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