What's so great about being Mormon?

Hey everyone!

HAPPY (late) FATHER'S DAY DADDY! I'm so grateful for my Dad and for the wonderful example that he is to me! He's just the best. :)

This week was pretty good though! Summer has officially started which means 3 things:

1. Traffic is AWFUL. It is impossible to get any where across our area in a "timely" manner. 
2. NO ONE IS HOME
3. NO ONE IS FROM PACIFIC BEACH

It's super fun to serve in a touristy area because of all the beauties that we are so blessed to have at our doorsteps. But it's also super NOT fun to serve in a touristy area because of that same exact reason haha PB is definitely the place to be at right now! Everyone is here on vacation (which is totally fine, I love planting seeds & meeting people from all over the world). But at the same time, I don't think we have met a single person this past week that actually lives here....which makes our job a little tough. But we had some cool experiences despite that!

So we decided to go to La Jolla Shores with the YSA Sisters and have a street contacting booth. I played my Ukulele, my companion held a whiteboard that said, "Ask a Mormon!" and all of us just talked to everyone that came across our path! This one woman came up to me and said, "What is so great about being a Mormon?" and I just smiled and simply bore my testimony about how it has helped me to have so much peace and joy from having a strong relationship with Jesus Christ and knowing that my family can live together for eternity. And she just looked at me and was like, "Wow, that was a really good answer" I started asking her more about her religious beliefs and it turns out she's Muslim but had a good friend in High School that was Mormon that she respects a lot. But then her husband started calling her over and she had to leave before I could even give her a pass along card, but it was one of those experiences where I just pray my testimony touched her heart!

For Father's Day we had our last Mission President's Fireside with President & Sister Clayton and woooooof. That was a tear jerker! I don't know if I have talked much about Mission President Firesides before, but we have them once a month and rotate between all the stakes in our mission. Missionaries perform special musical numbers, we have a Missionary Choir sing the opening and closing songs, they show a few Mormon Messages, and a few Recent Converts are asked to bear their testimonies. The Spirit is always SO powerful and this last one was definitely the best one I've been to my whole mission! A Missionary quartet performed "We'll Bring the World His Truth" and there was one part after they went acapella that the whole missionary choir joined in for the chorus & as we were singing I could see President Clayton sitting in front of me looking around at all of our faces. We made eye contact and both smiled and then I could see all the tears rolling down his cheeks. It was such a tender moment that I will NEVER forget. President and Sister Clayton have so much love for this Gospel and for all of us Missionaries! They will definitely be missed! But I'm also excited for our new Mission President. A lot of missionaries in the mission are struggling right now and I definitely know that Satan is working HARD on us because there are going to be so many amazing miracles that happen with the change in Mission Presidents.

Well everyone, I just want you all to know that I am SO grateful to be a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! The reason why being a Mormon is SO great is because it is the only church that contains the FULLNESS of Jesus Christ's Gospel & is the only Church to have the proper authority to receive saving ordinances such as Baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost! Because we have that authority, that means that when we partake of the Sacrament every week after it has been blessed by young men who hold that authority, that we can be cleansed from ALL of our sins/mistakes again just like when we were baptized. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to partake of the Sacrament every week and the peace that comes into my life as I renew my promises to Christ and apply His Atonement!

xoxo Sister Morgan

Opposition in ALL things

Studies NEXT to the Beach :)

Hey everyone!

So this week has been a pretty good one! It was busy, and definitely had its ups and downs. But for the most part, as I sit here and try to think about what I need to write today, my heart just feels very full! Full of love, joy, peace, and a delicious pasta salad we had for lunch :)

I definitely know that when there are a bunch of bad things that just keep happening back to back, that something really AWESOME is about to happen! This week was definitely evidence of that! Satan is trying to prevent us from going and working and I refuse to let that happen. Last Wednesday we got ANOTHER flat tire from ANOTHER screw and had to spend a good chunk of our night at Pep-Boys. Then yesterday, we discovered the hard way when our tank was almost empty that our gas credit card had been cancelled since someone had stolen our cards info and was buying $250 worth of gas in Pasadena. My companion has been sick. "June Gloom" just wants to hang out with us all day long so then everyone is feeling sleepy/depressed & wont even stop to talk to us. Doors got slammed in our faces. Appointments were cancelled. Some bad ju-ju @ Former Investigator houses so the Spirit told us to PEACE OUT.

But, hey! This wouldn't be the LORD'S work if there wasn't some bumps in the road as well right? Because there must be opposition in ALL things, there was also some amazing things that happened this week:

Me w/ Sister Clayton

On Thursday we had our last Zone Conference with President and Sister Clayton. So ALL of us Sisters got permission to HUG President Clayton goodbye. It was sad, but that hug was seriously the best thing EVER. It felt like I was hugging my Dad again and during that moment, I felt like everything was going to be alright. That I was loved. That I was being watched over. & That my Father in Heaven is VERY mindful of ME. It was definitely a tender mercy!

We got 2 of our investigators with a BAPTISMAL DATE. Both of them are SO prepared and are truly overcoming sooooo much so that they can enter into an everlasting covenant with God. They have truly inspired me and helped me to understand better how I can better show my love and appreciation to my Father in Heaven.

We had dinner with a family where there is a Non-Member husband of a woman that is very active in the Church and the husband gave us one of the best compliments I've EVER received on my mission! He said, "You 2 are the most engaged and engaging missionaries we've ever had in this house!" He's definitely going to get baptized one of these days! After saying that, there is no way I'm not going to work my little tush off to help him accomplish that :)

We got to go street contacting Downtown again, but this time NO one was going to stop and listen to us. It was starting to get super frustrating, so we took a little bathroom break in Yogurtland. It was one of those moments where as soon as the door closed I just prayed my heart out to my Father in Heaven. I just plead with Him that we would find at least ONE person that would stop and listen to us. ONE person who is feeling lost and is in need of us today. So as we were making our way back up to our car we finally spotted one person that was actually just sitting there and not sprinting past us, and we had the best conversation with us! He told us about how he had just gotten out of a Rescue Mission into his very first apartment on his Birthday, he was released from jail a little over a year ago, he is finally sobering up, and he couldn't STOP praising God! I asked if we could pray with him and after the prayer he looked at us and said, "I'm not going to remember your names later tonight, but as I'm praying to God I will just thank Him for sending me my Sisters today who made me smile and feel God's love!" It was one of those really humbling experiences where I just walked away and knew without a shadow of doubt that God had answered my prayer and that we had helped someone who truly needed us that day.

For the past week I had been praying and asking Heavenly Father for me to recognize His Hand more in my life. Well, today He has answered another one of my prayers and I am DEFINITELY recognizing His hand and His love in everything that I'm doing. I am SO grateful to know that I am a Daughter of a Heavenly King and that He is mindful of every single one of us! I KNOW the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the ONLY Church on the Earth today that truly holds God's power and authority. I KNOW we have a modern day Moses on the Earth today and that Thomas S. Monson is truly a Prophet of God!

I love you all!

xoxo Sister Morgan

"CUTE nail polish! Are those Gel-nails?"

Hey everyone!

This past week has been super good! Serving next to some of the best beaches in the World is really starting to grow on me......there are ALWAYS people walking around just waiting for us to come up and talk to them :)

We had some very humbling, confusing, and interesting street contacts this past week. In San Diego, you NEVER know what kind of people you will meet every day. This week I met this way cute Chinese couple from my favorite place ever, SHANGHAI! I practiced my awful Chinese on them and they just loved it haha I forgot how much these amazing people always boosted my self-esteem :) But it was really exciting for me to invite them to the Mormon Battalion and to go on to Mormon.org. Even they knew that once they go back to China they won't be able to get on the website, so they promised me that it would be the first thing they did once they got back to their Hotel. Being able to share a little piece of the Gospel with them was one of the most rewarding things I've experienced. I felt like I was finally able to share the things that I hold so dear to my heart with a People that completely changed my life for the better. I felt like I was able repay some of the love and generosity that my students in China expressed towards me. And in a round-about way, I felt like I was finally able to share the Gospel with my students. I don't know when the day will come, but once China finally opens up to allow Missionaries in the country, I know the Gospel will spread like FIRE there. And I truly pray that my students will be able to accept it and experience the blessing of having a relationship with God and Jesus Christ in their lives.

Street Contacting @ La Jolla Cove!

Since the Book of Mormon Play is here in SD for the next few weeks, half of our Mission gets to go to certain sections of Downtown and street contact everyone in sight. We are doing it so people can see what Real Missionaries actually do and to clear up any miscommunication's or questions that people might have that have seen or heard about the Play. This week it was finally our chance to go to go Downtown and we street contacted like CRAZY! It was SO fun and we seriously met the coolest and wackiest people ever. But I KNOW, without a shadow of doubt, that Heavenly Father puts certain people in our paths for a REASON.

As we were making our way back up to our car, we saw this girl in her 20's sitting on the ground and leaning up against a building. She was smoking a cigarette and I just felt the strongest prompting EVER to talk to her. So as we were walking by I saw that she had really cute toe-nail polish on (somethings about Sis Morgan will NEVER change. I still love my nail polish) so I complimented her and then just stroke up a conversation with her. Turns out she is SUPER stressed out because she is studying to take the BAR @ the end of July and that was evidenced by the 4 cigarette's that she smoked during our 10 minute conversation with her. But she had a friend growing up that was LDS and we had a super good conversation with her about Jesus Christ. The whole time we were talking I kept having the prompting that we needed to pray with her, so I asked if I could say a prayer for her. She looked up at me and said, "Would you please? I really need one right now". After the prayer she looked back up at me and said, "Thank you SOOOO much. You have no idea how much that means to me. Seriously, thank you. I really, really appreciate it. You have no idea how much that helps". Then the Spirit kept telling me to ask her if she would be interested in learning more. And guess what, SHE SAID YES. Things are a little crazy with studying for the BAR, but she said right after she takes it, she would love to learn more. Then the Spirit kept prompting me to give her a Book of Mormon. So I did and I promised her that next time she is feeling overwhelmed and stressed, that if she opens the Book up to ANY page, something she reads will apply directly to her and will help her to feel the same peace she has felt with us.

It was one of those experiences where I just walked away feeling like I was on Cloud 9. Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways, but I KNOW that His ways always work out for the best. I just want you all to know that I KNOW Heavenly Father is mindful of every single one of us. I KNOW that Christ LIVES and that He is always there to strengthen and guide us when we are feeling lonely and lost. I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is true and that if you sincerely read it and ask God if it's true, that you WILL experience the greatest peace and joy in your life. I KNOW that God is hastening His work and I KNOW this Work is true!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY

& I love you all.

xoxo Sister Morgan



Honorary Member of the Mormon Battalion!