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.