love, serve, teach: Arrival at the MTC! :-D

Letter home, from Whitney on Nov 26th, 2013 <3

"I'm SO happy to hear from you!!!Thanksgiving sounds so fun (: I can't wait to get your letters! I miss you guys SO much!! My companion has already gotten like 4 letters and I haven't gotten any haha. No guilt trips or anything (: But I'm soo excited to hear from you guys. Have you ever heard of Dear Elder? It's a website where you can send a letter, and they deliver it that same day. You guys should try it (: All you need is my mission code I think - which is AZ TEM - and the day I leave, which is Dec 03. Sooooo you guys should do that :D Haha I'm pretty sure it's free.

Yeah I ran into Sis Carlson which was super fun! We got some pictures together, I'll be sending one today (: I also ran into Elder Fleek!!! And Elder Buhl, from our stake, and also a bunch of people from the Fredericksburg YSA and SVU. It's been SO fun seeing people I know here! It's amazing how many are choosing to serve missions now, over 85,000 I think! It's such a blessing to be part of this work at this moment :D

I love, love, love hearing about home. I'm so glad you guys are doing well. That's so cool your making a minecraft blanket, haha, that's perfect for Jacob! And Isaac is making clay bricks? That is sooo awesome, and made me feel that homey feeling. I love it. (: I hope Thanksgiving was fantastic! Those pies sound delicious, can't wait to see the pictures (: That's awesome about Hannah swimming too, I'll have to ask her how she's liking it. (:

Well, I have a limited time to write, but it's finally P Day!!! YES!!!! So sorry if this letter is a bit rambling, I just hope it makes sense haha.

Well when I first got here, they dropped me off and it's so cool! They have you drive down this driveway lined with hundreds and hundreds of elders and sisters. These missionaries open your door, help you with your luggage, you hug bye quickly - with tears rolling down your face and slightly panicking but super excited haha - and then you're off!

We got our books, dropped off our bags, and rushed around campus - it's seriously a whirlwind! And.... I got my nametag!!! Best feeling ever putting that on :D It's my favorite part of every day, and the highlight of my morning.

Everyone waves hi and says welcome to the MTC (sometimes in different languages) to you, because you stick an orange sticker on your nametag that marks you as a newbie. I took it off after the first day, but my companion and I are thinking about putting it back on every Wednesday so people are super nice to us haha :D Although they are super nice to you all the time anyways, so.... we just think it would be funny. (:

Oh, my companion is so funny!! Her name is Sis Raynor. She is hilarious. She went to BYU, and she keeps me laughing. Which is really good because I tend to be more on the serious side, so I think without her I would be soo much more stressed out. She definitely helps me lighten up and have fun.

Every day is so busy! From 6:30 to 9:30 we're either eating, studying, in a class, teaching, or in a meeting. We started teaching our first investigators on the day we arrived - crazy, huh? That's definitely the hardest part for me. I know the doctrine pretty well, but teaching someone is a whole different story! You have to make sure they know you love them, have them involved and apply it to them personally, and you have to teach what you know, with a companion who isn't always on the same page as you. AND you have to try and make it a spiritual environment, where the Spirit can help you discern their needs and they can feel the Spirit testifying of the truthfulness of the message. It's hard! But we've already learned sooo much. My teachers are INCREDIBLE. I really hope I can teach like them someday! It will take me a looooong time though haha, but we've made a ton of progress already (:

The first few days were really, really hard, just with the adjustment. I mean, some parts were incredible. But I feel like a toddler learning to walk - I got here not sure what to expect, and ready to learn. And then learning was so hard! It kind of knocked me down! I pretty much fell flat on my face. It was so humbling. But applying the things I'm learning and most of all praying has helped me get back up every time, and get back up a little bit better - or atleast with more wisdom gained from the experience. This is definitely one of the most incredible things I've ever done, being in the MTC, and I love it!

My district is awesome, we're with 5 elders and 2 other sisters. We're all going to AZ except the 2 sisters, which is so sad because we've become really close! They are sooo sweet, and we have a ton of fun with eachother. I'm going to miss them! But they are absolutely incredible and I know they will be amazing missionaries. And we're definitely going to keep in touch. (:

Sundays are incredible, we had a devotional with Pres Allen, the director of the missionary dept. who used to be the mission president in Tempe!! It was SOO cool! He was absolutely hilarious, had us laughing the whole time. And he had us all sing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, just spontaneously in his talk, and it was the most powerful experience. My companion & I got to run through the crowd and shake his hand too! He gave us some advice, which was to love every minute - even the heat. Pretty awesome. (: It is so amazing being surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of missionaries!! In Relief Society we also sang this song that had me crying, it was so powerful. I'll put the lyrics at the bottom, you sing it to the tune of As Sisters in Zion (:

The best part of the MTC is the Spirit here. Everytime I get discouraged or depressed, I remember my purpose - which is to invite others to Come unto Christ, by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ & His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I remind myself why I'm here, which is because God loves His children so much that He sent us His Son, so that we could return to Him. I think about what the Savior has done for me, for each of us, and how He is searching to help the people out there who need Him, and who may be searching for Him but don't know where to find how. I remember this mission and I realize that no matter how hard it gets, it will be worth it, because even if I'm not the most eloquent or perfect teacher, if I can just help one person find the gospel it will be worth it and more. The Lord is truly strengthening me and comforting me. I am so grateful for the gospel and to be a missionary!!

A week from tomorrow I'll be in Arizona. I am incredibly excited, and can't wait to get out in the field. I think it will be harder in some ways, but easier in others.... so I'm really looking forward to it. (:

We also got to walk around the Provo temple, and it was so beautiful. Oh, funny story, guess what my other favorite time of day is? Gym! How funny is that? My worst class in high school, and it's my favorite now! Sis Draney, one of the Sisters going to CA, has taught me how to shoot hoops, and I'm actually getting pretty good. :) It's so much fun to just not think about anything and play around, and relieve stress. I love it!

Okay, now for the funny stories to impress Isaac & Jacob & Adam & Peter, and maybe Hannah & you & Dad as well haha :D

My companion, Sis Raynor, has taught me how to:

- rip a banana in half with my bare hands

- break an apple in half with my bare hands

- AND to flip a cup of water upside down, without spilling it, so the water is still inside the cup when it's upside down!

How cool is that??? Haha I can't wait to impress you guys when I get home :D And to show kids of families I teach haha.

Also funny story about my companion:

We were in the bookstore, buying some stuff. The cashier says to Sis Raynor "You probably don't want your change back". She says "Yeah, I do!" He asks "Why's that?" She says, "I like to feed them to ducks! Sometimes they eat them, and they sink".

Hahaha how random is that??? She's always making jokes like that, which are so random and zany and just really funny. It's alot of fun! I love her! She is an awesome first companion.

Well, I'm really sorry if I rambled a ton! This week is going to be incredible - a General Authority is coming on Tues, and we are singing in the choir for that. And then on Thanksgiving another one will be coming to speak to us, and we'll be performing in that program too. Sooo cool (: I'm so excited.

Well I miss you guys A TON!!! But I'm so grateful to be here. Write me, I love you! (:

love,

Sister Whitney Morris

P.S.

The ice cream pictures were after a really really amazing but hardworking day... I downed mine in like two minutes hahaha. It was delicious. I've been eating super healthy, so it was all good :D