Week of January 27

Dear Mommy & Family,

 

Wow!! I can't believe how cold it is in Virginia! That is insane. Thanks so much for checking up on Medtronic. I'm so glad that worked out, we got a doctor here and I'll have an appt. Feb 15th. So glad that worked out on  both ends!

 

Thats so awesome you are going to go on splits with the missionaries!! Do the kids get to go too? It's amazing how much of a difference having a member with you makes. Seriously, it's an enormous difference. Just having that testimony and power of somebody living the gospel in their normal daily lives... it's amazing. So that's so awesome. You'll definitely have to let me know how that goes (:

 

I can't believe how freezing Virginia has been!!! That is INSANE. And our hauling water, with no power or heat.... gosh that sounds so cold! Haha and your all washing laundry in 20 degree weather... I really can't imagine. It's been starting to get a bit hot here, actually, just wait till you see one of the pictures I'm sending. (: Haha. That's so crazy.

 

Dagny is adorable!!! She has the cutest little face. That's so awesome your getting a sheepdog, and the kittens are soooo cute. And so is Peter, and Adam, and everyone, of course haha.

 

Well, it's so good to hear from you. This week was super awesome! And also kind of  hard. First, I also wanted to let you know that I really appreciate the spiritual things you write about in emails too. Like last time when you talked about how your working on developing charity. That is amazing (: That's something my comp and I have been doing every day during comp study, just studying Christ like attributes for 10 minutes. It's amazing how the gospel truly teaches us how to become the best people, and the happiest people, we can possibly be. It's amazing how they all tie together as well - faith, diligence, patience, charity, humility, knowledge... their all interrelated. When you strengthen one, the others are benefitted and become stronger as well. So that's so great your doing that!

 

Hello to all the kids and Dad too! Sorry I always write emails aimed at you, I hope everyone else gets to read them too and knows how much I love them and think about them and miss them, although I am very happy to be on a mission, I really do think about you all alot. So love you, everyone!

 

This week was great. We saw a few miracles. We've been trying to contact this less active man ever since we first transferred here, and we've only been able to meet him once. The mornings were always best for him, but he was never there. So we had tried afternoons a few times, but knew he usually worked and was never there then either. So this one night we had contacted everyone we had planned to. We only had about 20 min left in the day, so we looked for some more people we could try and visit. I looked down at our areabook, and saw his name, and it just jumped out at me, so we decided to go visit him. Well, we did, and he was there! It was amazing! We had a great lesson with him about the Atonement and just got to know him more. He's a really, really neat man. It was so cool how the Spirit prompted us to try him at that time, the one time that he was home and we could meet him, after trying for so long. It was way cool!

 

Another miracle happened on Tuesday. We were out visiting people with the Bishop, and we decided to try and contact this family whose kids were supposed to be baptized, but fell off date  because of circumstances in the family. We had pretty much lost hope for a while on going in to meet with them. Well, the Bishop texted them to see if we could come over, and they called us back and talked with him for about half an hour about everything that has happened in their life recently. -After that conversation - Her heart was so softened, and so we were able to go back and teach them that very night! And now their back on date for baptism. That would not have happened if Bishop wasn't there, or would have taken much longer to happen. So another blessing of having members come on visits too (: It was a miracle.

 

Those kids are soooo sweet. Their amazing. We made a little calendar for them, with things they need to do for their baptism, and they memorized the scripture on it! They recite it perfectly! They've also memorized the commandments, and showed us pictures of someone being baptized in the gospel principles manual and asked us if that's what it would be like... it was soooo sweet. They are such smart kids, and are so excited to be baptized! Their going to be baptized on Feb 16, and their names are E. and H. (:

 

One funny moment this week:

 

So we always role play in our zone/district meetings. Well, the missionaries here are so funny to role play with! One of them, my zone leader, always talks like a country backwoods man. He always says his name is Trigger, or Rope. So we practice teaching, and we asked him if he's had experiences with prayer. He said yes! And then he went into this looooong story about how he was riding his horse in the rockies, and suddenly huge rains came, so he fell off his horse, and had to sit in a tree and sleep in a tree for days, and then the rain stopped, and he started walking through the woods, and in a clearing up ahead he saw his horse in a little meadow... so he knelt down.... and he started eating the pine trees, because he needed the nourishment and was so hungry. It was sooo hilarious, hahaha, we all thought he was going to say he was going to pray. It's so funny because sometimes investigators, or people we talk with, really do take our questions and just run with it. One of the hardest things is learning how to keep the lesson on track and bringing it back to focus haha. So it's good practice. Our zone is awesome! All the missionaries are amazing. They are so fun to be around, and are also incredible examples. It's amazing. (:

 

Well, so glad everything is going well! I love you all tons and tons.

 

Dad - too bad about the mustang! Hope everything is going well with work!

Dexter - hope everything is going well at the shop, and with Brittany. (:

Isaac - hey, little bro #Isaacswag. Your awesome. (: And I carry my little elder sock monkey in my purse everywhere. Hows life going?

Hannah - hope swimming is going well!! How is your writing going?

Jacob - Thanks so much for the funny pictures!! Are you still learning violin/guitar?

Adam - Hope school is going great!! And have you gone sledding alot in the snow?

Peter - Hope school is going well, and hope you having fun with school out! :) How do you like Dagny? and the kittens?

 

Love you all!! And know everything in this email is for all of you. (: Pretty much, haha.

 

love,

Sister Whitney Morris

 

 

We helped this lady pick tangelos!! We brought home a big bag and their DELICIOUS!!!! (: (:

  

This picture is that lady's dog. He was sooooo funny, just this giant cute puppy. One of the biggest dogs I've ever seen! And such a funny face, haha.

 

Pic 1 - The Gilbert temple!! It's doing an open house right now, and will be dedicated I think in March. It's beautiful! We get to go if we bring an investigator and member family, so we're trying our hardest to get the people we're teaching to go. (: It's so beautiful!

 

 

A lizard! I've seen two this week. I also saw my first little scorpion!! Crazy!

 

 

So our church is in between the church of celebration and a catholic church. This week the catholic church had a carnival next door, including all day Sunday... and the church of celebration always has people - who look super nice - waving and holding signs so people will come. It's pretty funny, we're in the middle of them haha. Anyways, here's a pic of the carnival.

 

 

One day we didn't have a member dinner.... soooo we got nachos and a Mexican popsicle (: Delicious and nutritious, right?

 

 

 IT'S 100 DEGREES!!!!

Okay, okay, not really (: Haha this is the temp reader in our car, and it had been sitting in the sun all day.... I just had to get a picture for your reaction haha. It's actually usually between the 70s  and 90s (:

Mon, Jan 20, 2014

Hola familia!

I'm so glad things are going so well at home. I can't believe how freezing it sounds there! Brrr!! My companion and I are such wimps, we don't ride our bikes at night because it's too cold (the 40's or 50's) and so we just drive haha. I can't imagine all that snow... I'm so glad I'm serving in Arizona!

 

You should all start reading PMG - even once a week as a family. That book is a gem, it's incredible! I'm going to keep studying it my whole life.

 

Congrats Hannah on the swim meet!!! Stay strong (: And hello everyone!

This week has been great!

Transfers came, and I'm staying in Maricopa with Sis R. I was sooo happy and relieved and excited! It's so nice in an area once you start getting to know your investigators and the ward. They're incredible. I love it here.

I have a little list of things to tell you during the week so I don't forget, haha, so here it goes!

 

This week we talked with some teenagers and taught them a lesson on the street. One of their names was Cypress - just this kid who looks like a typical rebellious teenage boy. Anyways, we were talking with them about prayer, and how God answers our prayers and how He loves us. Cypress looked at me and he asked "How can you say that so confidently?" And immediately I said "Because I know it". The Spirit was so strong. I know there is spiritual power that comes to you from being a missionary. The Lord promised it, and  in 'Preach My Gospel". I have seen that. Even though Cypress wasn't convinced, I know he felt the power of what we were saying. It was such an amazing moment. The Spirit truly does testify that what we say is true, even if people don't accept it right away.

I'll keep you all in my prayers. I read a really good section in Preach My Gospel under Christlike attributes, under Virtue today that I thought was really good. It talked about how our mind is a stage and if it's just empty then Satan and the world throw all kinds of junk at it. But if it's filled with good things - scriptures, truths of the gospel, serving others, prayer, hymns, ect - then those fill it up and keep those things from coming in. So whatever weaknesses or struggles we have, filling our lives with good things will definitely help keep those things away. There's also a good scripture - Moroni 7:33 - that says "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me, ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me". I know that is true. It's incredible what faith in Christ can do. I know as we focus on Him, He will help us and enable us to overcome our weaknesses. He will give us strength to do the things He asks us to do. 

 

We've had the opportunity to find some new investigators - our teaching pool is kind of small right now so we're really focusing on working with the members and talking with everyone. It's cool, there's actually people from all over the world! We've had people pray with us in Farsi and French (: It's sweet haha.

 

It's funny how much the Spirit guides you. Sometimes we've been biking and we see someone, and we just immediately both know that we have to go talk with them - it's like we're being drawn to them. And those conversations have been so enlightening and we've been able to share our testimonies and they've been so receptive. Other times, you see someone, and you feel this dread to go talk to them. And pretty often they just reject us right away. So it's interesting how the Spirit kind of leads you. We always do our best to talk to everyone, regardless, but it is amazing how we are led to people (:

Some funny things - every day we bike by this pond where there are tons and tons of little turtles! They like to sunbathe on the rocks, and sometimes they stick their legs out straight in the air behind them over the water, hahaha. It's the funniest looking thing! I don't know why they do that, but they sit with their legs straight out for hours. It's hilarious haha.

 

 

To try and help the members get excited and trust us to give us referrals, we've decided to speak in sacrament mtg... so we volunteered and we're speaking in 3 weeks. Yay, haha... it will be really good. I'm excited to help the members get more excited. Their already motivated, but we just need to help them get the ball rolling in acting on that motivation. Their amazing though! And many of them have already started. So it's very exciting!!

Well, love you all!

Thanks so much for the letters and funny notes and everything. I can't wait to get those pictures! And I think I'll just have people write the mission address my whole mission, because if I get transferred and the mail sends to the old address, sometimes mail gets lost. It just takes a few extra days (:

Also, have you heard anything about Medtronic? Are the supplies coming through okay, or do they need a prescription or anything?

Love you!! Off to go shopping, clean, and do other fun P day things - maybe shoot some hoops in the park (: Fun stuff. Love you!!

love,

Sister Whitney Morris

First pic: This is what lunch looks like on Sundays when we have to pack it.... ramen, green beans, and popcorn, hahaha.

 

The drawing was on the white board in the mission home chapel when we had transfers! I was so nervous!

 

We were staying with a sister because her comp left to Brazil (visa waiter) and their dog literally ate the entire box of my cheerios... all they found was this chewed up box hahaha.

 

 

And our beautiful artwork  before zone meetings. That is a true account of what Maricopa looks like (: Cows, cacti, mountains, and beautiful sunsets.

This is the Sister we stayed with. Her member family is soooooo funny!!! They just got reactivated, from home teaching - home teaching & visiting teaching is so important!!! - and now he's a ward mission leader, and their the funniest people ever. So awesome. The wife owns this enormous retro red pair of heels, so we had to get pictures, of course... haha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, January 14th 2014

 

 

Dear Mommy (and everyone),

 

It is so fun to hear from you!! Sometimes I forget my weird humor, so whenever I hear your jokes - especially from Isaac & Jacob - they just make me laugh so hard, and remind me of home so much. I absolutely love it, they  make me laugh! I got the Christmas package and the letters Saturday!! Oh my gosh, Isaac and Jacob's pictures and letters made me laugh so hard!! Especially Jacob's self portrait of himself as a squash, and their little cartoons... I absoluvely love all of the letters I get from all of you though. Thanks so much!

 

I also got the package from Randi! That was SOOO sweet!! All that chocolate... yum (: I especially loved her homemade almond bark. That was so delicious (: Of course, I ate way too much of it way too soon haha.... so yeah. Thanks so much (;

 

It sounds so freezing back home! Goodness! I'm so glad all the animals are okay, and the boys are soo sweet - Adam, and Peter. About the sheep and his baptism. What day is Peter getting baptized? I'm so happy for him! Being on a mission has really started to open my eyes about how truly important baptism is, and what it means. It's incredible. So happy our family is walking that path (:

 

This week has been great here in Copa! (Maricopa). So many great things have happened.

 

I had my first zone conference! It was INCREDIBLE. We got to learn from our zone leaders and our mission president, and the assistants. It was one of the most inspiring, motivating meetings of my life. They really focused on seeing the vision. We have these things called the Standards of Excellence which are the goals we try to meet. Their so hard to meet sometimes! But we talked about how these standards we are asked to meet are important, but their not why we do it. We don't get these member present lessons or referrals for numbers, or to make that standard of excellence. We do it because we are helping God bring to pass His purpose - to help His children return to Him, and gain all the peace and happiness, and all of the blessings that He wants them to have. It was so inspiring!! I've found when I talk to someone, if I'm thinking of that greater vision that it becomes so much easier, and all of my fear leaves. I truly know that faith in Christ moves mountains of fear and doubt. I still have so far to strengthen that faith, but it's incredible how powerful even a little tiny seed of faith can be.

 

 

Transfers were this week, and I'm staying in Maricopa!!!!!! :) :) :) My companion got called as a sister training leader,  but she's staying too.... so we'll probably not be companions anymore, but we'll still see eachother, which I am SO happy for! She's the best :) She's so funny. And is an amazing example in just walking up and talking to people. So I'm so glad!
 

 

 

 

We had some cool appointments this week. One was a referral named P. , and we met with him, and he's so willing to keep commitments and meet with us, and learn more. So we're really excited about him!

We've been helping and visiting alot of less active families too, and helping the bishop find people on the ward roster who we've never seen or known before, or who have never come to church. So we stay very busy.

 

We had a miracle happen this week. So it was dinnertime, we were on our way to dinner on our bikes, and we get to the house, and it is pitch black! Turns out we had the wrong address....soooo we called our Ward Mission Leader, and he tried to find out who we had for dinner. We talked to some people, and he called us back finally and let us know who was actually having dinner with us. We sped to their house, only to get lost, and we had to keep calling them and calling them for directions. Finally we just had to park and let them come drive to us, and we had to follow them to their house haha. It was so crazy! But we got to their home, and talked a bit, and then the mom & dad had to live for an appt. So their son, whose in his early 20s, invited his next door neighbour friend -whose a girl- to come over, so we could finish eating in their house.

 

So, before all this had happened, we always prepare a spiritual thought to share with the members. Today we felt prompted to teach a lesson from Preach My gospel, which isn't something we've ever done before. We prayed about it, and we had decided to share the Restoratioin with this member family for dinner.

 

Well, turns out the son's friend was not a member! But we had been guided to share the Restoration lesson with her, and so we were able to teach her about Prophets, Joseph Smith, and Prayer, and how God loves us and His gospel blesses families. It was incredible!! She said she would pray. On Sunday the mom came to us and talked with us about it, and she said she had felt prompted several times to invite her to something at church, but just hadn't yet. The way it all worked out that we were able to teach her really touched her heart, and I know it happened for a reason. I really really hope we get to visit her again (: We're going to invite the members to keep inviting her, and make opportunities for us to meet her again (:

 

That is the main focus in this mission and for missionaries --- working with members!!! I have never realized how important members are. I've always known, but seeing it in action has taught me SO much. Members who fellowship and love and testify and invite make SUCH A DIFFERENCE. It's incredible. I hope you all can pray and think of someone who you can share the gospel with, and have meet the missionaries. Even in small and simple ways, by small and simple things are great things brought to pass!
 

 

 

Also - turns out Elder Holland, at the last second, had a different assignment, so we didn't get to hear form him :( We still met with the Tuson and Phoenix missions though, and heard from their mission presidents and Elder... White? Wright? from the 70. He was amazing, and it was still an incredible conference.

It's been such a great week!!!!

 

love and miss you all.

Oh, and I would LOVE the Messiah CD (: Actually I've been  meaning to ask you - if you could possibly burn cds from the free music on youth.lds.org, especially under the contemporary/upbead sections, I would love you forever!!! I already do, haha, but they have the best music on there! It's spiritual music that is SO good, and cheerful and happy. MoTab is amazing, but it gets sleepy sometimes. There's also a great album called "The Work" that is kind of country-not LDS Mom's cd-ish- about missionary work that is soooo good. Seriously, good music - cheerful, spiritual, upbeat - would be the best bday present ever (:

 

Okay some funny moments now:

 

Funny moments:

We had to get our oil changed, and so we were sitting in the front room waiting for them to be done. We got a call on our phone, and I answered it! I said "Hello, this is Sister Morris!" And the man was like "Hello, this is so and so from Big O Tires... just calling to let you know your oil change is finished." I turned around, and he was talking on the phone to me about 15 feet behind me hahahaha. It was so hilarious. He was a funny man.

 

We ate dinner at a member's house yesterday who raises birds for a living!!! He had parrots, parakeets, chickens, pidgeons, guinea hens, mini guinea hens.... they were soo cute!! And SO loud!!! Being around all those crazy birds reminded me of home and of you all (:

Rejections are kindof depressing, but you just have to have a good attitude. One time a guy peeked out his window, saw us, and literally tiptoed - ran away to hide. hahaha. It was hilarious.
 

It's also so beautiful here, the sunsets and sky are breathtaking! And the weather is perfect (: Some days are kind of hot, which scares me for summer haha, but I love it!!!

 

Also, that is AWESOME J. and Isaac are doing that challenge!!! How incredible. The blessings from reading your scriptures so diligently are SO powerful... it's truly small and simple things that we do every day that make all the difference.And putting your heart into it. I heard an analogy this week about when Christ calmed the sea - when He was asleep in the ship, the storms and waves beat the ship and they were afraid. But when Christ was awake, the sea was calm, and there was peace. I know this is true in our lives - if Christ and His gospel are alive in us - not just going through the motions - that's when we have that incredible joy and peace and strength. It's amazing!

 

Okay, love you all!! (:

 

 

 We got pizza! We eat SOOO much... bleh. One time at dinner we said we would like a tiny piece of dessert. The lady comes out with two MONSTROUS pieces of pie, and huge scoops of ice cream.... and you have to be polite, of course.... but I couldn't even finish it haha. Hopefully I don't come home looking like a whale (:

 

 

 

 

I made the sock monkey Isaac sent me into Elder... Max? Haha. He's my little friend. 

 

Dear everyone, as well as Dear Mommy, p.s. (: to the whole family!

Haha, thank you for this email!!! Oh my goodness. I can't believe the weather has been so crazy! Those temperatures sound SO cold. We actually met a family this past week on the street, and when I told her I was from Virginia she told me you were having like 20 below weather. Are all the animals okay? Those pioneer moments in the snow sound like super hard and kind of miserable work, but the kind of hard work that makes you feel really good inside (: So that's awesome! I feel like a wimp... totally wearing my black winter coat in 60 degree weather hahaha. The days have already started getting a bit hot here, where the heat starts to drain you, but the nights still get pretty chilly. (As in a November day in Virginia). So, basically, I'm going to be an icicle when I get off my mission!! I'm turning into a worse wimp with cold than I was before haha, if that's even possible.

 

New Years sounds fun! We just came home an hour early, because nobody wants to talk to us while their partying or whatever, so we updated our area books for an hour, and then bedtime and planning as normal. Not too exciting (: I can't believe 2014 is here already. When I thought of going home in July 2015, it always sounded so far away. Now it seems like it's close, and it's already coming too fast haha! I hit my one month in the field already, on Jan 3rd. Pretty crazy!! It's going so fast!

 

Peter's (new word) "yoscany" was SO funny!!! Awww he's so adorable! Oh man, and the sheepsquatch... I was literally laughing soooo hard in the library, and felt quite silly haha, but those are so hilarious. What are the chances haha. It's so good to have my family's weird and hilarious humor, even so far away from home (: Those were the best hahaha. Did Isaac get my hashtag letter yet? Just for him. Also the funny duck stickers. I saw those and knew I had to send them to you all.

 

Thanks so much for the Christmas package! I got it a few days ago, the ward one. Everyone was so kind to send all that yummy food, homemade cookies (: (: , and nutrasweet and sugar free jam!!! Yay!!! And peppermint herb tea!!! You know me so well (:

 

Life in Maricopa this week has been... well, amazing, because it's missionary life ha. But also kind of hard. L. and her children are amazing!! We love them so much. But her husband is still gone, and won't be back except for a weekend in February that she knows of, and he doesn't want them deciding anything about church until he gets back. Sooo they didn't come to church, and won't be getting baptized anytime soon :( If the kids want to go to church they'll still go. And we can still meet with them and teach them. So that's good. It was so sad, because we love them and L. knows her children need it, but we'll be patient and pray and pray and pray, and just keep meeting with them and helping them strengthen their knowledge and gain their own testimonies, so please keep them in your prayers!

 

We had a cool experience helping one of our investigators...some of the members got together and got some propane and candles for her, and one member owns a Coldstones so he was able to give us a free ice cream bday cake which we brought for her, which was awesome :)

 

One of her daughters is so funny!! The other day she showed us a ring. She said "Look at my new ring sisters!!" I said "Wow, that's so cool!" She said "Yeah, I know. I named it Mormon." My comp and I looked at each other, and I asked her "Why did you name it that?" She laughed and said "I don't know! I just miss going to church". And then she got the saddest look on her face!!! It was the cutest thing I've ever seen haha. She's always outside on her bike, and always talks and talks with us. She's a cutie.

 

We also met with J. and his wife again. They're amazing. He is SO analytical, and always really thinks about and ponders and analyzes everything! He says he knows the Book of Mormon is true, because it makes sense, and he feels good when he reads it. But he's not sure where that path is going to take him yet. He knows what we want for him - be baptized, join the church - but he's just a really slow mover. His wife sat in on the lesson again though - yay!!! - and she shared with us how he's such a slow mover that it will probably take him a long time to decide. I have so much faith that he'll get there though. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know as he studies it, and as he prays about it, if he continues to do so he will receive those answers and will know what God wants him to do, and that this is His Church.

 

That's pretty much the updates here. It was a disappointing week, none of our investigators came to church... sigh. Hopefully we'll be having two baptisms this Sunday - which is amazing! - but it's  been really hard to get a hold of the family, so we'll see. We're going to do our best to help them make it happen though. Pray for us!

 

Thanks so much for all your support and love. I LOVE hearing from home (: It makes me so happy. Just know I love being a missionary!! And just know my testimony has grown so much. I truly know for myself that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I know He knows our name, and what we are going through. He knows how to help us and strengthen us. He has strengthened and comforted me. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, that God called him to restore His gospel because He loves us. Heavenly Father wants all of His children to have those blessings.

 

I love all of you!!! Mommy, Dad, Dexter, Isaac, Jacob, Adam, Peter, and Hannah!!! I think of you all and am so proud of you (: And I challenge all of you to find a way to share the gospel with someone this week. It's so easy - just opening your mouth and sharing how something has helped you in a hard time, or invite someone to come to an activity. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass! I know that is true!

 

Love you! :)

 

love,

Sister Whitney Morris

 

 

I took like zero pictures this week.... so last night I took some of the delicious cookies we ate. And of us eating them. notice the wonderful mission shirt (: (Thanks so much!)

The couple we live with are INCREDIBLE. I love them so much. The husband has cancer, and so they've been having such a hard time. I can't even imagine. But they have such a postitive attitude, and never complain. It inspires me!

 

 

 

A member made these- they're so beautiful! And delicious!