was just SO open! We had such a great discussion with him and have a return appointment for later on this week. I just love being able to meet so many different people from all walks of life and seeing how the Gospel of Jesus Christ applies to each and every single one of them! IT'S SO COOL! No matter what, the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bless every person's life for the better.

This week though I learned a lot about the worth of souls. As a missionary we really come to see everyone through the eyes of Christ and it is impossible to not love them for who they are as children of God. In D&C 18:10 it says "The worth of souls is great in the sight of God" and that scripture has taken on whole new meaning to me this week! I'm starting to see that someone's soul, or salvation, is SO much more important than anything that money can buy. When we met with Elder Ballard he said something that hit me straight to the heart. He said, "Imagine going to the next life, and the person who was your waiter at Cici's Pizza today came up to you and said, 'You knew all along the key to happiness and you never told me?! You had the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you didn't even give me the opportunity to accept it!'" Woof. I NEVER want that to happen. Then he told us to picture ourselves without the Gospel. Who would we be? What would we be like? Then he asked us, "What is the cost of your soul? Wouldn't you want someone to give everything they possibly had to save your soul?"

Once he put that into perspective for me my thoughts completely changed. Christ performed the ultimate sacrifice for each and every one of us so that we may have the opportunity to live with Heavenly Father again. How selfish would I be if I let something prideful or worldly prevent someone from being able to live with our Father again? It would feel like I just saw someone fall into a pool and sat there and watched them drown because I was late for work or didn't want to catch a cold from getting wet. I know that is a weird analogy but I hope everyone can begin to understand my little rant. Not everyone has what we have. There is so much more that goes on behind closed doors that we don't even know about. To quote President Uchtdorf, "To those of you who are judging others, I have 2 words for you.....STOP IT!" Everyone deserves the chance to be loved. To be watched over and protected. To be cared for. To be saved.

I love this Gospel with all my heart and I am truly so grateful to have it. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! The Church is True! :)

XOXO Much Love,

Sister Morgan

"I don't waaaant anymore sacrifices!"

This past week went really good!!! I had my very first Baptism on Saturday which went SO well! We had such a great turn out and the Spirit was sooo strong. He has such a solid testimony! But it is just a sacred experience to watch someone enter the waters of baptism. To literally watch them be submerged in the water and then rise out of it spiritually clean knowing that they were baptized in the same manner and with the same authority as Jesus Christ just brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it! It just amazes me to think of everything that Christ did for us so that we can enter into our Father's fold and live with Him again someday. I am SO grateful that I was able to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized with the Priesthood Authority of God when I was 8 yrs old. Baptism is truly an amazing experience but we aren't completely saved by that alone! It is SO important to endure to the end and to also work towards entering into the Holy Temple. This past week I have just been DYING to go to the Temple and to feel of the Spirit so strongly. But since we are out in the Valley, we don't get to really go that often since its 2 hrs away. But that's okay, it will just make it even more worth it when I can go back to it someday!

So last Wednesday I was able to meet an Apostle of the Lord- Elder M. Russel Ballard! COOLEST.EXPERIENCE.EVER! For real. I seriously think I wrote down every word he said because it was all just gold! But one main thing that he talked about was about bothering Heaven for help. He said "This is the Church of Jesus Christ, you have authority given to you from Jesus Christ. So why not ask Jesus Christ for help to do His work? Then he just talked about how important it is to pray pray and PRAY and it has really changed the way I have prayed! I also love what Pres. Clayton talked about too. He read the definition of Sacrifice in the BD and there is a paragraph that says "Sacrifices were thus instructive as well as worshipful. They were accompanied by prayer, devotion, and dedication, and represented an acknowledgment on the part of the individual of his duty toward God, and also a thankfulness to the Lord for his life and blessings upon the earth" and I just LOVE how that completely changes the way that we think about what a sacrifice is! Its not something that we have to give up, but its something that we thank the Lord for and show our dedication and devotion by! I could literally go one for days about Elder Ballard, but to be honest I have more important work to do! I LOVE teaching the Gospel and seeing it take effect in people's lives. We saw so many miracles this week and it is just the best feeling EVER to see the Spirit work in someone's life and having everything just "click" for them in their mind. We are SO blessed to have this Gospel and Church!!!

Well family and friends, know that I love you all and pray for you everyday. I know that this Church is true and I know for a fact that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. If any of you have never read the Introduction to the Book of Mormon or the Testimony of Joseph Smith, I invite you to do so NOW!

xoxoxoxo

Sister Morgan