Hey Everyone! Wow, can you believe that this is my LAST
email as a missionary?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I have sooo many mixed emotions right now. I am SO excited
to see my family and our new home. I'm excited to apply the MANY things that I
have learned these past 18 months for the rest of my life. But I am going to
really, really, really, REALLY miss being a Missionary here in San Diego. This
has truly been THE happiest 18 months of my whole life. Don't get me wrong
though, the reason why it has been the happiest 18 months of my life isn't
because everything was hunky dory all the time. There were some "hunky
dory" moments, but in all honesty, they were few and far between.
What has made these months the happiest of my life is all of
the trials, struggles, and difficulties that I had each and every day. It has
been the days where I felt like I had absolutely NOTHING left in me. It was in
those days where I was frustrated or hurt and literally fell to my knees begging
for mercy. It was in those days where I had doors slammed in my face. It was
even in those days where I would get super impatient with all of my weaknesses
and faults. EVERY SINGLE DAY these past 18 months have been filled with some
sort of trial, adversity, or set back.
As I looked back at that list I realized how I might kind of
sound like a crazy person saying I experienced true and undeniable happiness
during the most difficult trials of my life. It may sound crazy to you, but to
me it wasn't those experiences that brought me happiness, but it was as I
applied and relied upon the Atonement of Jesus Christ every single day that
brought me that TRUE happiness. When I would wake up feeling like I had
absolutely ZERO energy in my body, I would pray and ask my Savior to give me
the energy that I needed. And I would receive it. When I
would fall down on my knees pleading for mercy-I would receive it.
When I would have doors slammed in my face I would ask Heavenly Father for a
tender mercy and I would receive it. When ever I felt like all of
my faults and weaknesses were hindering the work, I would pray and ask for
forgiveness and strength to overcome those faults and weaknesses and I
would receive it.
It was the peace, love, and joy that I felt in my heart as I
served with EVERYTHING that I had and relied upon the Atonement to make up the
difference that allowed me to experience PURE happiness and joy that comes from
living & sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ every day. It was as I prayed
and relied upon God that I felt His INFINITE love that can only be expressed
from a loving Heavenly Father to His literal Daughter. I am SO grateful though
that every thing that I have mentioned today doesn't only apply to
missionaries. That's the beauty of it. The Gospel of Jesus Christ & His
Atonement applies to ONE & ALL. So even after I am released and resume life
and school, I can STILL experience the same true joy that I have felt every day
of my Mission.
In closing I just wanted to share my testimony again about
prayer. I feel like I talk about prayer in every email, but the reason why is
because it is SO important! This past Sunday I had my last Mission Presidents
Fireside where I & 6 of my closest friends who are all going home with me,
performed the song, "Secret Prayer" Hymn # 144. We all sang
our hearts out and I even accompanied it with my Ukulele :) I just want to
share the lyrics as my closing testimony, because I truly feel like these words
are my words & express everything that I am feeling right now.
1. There is an hour of peace and rest,
Unmarred by earthly care;
'Tis when before the Lord I go
And kneel in secret prayer.
2. The straight and narrow way to heav'n,
Where angels bright and fair
Are singing to God's praise, is found
Thru constant secret prayer.
3. When sailing on life's stormy sea,
'Mid billows of despair,
'Tis solace to my soul to know
God hears my secret prayer.
4. When thorns are strewn along my path,
And foes my feet ensnare,
My Savior to my aid will come,
If sought in secret prayer.
I KNOW that our Savior Jesus Christ will truly come to our
aid as we ask Him through prayer. I KNOW that He is the Son of God, my Savior
and Redeemer, and that He personally knows and loves me. I KNOW that He
lovingly restored His Church once again on the Earth today and that I
proudly wear the name of that Church on my name tag. I KNOW that Joseph Smith
was a Prophet of God and that ever since him we have had a Living Prophet on
the Earth. I KNOW that Thomas S. Monson is Prophet, Seer, and Revelator today
and I love and sustain him. I KNOW that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real
and that only through His Atonement can we be cleansed from sin.
I love you all. THANK YOU for all of your support, love, and
encouragement that you have given me as I have embarked on this amazing
journey. I truly appreciate everything!
Love always,
xoxo Sister Morgan :)
Sister Mekena Morgan's adventures in the California San Diego Mission
Friday, October 24, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
God Doesn't Call the Qualified, He Qualifies the Called
Hey Everyone! The final countdown has begun.......2 MORE
WEEKS! I can't believe how fast time has flown, but don't worry, I'm truly
making the most of EVERY single second that I have left to be a full-time set
apart Missionary and Representative of Jesus Christ.
Ever since I got to this area 10 weeks ago, I have been praying & praying & praying that Heavenly Father would help us to find those who are pure in heart. To find those who will recognize the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have had many opportunities to teach those that are getting close to that point, but many of them don't live in our area so we had to refer them to some other missionaries. It would be frustrating at times having to send out all of these amazing referrals and then having to start back at square one again in our own area & begin the "finding" process again. I kept telling my companion that someday it will all go full circle. Whatever we send out, someone will send to us. And this week, IT FINALLY HAPPENED.
Wednesday night after exchanges we look at our phone and see that we have a voice mail. We listen and its a Member from Texas asking us if we could meet with one of their friends, Shannon, that lives in our area. So we get her information, call her the next morning, and set up an appointment for later that night to meet with her at the Stake Center. We get there and have THE most spiritually powerful Church Tour that I've EVER experienced before!
So here's a brief summary of Shannon-SHE'S AMAZING. She has survived stage 4 Breast Cancer, TWICE, and beat it without using ANY chemotherapy-she only used natural medicines! This woman was literally on her death bed, when God taught her that she was still going to do many things in her life that will change and bless SO many people. Now that she has been cancer free for 3 years, she runs a non-profit organization that helps fund-raise money for cancer patients who can't afford their treatments. She works with quite a few organizations and is seriously Wonder Woman! She does all of this out of the pure goodness of her heart and refuses to accept money for her services. She has so much faith and trust in God and knows that He will help provide for her needs. Which is how we came in to the picture! Shannon was literally starving because she didn't have enough money to buy food. Our Bishop asked that we would do a "needs assessment" when we met with her and see how interested she was in the Church.
From the first moment I met her my Spirit literally jumped because I truly felt like I have known her once before. We've never met before in this life & I honestly feel like we are "kindred spirits". As we met with her at the Church we gave her a Church Tour to show her around because she had never been inside one of our buildings before. At our Stake Center, they have arranged all the art work in a certain order that allows us to teach the Restoration as we walk & explain each art piece. Before we even started talking about the Restoration she saw the painting of Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove and asked if we could explain more about him and his life. So we sat down and started teaching & I honestly have NEVER felt the Spirit teach so powerfully through me before. She was soaking all of it in and as we continued to teach you could see the light within her eyes growing and illuminating her countenance.
We then stood back up to take her into the Chapel and on our way there she saw the large painting of Christ ordaining His 12 Apostles to the Priesthood and she stopped mid step to look at it. She stared at Christ's face and I explained what He was doing and referred back to what we had just talked about how Christ's priesthood authority is once again on the earth today. She smiled and said, "I love this painting. I love how Authoritative Christ looks. I've never seen anything like it". Once we entered the Chapel we explained the purpose of why we come to Church & the Sacrament. Then Sis Saedan played "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" on the piano for her. The peaceful feeling of the Spirit that was in that Chapel was so incredibly powerful and I will truly cherish that moment forever!
As we were sitting in there Shannon was talking to me about her Non-Profit work and telling me about how overwhelmed she feels with it. There are so many people turning to her for advice and counsel and she was afraid that God has called her to do something that is too much for her to handle. I then told her how I felt the same way when I became a missionary. But something that one of my Mission Prep teachers taught me was that "God doesn't call the qualified, but He qualifies the called". She pondered about that for a minute and turned to me and said, "God is qualifying me right now huh?" and I said, "Yup. That's why you are sitting here in this Chapel at this precise moment. That is why we have come into your life today!" After our closing prayer she mentioned how she didn't want to leave the building. She said "I felt the most peace I have ever experienced in my life as I met with you girls today!"
AHHHHHHHHHHHSDFLHDLKSDJFHLDSKJFHLDSKJH!!!! We were seriously on Cloud Nine that night! On Saturday we were supposed to meet up again but she called and seriously left the most heart breaking message ever to cancel our appointment. She talked about how her Dad is dying with Cancer right now and since she is so close to her Dad, she won't be able to look him in the eyes and tell him she's changing religions because she knows it will completely break his heart. He almost became a Catholic Priest but is just a Seminary Teacher right now. She left the Catholic church a loooooong time ago, but her Dad still attributes everything that she's doing to the Catholic Church. He never let her associate with Mormons growing up and she said she can't do that to her Dad right now and have that be his last memory of her.
After listening to her message I was completely heart broken! But I was determined not to let her slip away that easy. So we knelt down and prayed for guidance of the Spirit right before we called her back. That phone call was literally the most spirit filled phone conversation I've EVER experienced! She sat there in tears and described how the Book of Mormon was sitting right next to a picture of her and her Dad and she felt so torn between the two. She said the "Book of Mormon just keeps beckoning me to open it and read it!" After 1 hr and 45 mins of pure spiritual guidance and me testifying the most powerful I ever have my whole Mission, Shannon told us that she finally understood what God needs her to do. She no longer felt torn and said that she again felt that same powerful peace that she felt with us at the Stake Center.
On Sunday she came to Church. She actually stood up and bore her testimony so she could "briefly introduce herself to everyone and share her story" :) :) :) :) We couldn't attend any of the classes because EVERYONE kept coming up and talking to her and truly helped her to feel so welcomed and loved. It was AMAZING! We also were able to get a food order for her so this truly remarkable Saint doesn't have to be starving any more!
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!
I LOVE THE RESTORED GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!
I LOVE THE PRIESTHOOD POWER & AUTHORITY THAT I HAVE AS A FULL-TIME SET APART REPRESENTATIVE OF CHRIST!
I LOVE THE HOLY GHOST & HIS ABILITY TO CONFIRM TRUTH AND PEACE IN OUR HEARTS!
I LOVE THE PEOPLE I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MEET THESE PAST 18 MONTHS!
I LOVE MY MISSION!
I LOVE MY HEAVENLY FATHER AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!
Without ANY of these things, I would not be the person I am today. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father knowing me better than I know myself. I am so grateful for the plan that He has for my life and I am SO grateful that it is a million times more amazing than my own plans.
I LOVE MY FAMILY & FRIENDS!
& I'm excited to see you all in 2 weeks!
xoxoxxo
Sister Morgan
Ever since I got to this area 10 weeks ago, I have been praying & praying & praying that Heavenly Father would help us to find those who are pure in heart. To find those who will recognize the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have had many opportunities to teach those that are getting close to that point, but many of them don't live in our area so we had to refer them to some other missionaries. It would be frustrating at times having to send out all of these amazing referrals and then having to start back at square one again in our own area & begin the "finding" process again. I kept telling my companion that someday it will all go full circle. Whatever we send out, someone will send to us. And this week, IT FINALLY HAPPENED.
Wednesday night after exchanges we look at our phone and see that we have a voice mail. We listen and its a Member from Texas asking us if we could meet with one of their friends, Shannon, that lives in our area. So we get her information, call her the next morning, and set up an appointment for later that night to meet with her at the Stake Center. We get there and have THE most spiritually powerful Church Tour that I've EVER experienced before!
So here's a brief summary of Shannon-SHE'S AMAZING. She has survived stage 4 Breast Cancer, TWICE, and beat it without using ANY chemotherapy-she only used natural medicines! This woman was literally on her death bed, when God taught her that she was still going to do many things in her life that will change and bless SO many people. Now that she has been cancer free for 3 years, she runs a non-profit organization that helps fund-raise money for cancer patients who can't afford their treatments. She works with quite a few organizations and is seriously Wonder Woman! She does all of this out of the pure goodness of her heart and refuses to accept money for her services. She has so much faith and trust in God and knows that He will help provide for her needs. Which is how we came in to the picture! Shannon was literally starving because she didn't have enough money to buy food. Our Bishop asked that we would do a "needs assessment" when we met with her and see how interested she was in the Church.
From the first moment I met her my Spirit literally jumped because I truly felt like I have known her once before. We've never met before in this life & I honestly feel like we are "kindred spirits". As we met with her at the Church we gave her a Church Tour to show her around because she had never been inside one of our buildings before. At our Stake Center, they have arranged all the art work in a certain order that allows us to teach the Restoration as we walk & explain each art piece. Before we even started talking about the Restoration she saw the painting of Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove and asked if we could explain more about him and his life. So we sat down and started teaching & I honestly have NEVER felt the Spirit teach so powerfully through me before. She was soaking all of it in and as we continued to teach you could see the light within her eyes growing and illuminating her countenance.
We then stood back up to take her into the Chapel and on our way there she saw the large painting of Christ ordaining His 12 Apostles to the Priesthood and she stopped mid step to look at it. She stared at Christ's face and I explained what He was doing and referred back to what we had just talked about how Christ's priesthood authority is once again on the earth today. She smiled and said, "I love this painting. I love how Authoritative Christ looks. I've never seen anything like it". Once we entered the Chapel we explained the purpose of why we come to Church & the Sacrament. Then Sis Saedan played "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" on the piano for her. The peaceful feeling of the Spirit that was in that Chapel was so incredibly powerful and I will truly cherish that moment forever!
As we were sitting in there Shannon was talking to me about her Non-Profit work and telling me about how overwhelmed she feels with it. There are so many people turning to her for advice and counsel and she was afraid that God has called her to do something that is too much for her to handle. I then told her how I felt the same way when I became a missionary. But something that one of my Mission Prep teachers taught me was that "God doesn't call the qualified, but He qualifies the called". She pondered about that for a minute and turned to me and said, "God is qualifying me right now huh?" and I said, "Yup. That's why you are sitting here in this Chapel at this precise moment. That is why we have come into your life today!" After our closing prayer she mentioned how she didn't want to leave the building. She said "I felt the most peace I have ever experienced in my life as I met with you girls today!"
AHHHHHHHHHHHSDFLHDLKSDJFHLDSKJFHLDSKJH!!!! We were seriously on Cloud Nine that night! On Saturday we were supposed to meet up again but she called and seriously left the most heart breaking message ever to cancel our appointment. She talked about how her Dad is dying with Cancer right now and since she is so close to her Dad, she won't be able to look him in the eyes and tell him she's changing religions because she knows it will completely break his heart. He almost became a Catholic Priest but is just a Seminary Teacher right now. She left the Catholic church a loooooong time ago, but her Dad still attributes everything that she's doing to the Catholic Church. He never let her associate with Mormons growing up and she said she can't do that to her Dad right now and have that be his last memory of her.
After listening to her message I was completely heart broken! But I was determined not to let her slip away that easy. So we knelt down and prayed for guidance of the Spirit right before we called her back. That phone call was literally the most spirit filled phone conversation I've EVER experienced! She sat there in tears and described how the Book of Mormon was sitting right next to a picture of her and her Dad and she felt so torn between the two. She said the "Book of Mormon just keeps beckoning me to open it and read it!" After 1 hr and 45 mins of pure spiritual guidance and me testifying the most powerful I ever have my whole Mission, Shannon told us that she finally understood what God needs her to do. She no longer felt torn and said that she again felt that same powerful peace that she felt with us at the Stake Center.
On Sunday she came to Church. She actually stood up and bore her testimony so she could "briefly introduce herself to everyone and share her story" :) :) :) :) We couldn't attend any of the classes because EVERYONE kept coming up and talking to her and truly helped her to feel so welcomed and loved. It was AMAZING! We also were able to get a food order for her so this truly remarkable Saint doesn't have to be starving any more!
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!
I LOVE THE RESTORED GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!
I LOVE THE PRIESTHOOD POWER & AUTHORITY THAT I HAVE AS A FULL-TIME SET APART REPRESENTATIVE OF CHRIST!
I LOVE THE HOLY GHOST & HIS ABILITY TO CONFIRM TRUTH AND PEACE IN OUR HEARTS!
I LOVE THE PEOPLE I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MEET THESE PAST 18 MONTHS!
I LOVE MY MISSION!
I LOVE MY HEAVENLY FATHER AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!
Without ANY of these things, I would not be the person I am today. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father knowing me better than I know myself. I am so grateful for the plan that He has for my life and I am SO grateful that it is a million times more amazing than my own plans.
I LOVE MY FAMILY & FRIENDS!
& I'm excited to see you all in 2 weeks!
xoxoxxo
Sister Morgan
Saturday, October 11, 2014
"Why should I talk to them? I don't even know them!"
Hey Everyone!
I don't know about you, but can I just first start off by saying how much I LOVE this Church and LOVE the fact that we have a Modern Day Prophet living on the Earth today?! General Conference was amazing and I am so grateful for the much needed personal revelation the Lord has blessed me with! The world is getting pretty crazy, but I KNOW that if we always listen and act upon the teachings of the Prophet, then we will never be lead astray! He is the authorized mouthpiece of Jesus Christ and because of that, we can have peace in knowing that he will always guide us back to our Savior and Heavenly Father!
Conference this year seriously was such a spiritual
experience for me. As I pondered and prayed about specific questions that I had
before Conference, as I watched I literally felt like Heavenly Father was
pouring a bucket of spiritual nourishment and answers upon my head! I
walked out of Conference feeling like I was on Cloud Nine again and ready to
conquer the world!
Well, actually the funny experience that happened this week literally happened about 20 mins after the Saturday Afternoon Session. As we left the Stake Center and started driving back to our area, I saw a cute old Chinese couple walking down the opposite side of the road from us. It was almost a little bit of a "flash back" moment from my days in China because this couple completely looked the part of a Chinese "Grandma and Grandpa". They were walking under a pale purple umbrella to protect them from the Sun, the woman was wearing those puffy white arm sleeves, and they were walking with their groceries in hand.
When I first saw them I immediately had the thought that we should flip around and talk to them. But then I realized that if they were really from China then I wouldn't be able to talk to them because I have forgotten ALL of the useful Chinese I had learned. But then I remembered that my lovely companion, Sis. Saedan, had taken 3 years of Mandarin in High School! So I asked her, "You feeling confident in your Mandarin today?" and she just turned and looked at me with a blank stare on her face......so I took that as a YES and we flipped around at the next stoplight. There wasn't a good place to park on the busy street that they were walking down, so we parked right next to the Stake Center and jumped out of the car. We started walking towards the street hoping that we could "bump" into them, but then we saw that they had started crossing over the busy street away from us.
So then I looked at Sis Saedan again and asked, "You
feeling up for going on a run today?" and after receiving the same blank
stare, we looked both ways and then started bookin' it across this busy street
to catch up with them. As we were running a few of the Elders were driving by
and yelled something out the window at us, but neither of us heard because
we were so focused on not letting this Chinese couple get out of our sight.
Once we finally made it to them, we tried talking to them and they obviously
understood ZERO English. So then Sis Saedan started talking to them in Mandarin
and we finally got them to stop.
As I sat there watching this conversation go down, I had NO idea what was being said, but it was sooooo funny watching all of their facial expressions. After attempting to talk to them for about 10 mins they handed us our Mormon.org card back and started walking away still mumbling to each other. I turned to Sis. Saedan and was like, "What just happened?!" Turns out this couple IS from China, but they actually speak Cantonese.....haha so apparently they were super confused about why we were talking with them and originally thought at first that we needed help. Then when we tried giving them the Mandarin Sisters number to call so they could speak to them, but Sis Saedan accidentally said, "They miss you!" instead of "They would like to talk to you!" and the guy was like, "Why should I talk to them.....I don't even know them!" hahahahaha Then he actually did call them but they didn't answer.....at first he thought that their answering machine was them talking to him and he started to respond back but would pause and then try to talk again. I guess he thought they were just interrupting him and so he got mad and hung up hahaha
I don't know why we needed to talk to that Chinese couple, but it was definitely an experience I will remember forever! I love this Gospel so much and I am so grateful for every opportunity that I have to open my mouth and share this wonderful news with anyone and everyone that I can. I only have 3 more weeks left, but I am determined to finish strong and to continue to see even more miracles as I share this Gospel with everyone that I can in my beautiful Sunny San Diego :)
I love you all!
xoxo Sister Morgan
I don't know about you, but can I just first start off by saying how much I LOVE this Church and LOVE the fact that we have a Modern Day Prophet living on the Earth today?! General Conference was amazing and I am so grateful for the much needed personal revelation the Lord has blessed me with! The world is getting pretty crazy, but I KNOW that if we always listen and act upon the teachings of the Prophet, then we will never be lead astray! He is the authorized mouthpiece of Jesus Christ and because of that, we can have peace in knowing that he will always guide us back to our Savior and Heavenly Father!
 |
| Riding a 6 passenger bike w/ 8 Sister Missionaries around Coronado! |
Well, actually the funny experience that happened this week literally happened about 20 mins after the Saturday Afternoon Session. As we left the Stake Center and started driving back to our area, I saw a cute old Chinese couple walking down the opposite side of the road from us. It was almost a little bit of a "flash back" moment from my days in China because this couple completely looked the part of a Chinese "Grandma and Grandpa". They were walking under a pale purple umbrella to protect them from the Sun, the woman was wearing those puffy white arm sleeves, and they were walking with their groceries in hand.
When I first saw them I immediately had the thought that we should flip around and talk to them. But then I realized that if they were really from China then I wouldn't be able to talk to them because I have forgotten ALL of the useful Chinese I had learned. But then I remembered that my lovely companion, Sis. Saedan, had taken 3 years of Mandarin in High School! So I asked her, "You feeling confident in your Mandarin today?" and she just turned and looked at me with a blank stare on her face......so I took that as a YES and we flipped around at the next stoplight. There wasn't a good place to park on the busy street that they were walking down, so we parked right next to the Stake Center and jumped out of the car. We started walking towards the street hoping that we could "bump" into them, but then we saw that they had started crossing over the busy street away from us.
 |
| Zone silly faces! |
As I sat there watching this conversation go down, I had NO idea what was being said, but it was sooooo funny watching all of their facial expressions. After attempting to talk to them for about 10 mins they handed us our Mormon.org card back and started walking away still mumbling to each other. I turned to Sis. Saedan and was like, "What just happened?!" Turns out this couple IS from China, but they actually speak Cantonese.....haha so apparently they were super confused about why we were talking with them and originally thought at first that we needed help. Then when we tried giving them the Mandarin Sisters number to call so they could speak to them, but Sis Saedan accidentally said, "They miss you!" instead of "They would like to talk to you!" and the guy was like, "Why should I talk to them.....I don't even know them!" hahahahaha Then he actually did call them but they didn't answer.....at first he thought that their answering machine was them talking to him and he started to respond back but would pause and then try to talk again. I guess he thought they were just interrupting him and so he got mad and hung up hahaha
I don't know why we needed to talk to that Chinese couple, but it was definitely an experience I will remember forever! I love this Gospel so much and I am so grateful for every opportunity that I have to open my mouth and share this wonderful news with anyone and everyone that I can. I only have 3 more weeks left, but I am determined to finish strong and to continue to see even more miracles as I share this Gospel with everyone that I can in my beautiful Sunny San Diego :)
I love you all!
xoxo Sister Morgan
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Everlasting Beginnings
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| We LOVE San Diego! |
Well, talk about deja vu.......wasn't I just sitting at this computer emailing you all yesterday?! Man, these last 4 weeks are just going to FLY by.
 |
| Poway Rodeo! |
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| Crazy hat day @ the Rodeo :) |
But to be honest, I think everything finally hit me this week. In my mind I kept avoiding the thought of going home and after some much needed humbling, the Lord was able to teach me some very important things that will help me to truly finish my mission strong instead of just "dreading" to the end. We had dinner with some members and the husband said some things to me that really helped change my perspective. He said, "You know what Sis Morgan, it's okay to be a little trunky and excited to go home! Your mission has been wonderful, but trust me, there are things that will happen in your future that will be 10 times more amazing than your mission. This time is just the foundation for the rest of your life! Enjoy it while you're here, but APPLY it once you take that name tag off. You have a bright future ahead of you!"
Heavenly Father truly does know how to use His children to reach down deep inside my heart! This week I really learned some amazing life lessons. As that kind Brother was talking to me the beautiful and soft words of President Uchtdorf came swarming into my mind,
"In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings.
Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless13 and who promises eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny.
The more we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that endings here in mortality are not endings at all. They are merely interruptions—temporary pauses that one day will seem small compared to the eternal joy awaiting the faithful.
How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that in His plan there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings."
I am a Daughter of the Most High King! YOU are also a Son/Daughter of the Most High King! Because we are His Children we know that we have the potential to become like our Father and to live eternally with Him & with Jesus Christ, AND our families. I am so grateful for this Gospel and the knowledge and perspective that it brings into my life. I know that once I take off this name tag, it is only the everlasting beginning of my new life. My Mission has forever changed me. But it has changed me in a way that will allow me to grow and build upon it and become even more the daughter that my Heavenly Father knows I can become.
I love you all!!
xoxo Sister Morgan
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| An old lady that walks up and down the street all day and waves at EVERYONE that she see's. I LOVE IT |
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Meet the Mormons
Hey everyone!
So yesterday I had my final Zone Conference and just as usual, it was amazing. Exactly what I needed to hear to keep me pushing strong these last 5 weeks. We also were able to watch the "Meet the Mormons" movie before it comes out and let me just tell you all....................I LOVE BEING A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS! That movie is so powerful and truly shows how much the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ will bless anyone's life no matter who they are or where they came from! Go check out meetthemormons.com to watch the trailer and to learn more about the movie!
This week we honestly had one of the coolest lessons I've ever had on my mission. If you all remember our super awesome Member Missionary, Sis. Dixon (a.k.a "How's that working out for ya?") she set up ANOTHER appointment with us to teach another one of her coworkers. She gave us a little bit of background on him and said that he doesn't believe in God, he's been going through a super difficult time lately, and is just gradually watching his life crumble to pieces. So we went in & just truly listened to the Spirit to know what we needed to teach him. We started talking about God and asked him why he has never believed in God. He talked about some difficult experiences he had and how those are proof that God doesn't exist because God would never allow those things to happen. Again, Sis Dixon brought up another "How is that working out for you?!" point, but stated it in a more "scientific" way for him so that he would understand better. Basically, she asked him if he has never known there was a God & has never put forth the effort to "test the theory", then how can he truly prove that there is no God? And again, I just sat there with my jaw on the ground. I love that lady!
But as each of us shared our testimonies about God and how we have come to know Him through prayer, you could literally watch his countenance change. The major turning point though was when we watched the "Hope of God's Light" mormon message with him. (/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001) After the video I asked him what his thoughts were as he watched it. He said that basically that guys story is exactly the same as his. So then I asked him, "Then what is the main difference between you and him at the end of his story?" He sat there for a minute thinking about it and then had a major lightbulb moment. "Happiness......he's truly happy & I'm not". Then we asked him what he needs to do then so that he can have that same happiness and he immediately replied, "Pray".
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHSLIUDSFLIUSDFYHISDJHLSDIHF At that moment my heart almost exploded out of my chest the Spirit that was in that room was SO powerful! It was amazing to see his whole countenance change as we taught him the importance of having a relationship with his Heavenly Father. He commited to pray and and according to Sis Dixon, when he says he's going to do something, he means it. It was truly an amazing experience to help someone discover the True source of happiness that will completely change his life.
I love being a Missionary and helping God's children to come back into His arms! It really is the most amazing feeling in the world. I love it with all of my heart & I love this Gospel!
xoxo Sister Morgan
So yesterday I had my final Zone Conference and just as usual, it was amazing. Exactly what I needed to hear to keep me pushing strong these last 5 weeks. We also were able to watch the "Meet the Mormons" movie before it comes out and let me just tell you all....................I LOVE BEING A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS! That movie is so powerful and truly shows how much the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ will bless anyone's life no matter who they are or where they came from! Go check out meetthemormons.com to watch the trailer and to learn more about the movie!
This week we honestly had one of the coolest lessons I've ever had on my mission. If you all remember our super awesome Member Missionary, Sis. Dixon (a.k.a "How's that working out for ya?") she set up ANOTHER appointment with us to teach another one of her coworkers. She gave us a little bit of background on him and said that he doesn't believe in God, he's been going through a super difficult time lately, and is just gradually watching his life crumble to pieces. So we went in & just truly listened to the Spirit to know what we needed to teach him. We started talking about God and asked him why he has never believed in God. He talked about some difficult experiences he had and how those are proof that God doesn't exist because God would never allow those things to happen. Again, Sis Dixon brought up another "How is that working out for you?!" point, but stated it in a more "scientific" way for him so that he would understand better. Basically, she asked him if he has never known there was a God & has never put forth the effort to "test the theory", then how can he truly prove that there is no God? And again, I just sat there with my jaw on the ground. I love that lady!
But as each of us shared our testimonies about God and how we have come to know Him through prayer, you could literally watch his countenance change. The major turning point though was when we watched the "Hope of God's Light" mormon message with him. (/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001) After the video I asked him what his thoughts were as he watched it. He said that basically that guys story is exactly the same as his. So then I asked him, "Then what is the main difference between you and him at the end of his story?" He sat there for a minute thinking about it and then had a major lightbulb moment. "Happiness......he's truly happy & I'm not". Then we asked him what he needs to do then so that he can have that same happiness and he immediately replied, "Pray".
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHSLIUDSFLIUSDFYHISDJHLSDIHF At that moment my heart almost exploded out of my chest the Spirit that was in that room was SO powerful! It was amazing to see his whole countenance change as we taught him the importance of having a relationship with his Heavenly Father. He commited to pray and and according to Sis Dixon, when he says he's going to do something, he means it. It was truly an amazing experience to help someone discover the True source of happiness that will completely change his life.
I love being a Missionary and helping God's children to come back into His arms! It really is the most amazing feeling in the world. I love it with all of my heart & I love this Gospel!
xoxo Sister Morgan
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
How's that working out for you?!
Hey everyone!
I think I just realized that I start most of my emails by saying something along the lines of: "Well, this week has been another miracle filled week!" I think I'm just running out of creative juices and I don't know how to say it in any other way after 17 months of miracle filled weeks.... Sooo since I AM a Missionary, looks like the only other creative way that I can think of is by using the scriptures! :)
"25 Wherefore, by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing; and thus it was until the coming of Christ.
26 And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons of God. And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying:Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.
27 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men?
28 For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth eternally in the heavens.
29 And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men." -Moroni 7:25-29
So there you go! Christ LIVES. Angles still minister unto the children of men. [a.k.a Missionaries :)] And Miracles still happen! But ONLY through faith and by asking, seeking, and knocking. There's that phrase again. Heavenly Father MUST be telling me something because I see that phrase over and over and over again every single day as I study out of the scriptures. Looks like I need to apply it even more so then we can continue to see even MORE miracles every day :)
So this week we had some really amazing lessons! On Tuesday as we were emailing last week, one of our Members called us and told us about these amazing experiences that she has been having as she has been opening her mouth and sharing the Gospel! As she's talking to us she's like, "Sooo Super Sisters, do you think you could swing by my office tonight at 6:30 and have a lesson with one of my friends?" OH YEAH! It was way cool. Definitely SUCH a spirit filled lesson.
This woman had been struggling a lot with her marriage and stress from work and realized that she had been completely leaving God out of the picture. As we were teaching her we kept talking about how she can strengthen her relationship again with God. As we talked about prayer she seemed really iffy about it. When we asked why she said that if she started praying then her Husband will look at her and say that he doesn't know who she is anymore. It kind of took me back for a second because I didn't quite understand what she meant by that. But then I realized that she was viewing prayer as just an outward action to be seen by the eyes of man. But as we taught her we helped her to realize that prayer is just a HEART to HEART conversation with God. That it's not a show that we put on so other people will think that we are being religious. And because it comes from our hearts, it doesn't CHANGE who we are, because that is already who we are! (and her husband should love her because of her heart NOT because of what kind of stuff she does. but that's a whole 'nother conversation).
As she expressed other concerns about prayer our Member said the most insightful and simple thing I think I've ever heard in a lesson. As her friend was trying to justify not praying she said, "Well, how's that working out for you?!" Boom. Roasted! It was seriously this huge light bulb moment where she realized the things she has been trying to do to help save her marriage and the little faith she does have in God, really just weren't working well at ALL for her. She realized that she actually does need to change in order for things to get better or else it will just continue to go down the tubes in a negative cycle.
It was amazing! And to top it off, this same member set up ANOTHER appointment for us to teach ANOTHER one of her friends this week :) LOVE IT.
We also had our lesson with our fasting miracle family who came to Church and that was again, AMAZING. I love when Members friendship and invite their friends to learn more. It makes everything SO much easier to help their friend develop a stronger foundation with Christ. It is so humbling to see how God is truly furthering HIS WORK and that He is placing all of these people in our paths for a reason. That was one of the main things we kept testifying to Adrian as we met with her at her friends house. That it was NOT by accident that they randomly met each other at LA Fitness and became friends. God places specific people in our paths for a reason. And that reason is because He trusts US to help them to learn more about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'll end my email this week with a quote that has been keeping me pushing strong my mission. He is talking about Nephi, one of the first prophets in the Book of Mormon. We always think of Nephi as "I will GO, I will DO" & someone who was so obedient and faithful to the Lord's commandments. As you read it, think about how you can develop stronger faith in the Lord and strengthen God's trust in you.
"Faith did not come in the moment when Nephi needed it, nor did God's trust in Nephi. He earned that great faith in God's confidence by courages and sustained labor in the Lord's service" -Henry B. Eyring "Be Ready" 2009
Opening our mouths and sharing the Gospel is a commandment from the Lord! As you show the Lord that you are willing to keep that commandment and open your mouth, even if someone doesn't accept your message, YOU are building God's trust in you. So then when someone who is ready to hear and act upon your message comes across your path, God will trust that you will open your mouth and share "the good news" with them :)
xoxo Sister Morgan
I think I just realized that I start most of my emails by saying something along the lines of: "Well, this week has been another miracle filled week!" I think I'm just running out of creative juices and I don't know how to say it in any other way after 17 months of miracle filled weeks.... Sooo since I AM a Missionary, looks like the only other creative way that I can think of is by using the scriptures! :)
"25 Wherefore, by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing; and thus it was until the coming of Christ.
26 And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons of God. And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying:Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.
27 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men?
28 For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth eternally in the heavens.
29 And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men." -Moroni 7:25-29
So there you go! Christ LIVES. Angles still minister unto the children of men. [a.k.a Missionaries :)] And Miracles still happen! But ONLY through faith and by asking, seeking, and knocking. There's that phrase again. Heavenly Father MUST be telling me something because I see that phrase over and over and over again every single day as I study out of the scriptures. Looks like I need to apply it even more so then we can continue to see even MORE miracles every day :)
So this week we had some really amazing lessons! On Tuesday as we were emailing last week, one of our Members called us and told us about these amazing experiences that she has been having as she has been opening her mouth and sharing the Gospel! As she's talking to us she's like, "Sooo Super Sisters, do you think you could swing by my office tonight at 6:30 and have a lesson with one of my friends?" OH YEAH! It was way cool. Definitely SUCH a spirit filled lesson.
This woman had been struggling a lot with her marriage and stress from work and realized that she had been completely leaving God out of the picture. As we were teaching her we kept talking about how she can strengthen her relationship again with God. As we talked about prayer she seemed really iffy about it. When we asked why she said that if she started praying then her Husband will look at her and say that he doesn't know who she is anymore. It kind of took me back for a second because I didn't quite understand what she meant by that. But then I realized that she was viewing prayer as just an outward action to be seen by the eyes of man. But as we taught her we helped her to realize that prayer is just a HEART to HEART conversation with God. That it's not a show that we put on so other people will think that we are being religious. And because it comes from our hearts, it doesn't CHANGE who we are, because that is already who we are! (and her husband should love her because of her heart NOT because of what kind of stuff she does. but that's a whole 'nother conversation).
As she expressed other concerns about prayer our Member said the most insightful and simple thing I think I've ever heard in a lesson. As her friend was trying to justify not praying she said, "Well, how's that working out for you?!" Boom. Roasted! It was seriously this huge light bulb moment where she realized the things she has been trying to do to help save her marriage and the little faith she does have in God, really just weren't working well at ALL for her. She realized that she actually does need to change in order for things to get better or else it will just continue to go down the tubes in a negative cycle.
It was amazing! And to top it off, this same member set up ANOTHER appointment for us to teach ANOTHER one of her friends this week :) LOVE IT.
We also had our lesson with our fasting miracle family who came to Church and that was again, AMAZING. I love when Members friendship and invite their friends to learn more. It makes everything SO much easier to help their friend develop a stronger foundation with Christ. It is so humbling to see how God is truly furthering HIS WORK and that He is placing all of these people in our paths for a reason. That was one of the main things we kept testifying to Adrian as we met with her at her friends house. That it was NOT by accident that they randomly met each other at LA Fitness and became friends. God places specific people in our paths for a reason. And that reason is because He trusts US to help them to learn more about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'll end my email this week with a quote that has been keeping me pushing strong my mission. He is talking about Nephi, one of the first prophets in the Book of Mormon. We always think of Nephi as "I will GO, I will DO" & someone who was so obedient and faithful to the Lord's commandments. As you read it, think about how you can develop stronger faith in the Lord and strengthen God's trust in you.
"Faith did not come in the moment when Nephi needed it, nor did God's trust in Nephi. He earned that great faith in God's confidence by courages and sustained labor in the Lord's service" -Henry B. Eyring "Be Ready" 2009
Opening our mouths and sharing the Gospel is a commandment from the Lord! As you show the Lord that you are willing to keep that commandment and open your mouth, even if someone doesn't accept your message, YOU are building God's trust in you. So then when someone who is ready to hear and act upon your message comes across your path, God will trust that you will open your mouth and share "the good news" with them :)
xoxo Sister Morgan
Pic 1: Sometimes the sound of my voice put's people to sleep
during our lessons....Must be because we are helping them to strengthen their
relationships with God and they become overwhelmed by the Spirit! :)
Friday, September 12, 2014
Keeping Our Eyes Open
Hey everyone!
Wow, can I just say that I LOVE being a Missionary?! Everyday is always filled with so many miracles. & I am so grateful that God is still a God of Miracles! This past week I was reading in Mormon chapter 9 & that seriously has to be one of the most powerful chapters EVER. But there were a few verses that really stood out to me this week and I KNOW they are true because I put them to the test and truly saw miracles.
As recently I have been learning a lot about how to "ask, seek, & knock", these verses just solidified everything that I had been pondering about! Because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He will ALWAYS answer our prayers according to His will. But the reason why I loved verse 22 is because they related that aspect of prayer & miracles to MISSIONARY WORK. We are commanded to go and preach the word, and if we ASK Heavenly Father in the name of Christ for those specific missionary opportunities, with nothing doubting, then Heavenly Father will truly bless us with those opportunities as we SEEK out His Children and invite them to come unto Christ.
So during our weekly planning session on Thursday where we set goals and make plans for our upcoming week, Sis Saedan and I really made some more specific goals and plans to meet our Mission's Standard of Excellence of adding 3 new investigators a week. After our planning session, in every single one of our prayers, we asked Heavenly Father to help us reach that Standard. As we did that and would go out opening our mouths to everyone, Heavenly Father blessed us with so many opportunities to share the Gospel.
The first happened on Friday. We got up and started exercising at 6:30 AM. Sis Saedan wasn't feeling too good so we just decided to walk in a giant loop around our neighborhood. As we were walking down the street still half asleep & with our eyes struggling to stay open, we saw a lady unloading some stuff out of her car. As we get closer we can see that she is unloading some empty boxes. (Side note: Since my companion is Asian I always joke around with her that she needs to 'open her eyes' more & on Monday she even got a fortune cookie that told her she needed to open her eyes) As we walk by Sis. Saedan's eyes "opened" and she was able to see an opportunity for us to do some service! So she asked the lady "Do you need any help?" & the lady turned to us & was like, "Oh my goodness, that would help SO much!" She then looked at us and saw our name tags and was like, "Wow, you are seriously an answer to a prayer!" So we helped her & she just kept thanking us and told us that she had JUST been praying to God and asking Him for help because she was super stressed out and was running late to work. It was cool to see how we were an immediate answer to her prayer! But since we were only in our workout clothes and didn't have anything to give to her we just offered our help if she saw us around & then watched her drive away to work. After studies that day I felt really prompted to go back to her house and leave her a note w/ our number and thanking her for letting us help her.
Then
on Sunday we decided to fast for 3 new investigators and continued to pray for
our goals. Saturday night one of our members texted us telling us that one of
her friends was going to come to church and that we should come say Hi to her
afterwards! So on Sunday we were sitting there during Sacrament meeting and a
lady and her 2 daughters walk in right before the Sacrament and sat down in the
closest seats, which just so happened to be right next to us :) Turns out, that
they were our members friend! We talked with her afterwards and her 2 daughters
are 11 & 9 and they are just the sweetest girls! We explained what we do as
Missionaries and set up an appointment to go and teach her at our member's
house on Wednesday! They stayed for all 3 hrs and it was seriously the PERFECT
Sunday for them to come. All of our Members were just bearing the strongest
testimonies about how the Gospel has blessed their families during all aspects
of life. In Relief Society the Member who invited her friend to Church even
bore a very powerful testimony and by the end, both her AND her friend (and
quite a few of us....) were in tears. It was SO amazing to see how Heavenly
Father truly answered our prayer almost immediately to help us add 3 new
investigators!
IT GETS BETTER. Then RIGHT after church our phone goes crazy and we have 8 messages from a number we don't know. We read them and guess who it was from.....the lady we helped with on Friday! She was still SO grateful and truly recognizes us as Representatives of Christ! She asked us to come back and helped her pack her stuff to move and said that she would be willing to do ANYTHING to repay us for our kindness. So hopefully we will be able to teach her the Restoration and then invite her to meet with Missionaries in San Francisco once she moves :)
I love this work so much and I truly know that GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS. I hope that all of you will never forget that. Heavenly Father is always there for us and always wants to hear from us, even when we feel like we aren't worthy to talk to Him. Don't let Satan blind you! Heavenly Father will always be merciful and loving and forgiving as long as we turn to Him.
I love you all!
xoxo Sister Morgan
Wow, can I just say that I LOVE being a Missionary?! Everyday is always filled with so many miracles. & I am so grateful that God is still a God of Miracles! This past week I was reading in Mormon chapter 9 & that seriously has to be one of the most powerful chapters EVER. But there were a few verses that really stood out to me this week and I KNOW they are true because I put them to the test and truly saw miracles.
9 For do we not read that God is
the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is
no variableness neither shadow of changing?
10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.
19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.
20 And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.
21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.
22 For behold, thus said Jesus Christ, the Son of God, unto his disciples who should tarry, yea, and also to all his disciples, in the hearing of the multitude: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;
10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.
19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.
20 And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.
21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.
22 For behold, thus said Jesus Christ, the Son of God, unto his disciples who should tarry, yea, and also to all his disciples, in the hearing of the multitude: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;
As recently I have been learning a lot about how to "ask, seek, & knock", these verses just solidified everything that I had been pondering about! Because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He will ALWAYS answer our prayers according to His will. But the reason why I loved verse 22 is because they related that aspect of prayer & miracles to MISSIONARY WORK. We are commanded to go and preach the word, and if we ASK Heavenly Father in the name of Christ for those specific missionary opportunities, with nothing doubting, then Heavenly Father will truly bless us with those opportunities as we SEEK out His Children and invite them to come unto Christ.
So during our weekly planning session on Thursday where we set goals and make plans for our upcoming week, Sis Saedan and I really made some more specific goals and plans to meet our Mission's Standard of Excellence of adding 3 new investigators a week. After our planning session, in every single one of our prayers, we asked Heavenly Father to help us reach that Standard. As we did that and would go out opening our mouths to everyone, Heavenly Father blessed us with so many opportunities to share the Gospel.
The first happened on Friday. We got up and started exercising at 6:30 AM. Sis Saedan wasn't feeling too good so we just decided to walk in a giant loop around our neighborhood. As we were walking down the street still half asleep & with our eyes struggling to stay open, we saw a lady unloading some stuff out of her car. As we get closer we can see that she is unloading some empty boxes. (Side note: Since my companion is Asian I always joke around with her that she needs to 'open her eyes' more & on Monday she even got a fortune cookie that told her she needed to open her eyes) As we walk by Sis. Saedan's eyes "opened" and she was able to see an opportunity for us to do some service! So she asked the lady "Do you need any help?" & the lady turned to us & was like, "Oh my goodness, that would help SO much!" She then looked at us and saw our name tags and was like, "Wow, you are seriously an answer to a prayer!" So we helped her & she just kept thanking us and told us that she had JUST been praying to God and asking Him for help because she was super stressed out and was running late to work. It was cool to see how we were an immediate answer to her prayer! But since we were only in our workout clothes and didn't have anything to give to her we just offered our help if she saw us around & then watched her drive away to work. After studies that day I felt really prompted to go back to her house and leave her a note w/ our number and thanking her for letting us help her.
 |
| Keeping our "eyes open" for opportunities to share the Gospel! ;) |
IT GETS BETTER. Then RIGHT after church our phone goes crazy and we have 8 messages from a number we don't know. We read them and guess who it was from.....the lady we helped with on Friday! She was still SO grateful and truly recognizes us as Representatives of Christ! She asked us to come back and helped her pack her stuff to move and said that she would be willing to do ANYTHING to repay us for our kindness. So hopefully we will be able to teach her the Restoration and then invite her to meet with Missionaries in San Francisco once she moves :)
I love this work so much and I truly know that GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS. I hope that all of you will never forget that. Heavenly Father is always there for us and always wants to hear from us, even when we feel like we aren't worthy to talk to Him. Don't let Satan blind you! Heavenly Father will always be merciful and loving and forgiving as long as we turn to Him.
I love you all!
xoxo Sister Morgan
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Puzzle Pieces
Hey Everyone!
Can you believe that it is already SEPTEMBER!?! This is unreal how fast time is flying! I feel like I was just sitting at this computer yesterday emailing you all. My Mission brain is definitely getting worse and worse and WORSE! I can't remember any song titles or friends last names, let alone usernames & passwords as I'm having to apply back to school....yuck.
Yesterday my lovely companion and I went and ate some good 'ol Asian food at Pei-Wei and I'm almost a little freaked out about how inspired my fortune cookie was......."All the puzzles in your life will be understood within the next year" But in order to explain why it freaked me out, let me back track a little bit.
On Wednesday and Thursday we did MTE's (Missionary Training Exchanges). We spent 3 1/2 hrs each day listening to instruction from our Mission President and his Assistants. One of the main topics they discussed and taught us was about how to "ask, seek, and knock". We see that phrase SO many times in the scriptures & it makes you wonder why it is so important to Heavenly Father that He has to keep repeating it over & over again? President Schmitt related it back to receiving personal revelation. The only way for us to know of spiritual truths is through the Holy Ghost. But in order for the Holy Ghost to confirm something in our hearts, we have to have a question or a solution in our hearts for Him to even confirm & guide us! So the only way for us to receive personal revelation (the only way to receive answers from God) is by ASKING Him through prayer, SEEKING for His answers through the scriptures or in our day to day lives, and KNOCKING by acting on the answer through diligent obedience & faith.
As I was sitting there soaking it all in, I had SO many "light bulb!" moments that illuminated my mind. But I know it was because I went to that meeting with questions in my heart! I realized how often I only halfheartedly ask Heavenly Father questions. My prayers used to be more like "Please help us to know what to do at this time" "Please help me to be better". But now I've seen God's hand even more in my life as I instead say in my prayers things like: "Father, what would Thou have us to do at this time? Would Thou have us to go see_____?" "What do I need to work on so that I can be more Christ-like?" "How can I better teach ____ about faith?"
As I have started doing that I have truly gained SUCH a strong testimony about how Heavenly Father is just WAITING for us to ask Him things & how sooo many blessings are dependent on us asking, seeking, and knocking. I feel like Heavenly Father is putting so many of the "Puzzle Pieces" of my life in order. On top of that, we even taught the Mia Maids this past Sunday about how our lives are like "Puzzles" but how Heavenly Father has provided us with a road map that helps us to put the right pieces in place (i.e, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, having a Modern Day Prophet, etc)
I just LOVE how Heavenly Father connects all of the dots together in my mind! I honestly have no idea what I would do with out! As I'm digging my heels into the ground trying to slow down these last 2 months, Heavenly Father is teaching me a lot about how I need to better trust in His plan & in His timing. I need to trust that He knows EXACTLY where each puzzle piece belongs & that at some point in the future, I will have a better understanding of why each piece has it's certain place.
I hope all of this makes sense, I feel like I just had a mind explosion on the computer haha But at least I know it makes sense in my mind and that Heavenly Father is truly teaching me so much!
I love you all!
xoxo Sister Morgan
Can you believe that it is already SEPTEMBER!?! This is unreal how fast time is flying! I feel like I was just sitting at this computer yesterday emailing you all. My Mission brain is definitely getting worse and worse and WORSE! I can't remember any song titles or friends last names, let alone usernames & passwords as I'm having to apply back to school....yuck.
Yesterday my lovely companion and I went and ate some good 'ol Asian food at Pei-Wei and I'm almost a little freaked out about how inspired my fortune cookie was......."All the puzzles in your life will be understood within the next year" But in order to explain why it freaked me out, let me back track a little bit.
On Wednesday and Thursday we did MTE's (Missionary Training Exchanges). We spent 3 1/2 hrs each day listening to instruction from our Mission President and his Assistants. One of the main topics they discussed and taught us was about how to "ask, seek, and knock". We see that phrase SO many times in the scriptures & it makes you wonder why it is so important to Heavenly Father that He has to keep repeating it over & over again? President Schmitt related it back to receiving personal revelation. The only way for us to know of spiritual truths is through the Holy Ghost. But in order for the Holy Ghost to confirm something in our hearts, we have to have a question or a solution in our hearts for Him to even confirm & guide us! So the only way for us to receive personal revelation (the only way to receive answers from God) is by ASKING Him through prayer, SEEKING for His answers through the scriptures or in our day to day lives, and KNOCKING by acting on the answer through diligent obedience & faith.
As I was sitting there soaking it all in, I had SO many "light bulb!" moments that illuminated my mind. But I know it was because I went to that meeting with questions in my heart! I realized how often I only halfheartedly ask Heavenly Father questions. My prayers used to be more like "Please help us to know what to do at this time" "Please help me to be better". But now I've seen God's hand even more in my life as I instead say in my prayers things like: "Father, what would Thou have us to do at this time? Would Thou have us to go see_____?" "What do I need to work on so that I can be more Christ-like?" "How can I better teach ____ about faith?"
As I have started doing that I have truly gained SUCH a strong testimony about how Heavenly Father is just WAITING for us to ask Him things & how sooo many blessings are dependent on us asking, seeking, and knocking. I feel like Heavenly Father is putting so many of the "Puzzle Pieces" of my life in order. On top of that, we even taught the Mia Maids this past Sunday about how our lives are like "Puzzles" but how Heavenly Father has provided us with a road map that helps us to put the right pieces in place (i.e, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, having a Modern Day Prophet, etc)
I just LOVE how Heavenly Father connects all of the dots together in my mind! I honestly have no idea what I would do with out! As I'm digging my heels into the ground trying to slow down these last 2 months, Heavenly Father is teaching me a lot about how I need to better trust in His plan & in His timing. I need to trust that He knows EXACTLY where each puzzle piece belongs & that at some point in the future, I will have a better understanding of why each piece has it's certain place.
I hope all of this makes sense, I feel like I just had a mind explosion on the computer haha But at least I know it makes sense in my mind and that Heavenly Father is truly teaching me so much!
I love you all!
xoxo Sister Morgan
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Best Birthday Ever?
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| San Diego Sunsets=tender mercies from the Lord! |
My Baby Seesta just left for school in Hawaii this week & after looking at her pictures.........I really feel like the Lord needs me to go visit her after I get back. :) Guess it has to happen!
But THANK YOU everyone for all of the birthday wishes. It is crazy to think that I'm already 23 yrs old. But I can honestly say that the 22nd year of my life was hands down THE best year of my life! And after the crazy day that my 23rd Birthday was, I'm excited to see what new adventures are yet to be in store for me!
I guess it all actually started the day before my birthday, on Sunday. In Sacrament Meeting, our Bishop's son gave his Homecoming talk as he just recently returned from his Mission in the Philippine's . He had a lot of visitors and friends come and before the services started, a guy wearing some running shorts and a t-shirt asked if he could sit down next to us. Assuming that he was a friend & visitor, I introduced myself to him hoping that we could possibly add a new investigator. But, it turns out the guy is already a member. He was just in town for the weekend for a work trip and forgot to bring his church clothes haha So Jake goes on to give his talk and tells a story about this amazing family that he helped into the waters of baptism. They would ride their bikes 8 miles to church every Sunday & despite having coffee and tobacco addictions, they were fully living the Word of Wisdom only a week & a half after learning about it. Next month they are planning to enter into the Holy Temple and be Sealed for time and all eternity.
It was definitely a tear jerker and as he was telling the story I just kept thinking about how I wish I could have an experience like that before I go home. After the talk the guy that was sitting next to us leaned over and said, "Sisters, can I tell you something? That was an amazing talk that that young man just gave. Every homecoming talk I have ever heard has been amazing. It's so uplifting to hear stories like that family who accept the Gospel instantly. But let me tell you Sisters, as a convert, most of the people you are teaching & meeting right now just aren't ready to receive the Gospel at this time. My wife & I definitely weren't. We had the Missionaries coming over for years. We would feed them dinners, have them over for Christmas, but still just kept going to our old Church. But what truly helped us to become ready & finally accept the Gospel was all of the faithfulness of every single one of those Missionaries. If they gave up on us, we would have never been prepared to fully accept the Gospel. Just know Sisters, that you are impacting so many people's lives through your faithful service. Thank you for serving a Mission!"
About half way through his story he already had me in tears. The Lord truly placed that man in my path & inspired him to sit down next to us and talk to us because what he had to say was EXACTLY what I needed to hear. But it didn't stop there. Even the lessons in Sunday School and Relief Society were the Lord speaking DIRECTLY to my heart. As we went home and sat down for lunch, I just felt like I was on Cloud Nine. Heavenly Father had spoken directly and specifically to me through His inspired children & it was the perfect introduction that I needed to my birthday!
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| Elders made me a B-Day Cake & wore ties to match the frosting & sprinkles :) |
We were walking through the park waiting for our car battery to get fixed and stumbled upon this guy named Randy. He asked us about our favorite verses in the Bible and I told him that 2 of my favorites were Romans 1:16 & James 1:5. I just automatically started bearing my testimony about how Heavenly Father truly hears & answers our prayers as long as we pray with sincerity and actually intend to act upon the answer he gives us. Turns out Randy had met with Missionaries before and had even started to read from the Book of Mormon! He is a smart guy and knows his stuff, but it was amazing to see how much his testimony was lacking a foundation. He has gotten so caught up with knowing all of the crazy and deep random doctrine that he doesn't even fully understand everything because he has no foundation to build off of.
I started to tell him about the story of the Fire and it turns out that he had also lost his house in the wildfires here in 2007! It was such a powerful moment for me to bear my testimony about my experience to someone who had experienced the same type of life changing event. I could relate EVERYTHING directly back to him & was truly able to bear my testimony about the Book of Mormon & Eternal Families [JUST like how I had prayed for]. I also basically straight up told him that he needs to finally pray sincerely & with real intent about the Book of Mormon. And I PROMISED him that if he did so, then he WILL receive an answer of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. That all of the confusion will be swept away and that he will be able to see clearly the path to eternal life that Heavenly Father desires for him to take. As I was bearing my testimony I could just feel the Spirit so strong and I truly took a second to cherish that moment. With tears in my eyes, I bore him my testimony straight from every fiber of my being & heart that I KNOW the Book of Mormon is true and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints IS the Lord's kingdom restored on the earth once again. He promised me he would and even told us he will go to his Saturday services so he could come to our Sunday meetings :)
To top off my day, we saw THE most beautiful sunset & then got a call from one of our Recent Converts. Earlier that day we decided to drop by her apartment while she wasn't home and sticky note her door with some scriptures and to let her know how much we love her. As I talked with her she was just in tears because our sticky notes were exactly what she needed at the perfect moment. She had had a rough day and had already started crying in her car before she walked to her door and saw our sticky notes. Then she felt awful that she totally forgot to wish me happy birthday and all I could tell her was that her phone call just made my 23rd Birthday the best I've ever had. Knowing that I was able to serve someone and help them to feel the same love that I have felt for the past 23 yrs was hands down, the best feeling ever.
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY & I truly am cherishing every moment that I have left here in San Diego.
xoxo Sister Morgan
Pic 1: Elders made me a B-Day Cake & wore ties to match
the frosting & sprinkles :)
Pic 2: San Diego Sunsets=tender mercies from the Lord!
"Are you J-Dubs?"
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| I love SD Sunsets! |
I am still just LOVING things here in Rancho Bernardo. Our ward is HUGE. Seriously. It's the biggest ward in all of SoCal...so I definitely have a lot of names I'm trying to cram into my brain. After serving in 4 other wards, I really feel like my brain is overflowing with thousands of names! But it's not too much for this ADD Sister to handle :)
This past week was super good though! On Tuesday night we had a pretty cool miracle. We went to go hit up a certain town home complex to try and see a few less actives before we started making our way home. We had a lot of success actually finding people at home! Around 8 we got back into the car to head over to a different area that is closer to our house. [oh yeah, I think I forgot to mention that we are living at a Member's house! It felt SO weird at first, but after hearing all of the kids yelling at each other as they were getting ready for Church in the morning, it definitely made me feel right back at home :)] As we started exiting the complex we drove past a town home of a Less active that we had tried a few days before but weren't able to get a hold of. I looked at Sis. Saedan & asked her if she wanted to stop and see them. I could just see the wheels turning behind her eyes and at first she was like, "No, it's okay. We can try them another day.
But then not even 15 seconds later the Spirit prompted BOTH of us that we needed to go back & knock on that door again. So we flipped around and went & knocked on their door again. As we sat there for a second I started to get distracted by a moth that had gotten stuck in a big spiders web & watched as the spider made it's way towards the helpless moth....then all of a sudden I heard someone say "Hi!" but when I looked at the door, it was still closed. Then I realized that it came from behind us & it was actually one of their neighbors that said hi to us as she was putting her trash cans by the curb. As Missionaries here in SD, it is soooo rare to have someone say hi to you first, especially when we hadn't even stared her down, smiling! So we turned back to the door & knocked a second time as I continued to watch the dramatic scene go down between the moth and spider. Sometimes I just wish people could record Missionaries @ their doorsteps because all of a sudden the moth broke free from the web right before the massive spider was about to make the kill & it decided to fly RIGHT towards my face! Naturally, I freaked out & could hear the lady by the curb making an inaudible comment behind me. Once we realized that the family wasn't going to answer the door, we turned & the lady across the street asked, "Are you J-Dubs?"
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| Happy Happy P-Day Faces! |
I just love being a Missionary. It seriously brings me so much joy & I am SO grateful that I have such a loving Heavenly Father who is truly watching ovehttp://www.mormon.org/me/G0HF/GeoffWalker
r me continually. We had so many tender mercies this week! A few of those tender mercies have actually been the opportunity that I have had to hear my recent converts bear their testimonies with such a powerful spirit! On Sunday we had a Mission President's Fireside in Chula Vista and we were able to go to it since my companion plays the piano so lovely :) And I am SO grateful she does because I was able to hear my RC-Erin, get up in front of over a hundred people, and bear her testimony about her conversion to the Gospel. It was seriously a tear jerker. Also, I found Geoff Walker's Mormon.org profile and it just makes me SOOOO happy as I read it! Here's the link so all of you can read his AMAZING testimony as well :)
I am so grateful for everything the Lord has done for me & I can't even imagine what my life would have been like if I never served a mission & met all of these amazing people. Heavenly Father is SO mindful of us! I hope each of you can recognize His hand in your lives this week & will feel of His love and MY love for you as well :)
xoxo Sister Morgan
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Answers to Prayers
Hey Everyone!
So this past week has been pretty interesting.....I was pretty bummed to transfer out of Pacific Beach and go to a new area for my last 2 transfers. I was so nervous about it that Sis. Cazares woke up in the middle of the night to me having a legit "Sleep Prayer" where even sub-conscieously I was asking Heavenly Father that everything will go well with transfers & even closed in the Name of Jesus Christ.....haha
But thankfully I can say that Heavenly Father is SO mindful of me & even hears my prayers that I mumble in my sleep :) This past week has been AMAZING as I was transferred back to good 'ol POWAY in the Rancho Bernardo Ward (which is right next to my 1st area-Green Valley) & i love it, love it, LOVE IT! I can literally say that I have spent my whole Mission on the outskirts. I started @ the very top of our Mission in Poway, went out to the very East to El Centro, from there went to the very south next to the Mexican Border in Chula Vista, to the middle west next to the ocean in Pacific Beach, back to the good 'ol north of Poway! (If you look @ a picture of my mission, it might make a little bit more sense haha)
Starting my 2nd to last transfer of the Mission has truly been an eye opener! It is so crazy to come back to a familiar place and see familiar faces but what's even crazier is to see how much I have changed! It has been such a humbling perspective to have and I am SO grateful of how mindful Heavenly Father has been of me. Since I have come to RB I have been able to see SO many answers to prayers that I forgot I had even asked for & my heart is over flowing w/ love as I see& feel how much Heavenly Father loves me. I also realized that if everything had gone according to "my plan" for when I first even started my mission papers, I would have gone home last week. But the Lord taught me patience and had me leave on my mission 3 months after I had planned to go. It was difficult for me to accept then, but now I am seeing that there is a very specific reason why Heavenly Father asked me to wait. He needed me to be here, in Rancho Bernardo, at this very moment in time. And I am SO grateful that His plan is a million times BETTER than my plan!
But to top it off, Heavenly Father has blessed me to have an
amazing companion that I have been praying my whole Mission to have! Her name
is Sister Saedan and she comes from the beautiful country where my Dad served
his mission, THAILAND. She is the happiest person I have EVER met and we are
just having an absolute "BLAST-A" serving the Lord together. She has
only been speaking English for 5 months now but you wouldn't even be able to
tell by all of the funny jokes she cracks! Every night for the past week I have
been finding myself falling asleep with a smile on my face & I can't wait
to see all of the MANY miracles that this transfer will bring!
Ever since DAY 1 in RB we have been seeing miracles. My first night here we decided to go contact a Potential Investigator before we headed back to our house. Her apartment looked completely dark & empty. We decided to ask one of her neighbors who was sitting outside smoking a e-cig if he knew if she still lived there. Turns out she has been gone for about 2 months now. But we ended up staying and talking with him & had such a spiritual experience! He's 23, has had a super rough past, and has lost all faith and hope in God. Since he is the same age as both of us, we were able to relate to him & bear the strongest testimonies to help him recognize God's hand in his life. We showed him a Mormon Message called, "Hope of God's Light" and it was crazy how similar his story was to the guy in the video! This kid has just been living and breathing negativity & had absolutely no hope for this life. But we just kept bearing our testimonies & by the end he had a completely different countenance. He had a real smile on his face & the light of Christ in his eyes. He even agreed to let some of the YSA missionaries stop by again :)
Have I told you all lately that I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY?! Because I truly do with all of my heart. I am cherishing this time with all that I have & I am so grateful for everything that Heavenly Father has blessed me with.
xoxo Sister Morgan
So this past week has been pretty interesting.....I was pretty bummed to transfer out of Pacific Beach and go to a new area for my last 2 transfers. I was so nervous about it that Sis. Cazares woke up in the middle of the night to me having a legit "Sleep Prayer" where even sub-conscieously I was asking Heavenly Father that everything will go well with transfers & even closed in the Name of Jesus Christ.....haha
But thankfully I can say that Heavenly Father is SO mindful of me & even hears my prayers that I mumble in my sleep :) This past week has been AMAZING as I was transferred back to good 'ol POWAY in the Rancho Bernardo Ward (which is right next to my 1st area-Green Valley) & i love it, love it, LOVE IT! I can literally say that I have spent my whole Mission on the outskirts. I started @ the very top of our Mission in Poway, went out to the very East to El Centro, from there went to the very south next to the Mexican Border in Chula Vista, to the middle west next to the ocean in Pacific Beach, back to the good 'ol north of Poway! (If you look @ a picture of my mission, it might make a little bit more sense haha)
Starting my 2nd to last transfer of the Mission has truly been an eye opener! It is so crazy to come back to a familiar place and see familiar faces but what's even crazier is to see how much I have changed! It has been such a humbling perspective to have and I am SO grateful of how mindful Heavenly Father has been of me. Since I have come to RB I have been able to see SO many answers to prayers that I forgot I had even asked for & my heart is over flowing w/ love as I see& feel how much Heavenly Father loves me. I also realized that if everything had gone according to "my plan" for when I first even started my mission papers, I would have gone home last week. But the Lord taught me patience and had me leave on my mission 3 months after I had planned to go. It was difficult for me to accept then, but now I am seeing that there is a very specific reason why Heavenly Father asked me to wait. He needed me to be here, in Rancho Bernardo, at this very moment in time. And I am SO grateful that His plan is a million times BETTER than my plan!
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| I LOVE my new Thai friend! :) |
Ever since DAY 1 in RB we have been seeing miracles. My first night here we decided to go contact a Potential Investigator before we headed back to our house. Her apartment looked completely dark & empty. We decided to ask one of her neighbors who was sitting outside smoking a e-cig if he knew if she still lived there. Turns out she has been gone for about 2 months now. But we ended up staying and talking with him & had such a spiritual experience! He's 23, has had a super rough past, and has lost all faith and hope in God. Since he is the same age as both of us, we were able to relate to him & bear the strongest testimonies to help him recognize God's hand in his life. We showed him a Mormon Message called, "Hope of God's Light" and it was crazy how similar his story was to the guy in the video! This kid has just been living and breathing negativity & had absolutely no hope for this life. But we just kept bearing our testimonies & by the end he had a completely different countenance. He had a real smile on his face & the light of Christ in his eyes. He even agreed to let some of the YSA missionaries stop by again :)
Have I told you all lately that I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY?! Because I truly do with all of my heart. I am cherishing this time with all that I have & I am so grateful for everything that Heavenly Father has blessed me with.
xoxo Sister Morgan
Friday, August 8, 2014
Road Rash
Hey Everyone!
So this past week has definitely been a crazy one to say in the least. In summary: I jumped in front of a bus to save an old guy on his bike from getting ran over. Scraped up my leg and arm pretty nice & have to keep ace bandages wrapped around them till they heal. Realized I can pull off the "broken Sister Missionary" look pretty well and can still accessorize around my bandages. The Elders have officially declared me as "The Newest Superhero".
Okay, okay, okay. That might have been the over-exaggerated version of the story that I told all the Elders. BUT there is still a lot of truth to the story! Well, actually it's "stories" since I may have combined 2 different stories that happened on Thursday and Friday...here's what really happened:
Thursday- July 31st, 2014 4:15 pm
Sis Cazares and I have 15 minutes before we were going to meet up with the YSA Sisters @ the Church Building. We decided to go and try one more Less-Active before we left. We park one block away and after some contemplation, decide to be law abiding citizens and cross at the designated Cross Walk instead of jay-walking to save time. We cross over, actually make it into the less-actives apartment complex, find out he's moved & have a super awkward conversation w/ his ex-wife & begin walking back towards our car via the designated cross walk that was a little bit further up the road. As we are walking and are crossing a side street before we make it to the cross walk, we hear a bicycle behind us and watch an older gentleman ride his bike up on to the sidewalk. All of a sudden we see that he had gone too far to the left and his back tire lands in the dirt. He over-corrects it and we watch him hit a bump and go flying over his handlebars and land in the street....on his head...we break into a run and throw our purses on the ground.
We see a large puddle of blood starting to form beneath his head and can see the large gash spilling the blood directly under his right eyebrow. I stood in between him and oncoming traffic to make sure no one got into the turning lane and ran him over. A guy driving past saw us running towards him and quickly pulled over and helped us aid the man. We helped him sit up and gave him a napkin to help stop the bleeding. Quite a few others stopped to make sure he was alright. But us and the 1st guy to stop helped walk the gentleman w/ his bike back to his apartment to drop off his bike, and then into the other guys car so he could drive him to Urgent Care. While we were waiting outside for them to drop off the bike we wrote a note to the kind driver on a mormon.org card and placed it on his dashboard. As they were getting into the car the guy who crashed looked at us and was like "Are you in some sort of club or something? Why do you have nametags?" and we were like "Oh! No, actually we are Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints!" Both of them looked super surprised at first and then guy who crashed was like, "Well, you were Angels behind me!" As we watched them drive away I felt the Spirit SO strongly and we knew that we were in the right place at exactly the right time. Talk about the best feeling EVER.
Friday-August 1st, 2014 6:57 am
As I was running down the street during my morning work out
I just kept reflecting on that moment right after a good run where you stop to
pace around and your mind and your body tells you, "Dang, I feel SO good
right now!" We had 5 minutes left before we had to head back into our
apartment to start getting ready for the day, so I decided to take one more lap
down the parking lot and back before we went in. As I was running towards my
"finish line" (a.k.a the super nasty dumpster we have to walk past
everyday to get to our apartment) I decided the last 200 feet that I would sprint
and finish my run off strong. Right as I make it to the dumpster my foot gets
caught on the lip of a pot hole and next thing I know, I'm crashing towards the
ground skidding across the gravel of our parking lot. As I'm laying there for a
second, my companion looks up at me and says, "Did you fall?" She
completely missed the whole thing and thought I was just resting after my
run...I look at the damage and my right leg & arm were completely scraped
up & bleeding. I limp back to the apartment and begin THE most painful
process of cleaning the wounds w/ Hydrogen Peroxide to get all the gravel and
dirt out. The Mission nurse is having me lather more Neosporen on my wounds
than you would lather icing on a wedding cake. I then have to put these big pad
things on and then wrap them secure w/ an ace bandage. This is supposed to help
reduce the scaring so then my leg wont look like I have road rash for the
longest time. It's been a bit painful, but it hasn't stopped me from doing the
Lord's work! But I definitely understand better more of what our poor friend
who crashed his bike yesterday is feeling...
So even if the stories were combined or separate, it was still a pretty crazy week! But to make it even crazier we got transfer calls this morning.....looks like for my last 2 transfers I am NOT going to be in Pacific Beach :( I was definitely not expecting it because my companion has to go back to the Mormon Battalion and the 2 of us whitewashed into the area. So either our ward will get whitewashed again or Sis Cazares will take it w/ her and it will become a Battalion area. So we'll see what happens!
This morning was also pretty rough because I had to drop off some of my FAVORITE Sisters at the Airport to head on home to their next adventures. I had to say goodbye to my lovely Mama (my trainer-Sis Sorensen). I can't believe her time is over & it FINALLY hit me that that will be me in 2 transfers from now. I can't believe how fast 18 months truly flies by-I never want this to end! But, I know that when October 28th comes around, that my time will be over as well and I will have to go back home. The wonderful thing about it is I NEVER HAVE TO STOP BEING A MISSIONARY! Even when I'm home and no longer wearing this name tag, I can still stand as a Disciple of Christ at all times, and in all things, and in all places. Sharing the "good news" of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has truly been the happiest time of my life. But I know that I can experience that pure joy even after my mission, as I continue to invite others to come unto Christ.
I'm excited to find out where my new area is and to know who my new companion will be! I know that this is the LORD'S WORK and that I will be exactly where He needs me to be. I am determined to make these last two transfers the best yet and to continue to see miracles happen every day!
I love you all!
xoxo Sister Morgan
So this past week has definitely been a crazy one to say in the least. In summary: I jumped in front of a bus to save an old guy on his bike from getting ran over. Scraped up my leg and arm pretty nice & have to keep ace bandages wrapped around them till they heal. Realized I can pull off the "broken Sister Missionary" look pretty well and can still accessorize around my bandages. The Elders have officially declared me as "The Newest Superhero".
Okay, okay, okay. That might have been the over-exaggerated version of the story that I told all the Elders. BUT there is still a lot of truth to the story! Well, actually it's "stories" since I may have combined 2 different stories that happened on Thursday and Friday...here's what really happened:
Thursday- July 31st, 2014 4:15 pm
Sis Cazares and I have 15 minutes before we were going to meet up with the YSA Sisters @ the Church Building. We decided to go and try one more Less-Active before we left. We park one block away and after some contemplation, decide to be law abiding citizens and cross at the designated Cross Walk instead of jay-walking to save time. We cross over, actually make it into the less-actives apartment complex, find out he's moved & have a super awkward conversation w/ his ex-wife & begin walking back towards our car via the designated cross walk that was a little bit further up the road. As we are walking and are crossing a side street before we make it to the cross walk, we hear a bicycle behind us and watch an older gentleman ride his bike up on to the sidewalk. All of a sudden we see that he had gone too far to the left and his back tire lands in the dirt. He over-corrects it and we watch him hit a bump and go flying over his handlebars and land in the street....on his head...we break into a run and throw our purses on the ground.
We see a large puddle of blood starting to form beneath his head and can see the large gash spilling the blood directly under his right eyebrow. I stood in between him and oncoming traffic to make sure no one got into the turning lane and ran him over. A guy driving past saw us running towards him and quickly pulled over and helped us aid the man. We helped him sit up and gave him a napkin to help stop the bleeding. Quite a few others stopped to make sure he was alright. But us and the 1st guy to stop helped walk the gentleman w/ his bike back to his apartment to drop off his bike, and then into the other guys car so he could drive him to Urgent Care. While we were waiting outside for them to drop off the bike we wrote a note to the kind driver on a mormon.org card and placed it on his dashboard. As they were getting into the car the guy who crashed looked at us and was like "Are you in some sort of club or something? Why do you have nametags?" and we were like "Oh! No, actually we are Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints!" Both of them looked super surprised at first and then guy who crashed was like, "Well, you were Angels behind me!" As we watched them drive away I felt the Spirit SO strongly and we knew that we were in the right place at exactly the right time. Talk about the best feeling EVER.
Friday-August 1st, 2014 6:57 am
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| WARNING: Preview of my road rashed leg! Definitely looking worse a few days after... |
So even if the stories were combined or separate, it was still a pretty crazy week! But to make it even crazier we got transfer calls this morning.....looks like for my last 2 transfers I am NOT going to be in Pacific Beach :( I was definitely not expecting it because my companion has to go back to the Mormon Battalion and the 2 of us whitewashed into the area. So either our ward will get whitewashed again or Sis Cazares will take it w/ her and it will become a Battalion area. So we'll see what happens!
This morning was also pretty rough because I had to drop off some of my FAVORITE Sisters at the Airport to head on home to their next adventures. I had to say goodbye to my lovely Mama (my trainer-Sis Sorensen). I can't believe her time is over & it FINALLY hit me that that will be me in 2 transfers from now. I can't believe how fast 18 months truly flies by-I never want this to end! But, I know that when October 28th comes around, that my time will be over as well and I will have to go back home. The wonderful thing about it is I NEVER HAVE TO STOP BEING A MISSIONARY! Even when I'm home and no longer wearing this name tag, I can still stand as a Disciple of Christ at all times, and in all things, and in all places. Sharing the "good news" of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has truly been the happiest time of my life. But I know that I can experience that pure joy even after my mission, as I continue to invite others to come unto Christ.
I'm excited to find out where my new area is and to know who my new companion will be! I know that this is the LORD'S WORK and that I will be exactly where He needs me to be. I am determined to make these last two transfers the best yet and to continue to see miracles happen every day!
I love you all!
xoxo Sister Morgan
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Foreign Objects
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| You know you have been a missionary too long when you hear that someone is having a bad day & the only thing you can think of to brighten their spirits is to sticky note their door w/ your favorite scriptures! |
It has been another wonderful week here in Paradise. As I reflect back on where I was this time last year (El Centro) I am SO grateful to NOT be in that awful heat! But this week I realized how warped my perspective has gotten ever since I've been here in SD....& here are a few examples to prove it to you: 1) I know I have been in Pacific Beach too long when during the middle of sacrament meeting I here a rumbling noise outside and assume that it's a homeless person walking on the roof. 2) I know I have been in San Diego too long when I hear that rumbling noise AGAIN during Church & look out the window to see some foreign object's falling from the sky. 3) I know I have been in San Diego too long when I start walking down the hallways of the Church next to the Primary kids and all of us run to the windows and yell "RAIN!!!!" It's so sad but I seriously feel like I forgot what rain storms were like! I've only heard thunder TWICE since I've been on my mission and I was just baffled when the rain storm last for longer than 2 minutes. But it was so BEAUTIFUL and I just love how clean the Earth looked afterwards. Heavenly Father must really love us too because He KNEW that our car needed a car wash.....desperately! :)
But besides the awesome rain storm, there have been so many instances this week where I have seen Heavenly Father's hand in my life showing me how much He loves me! On Wednesday I was really starting to get a little down because we haven't been able to find any new investigators lately. We have been trying and trying to talk to everyone that we can, but most people won't even stop for a second to talk to us. So after a long day, we decided that we would hit up one more less-active before we headed in for the night. We drive up & of course there isn't any parking within a block of the place. So we park a couple blocks away and start walking towards her apartment. As we were walking along, we saw this girl in her 20's outside in her front yard with another foreign object that I feel like I haven't seen since I was 12........... A HULA HOOP! This girl was legitimately HULA HOOPING in the grass to some music playing from her laptop.
She seemed super into it so as we walked by I said, "Wow, you're really good at that!" and she looked up and flashed a smile (which we hadn't really seen anyone do that day). On our way back from the LA's apartment (turns out she had moved & the only thing that the guy living there said to us was, "Jesus Christ. That's a good name" and then shut the door and walked away). we saw the Hula Hoop girl again and then I asked her if she was practicing for something. She was SUPER friendly and just started telling us all about how her and her roommates Hula Hoop to de-stress after a crazy day at work! We sat and talked with her for about 20 minutes and just had one of the best conversations! She grew up Hindu but was super open and interested about our unique message centered on Jesus Christ. I just LOVE how the Spirit works, because we were able to relate her Hula Hooping to the Book of Mormon. I told her that my de-stresser is playing the Ukulele. But how even most days, my Uke doesn't really bring a ton of peace at the end of the day. Then I just bore a simple yet powerful testimony about how every time after I read from the Book of Mormon, it brings the greatest peace in to my heart more than anything else in the world, without fail! She gladly accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon & promised she would read! She even invited us back to come "Hula Hoop" w/ her AND her roommates :)
I LOVE LATE NIGHT MIRACLES! I just love that if you have FAITH and continue to push forward not knowing exactly what Heavenly Father wants you to do, He will always put someone in your path that needs YOU or you need THEM. I know that Heavenly Father is SO mindful of each and every one of us. If you open your eyes and look around, you will notice His hand in everything, always expressing His love towards you.
I love you all!
xoxo Sister Morgan
Pic 1: You know you have been a missionary too long when you
hear that someone is having a bad day & the only thing you can think of to
brighten their spirits is to sticky note their door w/ your favorite
scriptures!
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Doubt your doubts before you doubt your FAITH
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| Beautiful day @ the San Diego Temple! |
Every single day I just become even more and more amazed at how amazing and loving our Heavenly Father is! This week I really learned a lot about how mindful God is of ALL of us and everything that we are going through. Remember how I said last week that usually baptism weeks are the most chaotic weeks ever filled with several fiery darts from the Adversary? Well, last week we didn't get any of that. I think Satan was a little delayed in shooting off those darts because they definitely hit this week!
But I KNOW that my faith was really strengthened this week because of those fiery darts, even if they were poorly aimed. The adversary works in very sneaky and cunning ways. He knows each of us by NAME & the potential that we have to become like our Heavenly Father. He remembers who we were before this life & because of that, remembers our strengths AND our weaknesses. So he tries to do anything that he can to try and get us to forget who we are. To forget the amazing Plan that our Father has for us. He places seeds of doubts into our minds. He brings so much noise & chaos into our lives and into our minds to distract us from the peaceful path & simple direction that our Father has given to us in this life so we can return to live with Him once more. If we don't watch ourselves, it's sooo easy for us to slide from that path. To lose sight of the direction that we want to head towards. To lose our focus of the main purpose of why we even came to this Earth to begin with.
This week I learned the hard way a few of those things. I realized that once I let a SIMPLE and SMALL doubt take root in my mind, the flood gates would open and Satan would pour out a hundredfold more of those doubts into my mind. It almost felt like I was caught up in a whirlpool....my mind was spinning and I could no longer find the direction I needed to be facing. I felt like I had no control and was starting to lose hope of that feeling ever going away.
Honestly, I felt like the Apostle Peter. He was always so willing to do what the Lord needed him to do & had one of the firmest testimonies of the Savior. But at times, he would let those little doubts get into his mind. He would lose focus of the Savior. There was one instance, where those doubts almost caused him to lose his life. In Matthew chapter 14 it says,
22 ¶And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.
33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
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| Jump for JOY if you LOVE being a Missionary! |
Have YOU ever felt like that before?
I know there are times in each of our lives that we will experience something similar to Peter. But what I have been able to learn, is that just like Peter, I can call on my Savior to rescue me. I can stretch my hand out towards Him. And I KNOW that I can always rely on my Savior to tenderly grab my shaking hand and rescue me from the tumultuous waters. But I also know that YOU can do so as well! That YOU can be saved from your despairs and sorrows, your fears and doubts.
In the words of another one of my favorite hymns,
He answers privately,
Reaches my reaching
In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
Constant he is and kind,
Love without end.
Christ will ALWAYS reach our reaching. He will ALWAYS be there to remove our doubts and fears. He can help us to find the direction that we need to go towards and will ALWAYS bring us the peace we need. He will be there for us during our own personal Gethsemane's and will give us the strength to overcome anything in our path!
I know that to be true.
xoxo Sister Morgan
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| SURPRISE! I chopped off my hair :) |
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| District Meeting w/ the Zone Leaders! |
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