First week in Arizona

 

 

Dear Mommy, and family (:

Wow that snow looks SOO awesome!!! And the new black sheep is adorable (: I can't believe Hannah saw an opossum!! Hahaha that is hilarious :D Totally made my day. I love seeing the pictures. I love you guys so much, and miss you a ton. I think of what your reactions would be to things every day, and it makes me smile (:

 

Soooo my first week in Arizona has been crazy. Oh man. Some parts have been incredible, some parts have been really really hard. Sister Toone comforted me so much, and gave me some great advice and support and love. Gosh, I wish you could meet her and Pres. Toone. They are some of the most incredible people I've ever met.

 

The biggest strength to me has definitely been prayer. Everytime I feel upset, I say a prayer and somehow Heavenly Father blesses me with enough patience to stay calm and be patient. Two nights ago I knelt down and prayed for strength, and it was the most incredible experience. I literally felt strength going into my arms and my mind. It was such a powerful answer to prayer. That's what has kept me going, and what keeps me finding happiness and joy every day. Because even though there's hard parts, the amazing parts are definitely there. So I'm choosing to do my best and focus on those (:

 

Arizona is incredible!! And being a missionary is incredible! We walked off the plane, and it was so sunny and breezy, absolutely perfect weather (: People here have cactuses the size of trees, and all their front yards are rocks, and there are palm trees EVERYWHERE. It's so beautiful!

The first night we stayed at a members home, which was fun, and then we were transferred and went to our new areas!

Pres. Toone and Sister Toone are beyond words amazing. I love them so much already, and they love us, and the Spirit is always so strong whenever we're with them. They are incredible.

My first area is in Mesa!!!! Awesome huh??? My ward is the El Dorado Ward - or the "golden ward" in Spanish, haha. The members are also beyond words incredible. The bishop and ward mission leader are SO excited to have missionaries, this is the first time they've had missionaries just for their ward. So their so excited. And our area is like 2 miles by 2 miles, so it's tiny haha. We eat at a member's house every night, and every night it's been some sort of taco salad - except one night we had spaghetti. It's delicious!! I LOVE it (:

 

They are also the nicest people in the world, and have great senses of humor. It's been so fun getting to know them, and I'm so excited to work with them.

We do alot of proselyting, because we whitewashed the area - which means we're both brand new to the area, and started off not knowing anything about it. So we do have one investigator, but she's not really progressing - her name is M. she's about 80, she's from Lebanon, and she speaks good English with a really really thick Russian like accent, and she speaks very loudly haha. It's really funny. But we visited her, and we loved her. We visit alot of less actives too, and part member families. Their all just amazing.

 

We also do alot of OYM-ing - which means "open your mouth". I'm so awkward!! Haha. But last night I had an amazing experience! It was about 8:30 pm, and we were walking along when we hear this loud singing. I look over, and theres this teenage kid sitting on the grass, listening to his ipod, singing his heart out. I walk over, and start talking to him. His name was A. and he's 14. We got to know him a bit, and I got to share with him how God is our loving Heavenly Father, and how He loves him and sent Jesus Christ to die for us so he could return to Him. The Spirit was actually really strong! And I think he felt it (: I'm sure some of it he was thinking who is this crazy person, because I am still soo awkward haha, but I could tell he liked us and felt good talking with us. So we're going to try and visit him and his family this week. It's amazing how much you can love someone within a few minutes of meeting them!

 

So, that's been my first week so far ha. Sorry my email is so jumbled, we only have an hour so I don't have time to word it exactly how Id like. That would take hours (:

Overall, I am so grateful to be a missionary! This is really one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. And I want so badly to be able to help and teach people, so hopefully we'll be able to find more people who are ready this week. Keep us in your prayers (:

 

Thanks so much for the Cmas packages and everything. I'm so excited to get them.

Love you guys!! And I'll try and write some letters today to tell you more, and those will be more coherent, ha.

 

Love you!! And Happy Birthday Jacob!!! (:

 

love,

Sister Whitney Morris

 

 

Here are some pics from the service project at the MTC, and visiting the Mesa temple! A little peak of AZ!