Dear Family,
Wow, Mommy, you look gorgeous! I love your skirt and blouse! Super cute. Thanks so much for the email! I'm so jealous of the sales at the consignment shop... haha, but turns out we have a goodwill here that sells clothes by the pound! So we've been going there a lot. Remember those fun shopping trips in Oregon? That was such a blast!
Stories of high school sound soo awkward... and so familiar. Haha. . Tell Isaac I love him, and am proud of him for remembering the Savior. That's awesome Orjan is coming! You'll have to tell him hi for me. And the Woodstock tower has such a beautiful view! It's so weird to look back on pictures I have from home. Everything is sooo green, and the pictures you sent look so gray! I mean, it's absolutely beautiful. But it feels like a foreign world! Here it's hitting 100, 105 every day, and it's so sunny.... it's pretty hot, haha. But luckily it doesn't seem to be affecting me too much yet. It doesn't really bother me at all! I'm getting a great tan, and although sometimes it feels like I'm biking through a hair dryer, we just keep drinking water and working hard. And it's awesome. :) I love it!
That's so awesome the boys listen to that song! I love the youth lds music, and I know exactly what one your talking about :) Which reminds me, did you guys ever look up "The Work" cd? Or the Nashville Tribute Band? I emailed you about them a few weeks ago... seriously THE BEST CDS EVER. The boys would love them!!
Well, as for me, this week has been incredible!! We got transfer calls, and both Sis D. and I are staying in Phoenix - WOOHOOO!!! :) I'm so glad! The work here is going so well. There is so much potential! I feel like we're barely scraping the top of everything that could happen. We are going to be moving to a different apartment complex, to make room for some elders their adding to our ward. So there will be 3 sets of missionaries in our ward! Our area will get smaller, but I know we're still going to have a ton of work to do. We are so excited. I am so glad I'm staying. :)
We had some cool experiences this week! We had some pretty crazy lessons, and also some very powerful ones. We taught a new referral named I who reminds me soo much of Rhylee from Colorado. Haha so random, but we instantly became friends! She's pretty involved in her church, but we were able to teach her about the Restoration, and she said she would read and pray. And we set up an appt to come back. So we're excited about that!
We are also teaching this incredible lady named S! She is AMAZING. The elders called us up a few weeks ago, and said that a cop had a referral for us. It turned out to be the coolest story! So earlier that week, S had been praying. She said she had been praying harder then she ever had in her life - just kneeling, and pouring her heart out to God. She said that this feeling came to her that was so incredible, and so strong. She asked for guidance and just to come closer to Him. Well, it turns out, she and her daughter had some issues with an ex boyfriend, so later that week a policeman came over to talk with them and help them. Somehow the conversation turned to the gospel, and I guess he made a huge impact on her. So she's started meeting with us, and she is just so excited, and has the strongest desire to follow God. It's incredible! We are so excited to meet with her again this week.
We also had a super awesome referral yesterday!!! Oh man! So we went with K to the mission president fireside yesterday, and that was so fun. Pres. T gave an incredible talk, which I'll write more about later :) But we had a great experience, and on the ride home, she told us that after her baptism, her 13 yr old sister started asking her a ton of questions about the church. She was super interested! So K answered her questions, and then asked if she would like to meet with us. Her sister said yes! And then her sister told her that she was worried, because she wanted to go to church, and K is going to Hawaii soon, so she didn't know who would give her a ride... she was already looking that far ahead, haha. So then K told us, "Well, you guys don't have to... but do you know anyone who would like to teach her? If you know anyone, that would be awesome!" And we said "Yeah!!! Oh, we would love to!" Haha, isn't that so awesome? So we are going to start teaching her on Tuesday!! I am so excited. It's the best being able to see families come together, and see how much happiness people have when they learn about the gospel. It's truly the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. (: So that is super exciting.
I can't think of much more to say... I forgot my journal, and usually I use it to help me remember haha. But this week has truly been amazing. There are so many spiritual moments every day that strengthen my testimony. I have felt the Spirit so strongly! And there are so many crazy, funny moments every day... There is one funny story I do remember. So our zone leaders are awesome! They're so funny!
Well, I did want to share one more super cool thing with you guys. Last night, President T talked with us about doubting our doubts before we doubt our faith. What he said really stuck out to me, because sometimes people throw a lot of anti material at us, or at the people we teach. It's really sad! But I was reading the Book of Mormon this morning, and I felt the Spirit so strongly... and it came to me that God knows everything. He knows the big picture. He knows exactly why the priesthood ban, why polygamy, and he knows exactly who Joseph Smith was and what he did. He knows if Joseph Smith was a prophet or not. It just came to me, God has a perfect knowledge and knows this exactly. So why would we let mortal people - with limited, short sighted understanding, and sometimes bad intent, destroy our faith? We can turn to God, who is the source of all truth. He knows what is true. We can pray and ask Him what is true, and He will guide us. He won't lead us astray. We can trust that that spiritual witness we feel comes directly from Him. Then it comes to faith - trusting in God, and His perfect knowledge and understanding and truth, or believing those of imperfect understanding and sometimes biased intentions. I know with all my heart that the Spirit, the Holy Ghost, is real, and that He testifies of truth. I have felt it witness to me so strongly that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that this church is Christ's church, that I cannot deny it. I trust that the immense peace, joy, and happiness that comes from living this gospel comes because it is true. And nobody who spreads lies or rumors about the church can take that witness from God away from me.
It was such a powerful talk, and moment in my testimony... I wish I could describe it well enough, I really can't. But anyways.
I love you guys! I'm so glad all is well at home. I'm excited to get that package, thanks for sending it. (: Love you!! Stay strong!
love,
Sister Whitney Morris
Sister Whitney Morris
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