July 28, 2014

Dear Family,

Thanks so much for the email :) And for the advice! I just love everything you said :) Thank you.

I am so excited to chat with Britt. and Dexter :) I'm so happy she said she would like to! We had a cool conversation. And Dexter sent me a nice message too. I haven't seen their replies yet, but I'm so excited :) It will be a nice connection with them too.... I got my first letter from Dexter that you sent from the sealing, and I was so happy to hear from him!! :) I'm hoping he will email and write more, along with Brittney., and I loved the letter from S. too! 

 

I'm so sorry to hear about the sheep and everything! That sounds so stressful! I'm sorry to hear Hannah's been having such a hard time too. Maybe she would like to help out in teaching online lessons? Or she can write me or something. I'll try and write her today. She is the most amazing girl, I know all these times are preparing her for a very happy future. I guess if in life we always had great friends and were never lonely, we would never appreciate the true friends and deep relationships we have in our lives that fulfill that need to have a friend. There has to be opposition in all things... so we'll appreciate the good :) Just imagine in heaven we'll be living with our families, our spouses, and our Heavenly Father, together forever.... isn't that incredible??? If we never had a lonely moment, that wouldn't mean nearly as much to us. I know Hannah will make it, she's so awesome :) She could always serve a mission someday too. Sharing the gospel forges friendships with people where you love them soooo much, and they love you soooo much too. Seriously, that's the greatest ways to find true friends - share the gospel with people who are lonely or sad or are searching for the truth! Your joy will be great, and their joy will be great, and you'll rejoice together :) (To paraphrase D&C... haha)

Good job on the diet! And that's scary about Israel.... we really are in the last days. I'm so excited to see where Isaac serves!! I was just thinking, that's going to be a huge year for our family. Dexter & Britt's wedding, me coming home from my mission, Isaac putting in his papers... it's so exciting!! I love hearing about home and getting letters from everyone :) It seriously cheers me up and strengthens me soooo much. I'm so grateful I have such a supportive family! And now as a missionary I know the cool tricks to cheer up other missionaries, so Isaac and Jacob and Adam and Peter and whoever else decides to serve is going to have a major older sister cheerleader back home when they go :) Missions are the best!!!

This week, aside from intense personal growth experiences, has been pretty decent. Our golden investigator we found dropped us... she was a girl super interested whose boyfriend was about to leave on his mission. Her mom is LA and she got super offended by the church, so she got really upset and just makes the whole house uncomfortable with the daughter learning more, so the daughter dropped us :( It was really sad. But I hope in the future things work out for her, and for her mom. 

It was so hot this week!! It hit 117 degrees and we were biking... oh man. I can't even describe the sweatiness. It is sick haha. But it's so fun :) I went on exchanges with the STL's and it was so fun!! We went into the spanish area and they have the three lights where they can always identify a spanish house - christmas lights (hanging up year round), bud lite (cans or tops on the ground), and satellites. Hahaha it's so funny, almost every house it's true... we had a great day :D They have some super golden people so that was really exciting. When I was there, I hardly understood anything that was going on, but the dad basically just asked the most amazing questions! He was asking about why the Lord commanded Nephi to slay Laban, and at the end he asked what he needed to do to be baptized. There really are people just waiting out there :) It was amazing! And I got to say a prayer in spanish, so that was really cool! :D 

We're teaching a lady named P whose awesome. She grew up Catholic but for the past few years has been studying Christianity. So she's reading from the BOM and is coming to church next Sunday.... she's super smart and is really fun to talk with :) We helped her clean her grandkids room and that was fun. We've had some crazy dust storms and monsoons lately too, and those are really pretty! I love the rain in the desert, except its funny because it smells weird - like wet dust. 

We have had some pretty funny moments this week too haha. We had the most traumatic experience!!! So we're both happily walking into the church building, and we see the cutest baby lizard outside the door. We kneel down to look at it, and we're both oohing and aahing... and then the elder opens the door for us. He sees us looking at the lizard, and the lizard tried to run inside - it was so cute - and he lifted up his foot and smashed it, right in front of us!! It was so awful!! Turns out he thought it was a cricket, and he thought he was protecting the building from a bug infestation... but it was so traumatizing haha.. It was soo sad! Sis A got so upset haha... poor elder! And poor lizard!

We also had a fun time on exchanges... Sis S makes this hilarious creepy old man voice. So I showed her and the yw with us my troll voice... it was hilarious hahaha. Later she announced to the zone I could make a weird voice so I showed it to them... and they laughed and laughed, and I think it scared the elders hahaha. But Sis A thought it was super funny, so we took some videos :) (Which are NOT to be shown to anyone!!!!!)

So yeah! It was an awesome week. I'm being stretched to my limits, it's making me grow... and things are only looking up :)  Thanks so much for all your prayers and support. I love you guys!!! Stay strong :) 

Also, I'm thinking George Mason sounds good! I just love Virginia too much... there's way more dating potential in UT... but I just love the east coast and the people there too much. Any word on the application? Like if you can apply for me? :) 

Love you all!!!

love,

Sister Whitney Morris

hidden talents...

 

perform...

 

 

 

where you work out (our team)...

 

 

where you would hide in a zombie apocalypse (behind Elder Herrick...)

 

 

 

and planking haha

 

pics from our photo scavenger hunt last p day :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

temp

 

amazing house... yes, that is a courtyard in the middle of a mansion we knocked. the houses are incredible. I feel like I'm walking in a wealthy pinterest neighborhood.

 

 

 

also member dinner - they had a poo party for their kid who was just potty trained hahaha. Yes, they did sing "happy poo day to you..." it was hilarious

 

and a spiky tree! All the plants here are spiky!

 

how to pray in Spanish, fun cartoon, and amazing sunsets. love Arizona!
 

 

 

 

 

 

These funny goats... which reminds me!! We heard goats scream IN REAL LIFE this week!! It was soooooo funny! We were dying!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese license plate

 

 

missing turtle! (I can't spell tortoise...)

 

 

 

 

dinner with awesome members :) They made us homemade fried fish tacos and shrimp tacos! With lemon!!! SOOO GOOD - we eat like kings here!

 

 

And Sis J at the retirement community we have in our area! love her!

 

 

 

 

 

July 21 2014

 

 

Dear Family,

 

I loved hearing about the sealing and seeing the pictures and everything :)  You guys are so incredible. Everyone looks soooo happy. It was so weird to see Isaac and Dexter holding hands with their girlfriends and kissing in pictures! Haha but you all look so great! And just reading about it made me feel the Spirit and so happy sitting here in the library :) I am so, so happy for you guys and for our family. I'm so happy Randi and Grandma and Valerie and her daughter could come too :) And the James's! Man, I miss you all!

This week has been stressful.  Missions are the best and also the hardest times ever. But I want you to know that I'm in my mission for good. My thoughts keep turning back to when I ran a half marathon. As you guys know, when running long distance, there are some parts you hit a runners high and everything is awesome. You have energy and your happy and your excited and rearing to go. Sometimes during the run though, you get tired. You start to wonder if you can do it. You just wish it could be over. The good thing is that even though your brain is telling you to quit, your heart and your determination won't let you.  I love my Savior too much. I love this gospel too much. I love my mission and the people too much. I'm not going to give up. I'm going to do my best to be humble and patient. I know I'm going to mess up, but it's okay.  Do you think you could just send me a ton of love and support and wise words of wisdom this week?

I was really happy to hear about how your sending packages to B, and the exciting news about the names to take to the temple. That's so awesome!  It honestly just made my day happier. We have the best family. It really really cheered me up, and so did the cute pictures of the boys wearing their matching gold ties, and Peter's kaleidoscope picture. I just love you guys :) I was sooo happy to hear about the sealing, that was the perfect lifter upper. I can't wait to hear more stories and get the letters you all wrote in the car :)  
I love you guys. Have an awesome week!

love, Sister Whitney Morris

 

 

The last two pics are me and T. at the mission president's devotional!! :) It was so awesome to see him!!!

 

 

July 14 2014

Dear Family,

I'm sad I didn't get an email this week! But it's all good, because I got the letters and the package, and the kefir, which has ended up delicious :) Thank you soooo much! The happiest thing for me was reading I think it was Adam?'s letter. He wrote that he was grateful for the gospel because he was getting sealed :) I am sooooo excited for you!!! I can't wait to hear how everything went :)

Thanks so much for joining in on J's skype, Mommy! Sorry it didn't work out... but that was so awesome :) We'll definitely have to do it in the future! Sorry if I seemed kind of cold or not gushy. I try to stay focused on the work, and skyping home is a big no no unless it's involving missionary work :) So I just wanted to keep it focused. But I loved seeing Grandma and Randi too :) So don't worry, I do miss you guys, and when I see you and it's okay to talk to you I will gush forever about how much I love our family, ect, haha. Just not in skype for lessons :) I hope your week has been awesome! I can't wait to hear about it!

This week has been a great one! Probably one of the hardest days and also the happiest days of my mission have been in this past week. I've learned a lesson that has changed me and my life forever, and we have had some amazing miracles happen.

First off was finding P. :) We went to knock a less active's door, and we didn't know it, but we turned down the wrong street. So we knocked on the door we thought was his, but P. answered! She told us he didn't live there, but said we could come in to share a message!! Which is HUGE here! So we went in, started talking with her, and it turns out her son is friends with a less active Mormon guy. She told us that she had wondered why he wasn't going on a mission, because he's our age, and she told us to get on him so he would go. Turns out she's grown up catholic, but has been studying different Christian religions for the past few years. So she is really really open! We talked with her about the BOM and the church, and invited her to come! She said she would come next Sunday when she's back from vacation!! It was so amazing! She is so open and seems so ready, and it's a miracle because we would have never found her if we hadn't "accidentally" turned down that wrong street, because we don't tract. So that was super cool. 

We also had a miracle referral. Sis A has been feeling prompted to talk with this family and ask them for a referral, but they've been out of town. So one day we just texted them and asked if they knew anyone. They texted back and said they would have a name and address for us by the end of the afternoon :) Turns out that their friend has a daughter on a mission! The daughter has been nagging her parents to send the missionaries to her nonmember grandparents, but they didn't because they thought they wouldn't be interested. Well, a few weeks later, the nonmember grandparents called their daughter - the girls parents - and asked if they could send the missionaries over, to get to know them and for dinner! How cool is that??? So we're waiting for their phone call, but that's been a miracle!

We also had an amazing lesson with a member whose been struggling with difficult trials. We sang her a hymn, and there were tears streaming down her face, and the Spirit was so strong. We went to see her because her visiting teacher had a prompting to go by. It was incredible to see how the Lord has guided us this past week, to find those who are open and to uplift those who needed the Spirit. It was incredible. 

We also had J's baptism this week!!!! Oh, it was the happiest day of my life!! We drove all the way to Maryvale, and it was so good to see that good old crazy city, haha.I loved it sooo much. K was there, she was home from Hawaii, and it was crazy because I thought we were going to be late. But we were on the freeway, and traffic was getting backed up, so I felt prompted to tell our member to take us off on the next exit. So we did, and as we drove off, we realized the police had shut the entire freeway down. Luckily we had gotten off so we could keep driving! Then I felt prompted to go down a certain road on the way to the church, and then realized that I was almost heading to the wrong church - but the right church building, where the baptism was going to be, was on the road I had told her to drive down! Isn't that amazing?? So we pulled up just in time, as everyone was taking pictures outside. So we got pictures, and it was so, so, so happy :) Sister D and I spoke, and J was baptized! It was cute because one of the members in Maryvale grabbed my hand and pulled me up to sit on the ground to watch, like the little kids do. Sister D came and joined us, so the three of us were sitting cross legged on the floor watching J be baptized. It was so neat :) The Spirit was so strong! I just love them so much! Ahhh, it was the happiest day of my mission, I think. Just those loving happy reunions, and seeing J be baptized. It was incredible :) It's funny too, because did I tell you that Sis D got sent to my old ward in Maricopa? So she's in my old area! Haha, so she's met T and L, and the lady who drove them to the baptism was a good friend to us too, and was an awesome ward missionary there :) It was an awesome reunion.

The greatest miracle this week has been what I learned. I wrote it to President T, so I just copied and pasted it so I wouldn't have to write it out again :) It's amazing... he told me in an email today that it's a miracle that I was sent to Chandler. I actually wasn't assigned to be here until the very last minute. So hopefully he's going to tell me more about what happened in interviews on Thursday. So this is what I wrote him.

"It's incredible when you look at a miracle, how many other miracles are tied into it. I think it was a miracle that I was sent here to Chandler. I am excited to hear about what happened during transfers, hopefully during interviews on Thursday. It amazes me the things that we learn and the experiences the Lord knows we need to have. I have learned the most powerful lesson this week. It's literally something that has changed the course and quality of my life, and will affect it forever.

First off, it was so odd that Sister L and I got put in the same house again. Those first two weeks in Mesa were hard.  Luckily the past weeks in Chandler have been okay, other than sometimes people do get angry about little things, which can be frustrating. But overall, it's been fine. 

Well, this past week Sis A and I had a really long companionship inventory. We had some personality differences. But we talked about it, and really, I knew it wasn't her problem. It was mine. I have been too critical of her.

Looking back, I realized I have been too critical of others for my entire life. I received this spiritual revelation that has changed my heart and impacted my life forever.  I've realized that I need to view others weaknesses with mercy. It's good to want to be the best missionary you can be, and to be exactly obedient, and strive for perfection. But everybody is going to have weaknesses and make mistakes. We have to learn to deal with those weaknesses in a way that will build others up, and not tear them down.  Even though I was trying to make things better, it was making things worse.

Yesterday at church the sentence that kept going through my head was from the last general conference - how The Lord sees weakness differently than He does rebellion. He always views weakness with mercy. President, I've realized that I need to be merciful with other people's weaknesses. I have been such a harsh judge sometimes, to my companions and my parents in the past, and I feel terrible about it. I know it had a negative impact on them. I am so grateful that The Lord has taught me this lesson.

Since thinking of this, I honestly can't stop thinking about it. I've thought about the Savior, and how kindly he treated the woman who committed adultery, when all the others were so harsh on her. I thought of how merciful and loving He was whenever people made mistakes, but they sincerely wanted to do good. He always built them up and helped them be better, and didn't judge them harshly or treat them badly.

Since I've realized this my heart and my attitude has been changing. I have found myself having so much more mercy with other's weaknesses. When somebody annoys me or offends me, I realize that it's their weakness that their struggling with, just as I struggle with mine. Since I've started remembering this, Sister A and I have been so happy! I think the past two days have been some of the happiest of my whole mission. We've been able to work hard, continue to do our best to be exactly obedient, and be so happy and relaxed - not stressed out - while doing so. It has been amazing. It's made all the difference. I know learning that lesson has changed my life. I can't imagine being married or having children without realizing that you need to be merciful and loving with them and their weaknesses... And that The Lord doesn't expect perfection now, but He does expect improvement. Which means we shouldn't expect perfection from other people, but we can expect improvement, and help them improve by building them up, loving them, and having mercy.

I am so, so grateful that I've learned this lesson. I think learning it has also helped me realize that I can be more merciful with myself in my weaknesses as well. Sometimes we are our worst critics.

I honestly feel like a burden has been lifted off of me. I feel so much less stress in my life, and so much more happiness. It's so much easier to love my companion, and we have fun together and work together! It's the best!

The other miracle happened this morning. I was mopping the floor, and Sister L started talking to me. Since I've moved in, we've hardly spoken to each other. But she started a nice conversation, and it developed into her sincerely apologizing for the rough start in Mesa. She said that she felt forgiven by God, and felt forgiven 95%, but needed the last 5% of forgiveness from me to be free from it. I freely forgave her and gave her a huge hug, and I felt so much love for her.

President, thank you so much for sending me here. This lesson is something that I know the Lord wanted me to learn. I'm going to be such a better person because of this experience. It's something I'll never forget. 

I'll continue working hard. The work is off to a slow start, but we're going to work hard and see more miracles. I hope with our work and diligence we can see miracles in the lives of those we teach. But I know I have definitely seen miracles in my personal growth from serving here.

Thank you for everything, President T. I love being a missionary! And I love my fellow missionaries. I am just so grateful for them. And I'm grateful for the Savior, and how He teaches us when we are ready, and can transform us into better people."

Isn't that an amazing miracle? It's something that has profoundly changed my heart and how I view and see others. I love the Savior, and I am so, so grateful He taught me this. I know He lives and that He sent me here to learn that lesson. I know it's going to impact my life and the life of my family now, and my future family, forever :)

I love you guys so much. Missions are the best experiences I could ever, ever encourage you to have. I know without a shadow of a doubt that this is the Lord's work, and that this is the best thing to be a part of.. bringing souls unto Him. 

I love you guys :)

 

love,

Sister Morris

 

Photos from Jackie's baptism

 

 

 

Mas fotos from the visitors center, and the Christus.

 

 

 

 

 

Pics of Mesa temple :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

G. L. & Sis R & us!

 

 

 

 

 

Crazy cool rain in the distance

 

 

 

 

Sis A. and I at the Mesa temple :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's Hot!!!