love, serve, teach

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for the package and everything!!! I was SO happy when I opened it. I absolutely loved everyone's letters... Isaac's about efy, Jacob's funny pictures, Adam and Peter's cute letters, and just hearing from everyone made my whole day. Thank you so much for sending pictures from the sealing! I have my favorites hanging up on my picture wall now :) It made me so happy to see everyone, and hear from you all. It is the best feeling in the world to come home from a hard working, sometimes discouraging day, and to have a package filled with love and this whole giant family cheering you on. Thanks so much for that :)

That sounds so crazy with all the sheep! Sounds like you'll be eating mutton for a loooong time, haha....

Yeah, I noticed that about my blog too! I'm not sure why it isn't showing on my page... I didn't do anything to change it... that I know of, haha... so yeah, I think it's fine if you keep doing it that way. :) 

 

I'm so excited about E!! Honestly, he is like a beacon of light right now. It is the happiest feeling in the world, teaching someone who is so prepared and so sincere in searching for truth :) He is so amazing! And you guys are so amazing for helping him out!  We can definitely keep teaching him until he starts the lessons consistently with the missionaries where  he lives. That would be awesome! :D

Where are you and Dad going out of town? That sounds fun! I'm glad things are well at home. I love that you and Hannah listen to Les Mis, and it cheers you up. :) That is so awesome!

Well, this past week has been crazy! I was soo nervous to take over the area... it's silly, because lots of missionaries take over their area right when their done training. But I've always whitewashed out... so that was scary. But it went really well :) I missed Sister A!  She is an amazing person, and I learned sooo much from her - way more then I have from my other companions, in some ways. I know I've become more patient and loving because of my time with Sister A, and it's neat to see those changes... even if their so gradual. 

My new companion is so cute! She has the happiest smile I've ever seen, is super enthusiastic, very bright, and reminds me a little bit of Hannah. She is so cute! She's also super obedient and wants to work. She makes me laugh... haha every morning we say recitations, like our purpose, D&C 4, the standard of truth, different scriptures, etc, that we memorize. Well when she reads she talks in this voice that sounds like it could be an announcer in the temple videos or something... just loud and melodic and dramatic, haha. Like those spiritual voices in the temple visitors center or something. So she recites in that reading voice, and while she was doing it, she was doing these yoga moves, like stretching her legs with her arms sticking straight out... haha it was so funny!! She is a unique girl, and she's so much fun. I just love her :) So it's going to be an awesome transfer!

We had some great lessons this week. We still don't have anybody progressing, but we had a cool lesson with B! So we were knocking on his door inviting him to this fireside we're having, and nobody was answering... and then he drove up in his car, and he called us over, and he was listening to the Book of Mormon CD's we gave him!! How funny is that?? He had a ton of questions about Lehi and Nephi, and about the plates, and also who the great and abominable church is, and how Satan has influenced different churches... it was so cool! So he's interested, and he wants to learn more! It's funny, because when we first met him he said he would try to convert us too... so he also gave us a copy of this novel someone wrote, who basically rewrote the Bible in a novel form, using passages from the NIV version. Soooo yeah haha. But it's really cool to see his interest growing :) He also told us he was curious for two different reasons - one, because we're so happy, and two, because our church is growing so fast. So it's super cool to see his interest grow and the gradual progress he's making!!!

We also had an AMAZING lesson with R! It was such a crazy lesson.... we talked with him about the nature of God. He believes God is in everything, is in us, is in the trees, in nature, etc.. So he believes like when we die, we will kind of dissolve to become part of God again. But it was really cool, because we talked with him about how God is our father, and has a glorified, exalted, perfect body. He had a difficult time, because he feels like calling God our Father is somehow bringing Him lower than He is, and would be limiting God. But it was so cool because Sister W asked him "Do you think saying God is not your father would be limiting Him?" That question really made him stop and ponder, and it was so cool because we could see him come to the conclusion himself that he couldn't assume God was not our father, and he became more open to it. He committed to pray to God like He is his Father, which is something he hasn't done - he usually prays by saying a few heartfelt sentences, and then saying Amen. No Dear Heavenly Father or in the name of Jesus Christ or anything. So hopefully he can gain a testimony of God being our loving Heavenly Father and His love for us. It's hard to describe, but it was neat because many of the beliefs he has are in line with ours, he just has a different name for them. He's been reading from the Book of Mormon too, so that's exciting! So yeah, he's going to be a tough cookie haha, but he's slowly progressing. He told us the greatness of the teacher is in helping the student learn for themselves and keep them interested, and he said that we're doing that... so yay! Hopefully things keep moving along with him :)

We also had a really cool lesson with a new family! C and her son B. It was sooo cool.... they are so open. It was Sis W's first night here and they opened the door for the first time! We've literally tried them like 10 times and they've never answered. So they answered, and we had a nice conversation, and the member we brought was perfect for them... we asked them about their religious background and their relationship with God. It was amazing because C talked about how  God has helped her through so many trials. We felt really prompted to share with them the "Mountains to Climb" video (if you haven't seen it, go watch it now!). We showed it to them, and asked afterwards what thoughts or feelings they had. The Spirit was soooo strong... B, her teenage son, talked about how he related with each person, because when he was young his dad died, and he saw his Mom go through many hard times as she tried to raise her kids, and he turned to sports to distract him or help him with the things he was going through. And C.. wow. She told us how God has helped her, and she started crying and said she felt guilty because she only prays when something is going wrong, and she knows it shouldn't be like that. So she wants to make a bigger priority of going to church and making God a bigger part of her life. It was so amazing. They said they would be open to coming to church, so hopefully they do :)

Other then that, the work has been really slow haha... it's so sad! We get rejected sooo much. Last night, it was funny, an AMAZING member named Sis S came out with us. Well, there was an ENORMOUS rainstorm!! It rained sooo hard and was super windy for an hour or so! But we knocked on like 30 doors of potential investigators and less actives, and literally nobody let us in... haha we were all soaked to the bone. It was crazy! But we had alot of fun :) It was kind of depressing, but it feels good to be working hard and doing our best, even when people don't accept us or accept our message. So with that perspective, it was pretty awesome :D 

Other then that, things are going well. We also put together a cool fireside! It's going to be at the retirement community in our area - our area is literally one square mile of retirement communities, one mile of county land/farmers, and one mile of super wealthy people - and so two recent converts, B - he's AMAZING. He was baptized within two weeks, just went to Nauvoo, and is soooo strong!!! - he is a retired cop from Chicago. And then Bro. D, also a recent convert, is an ex-hells angel motorcyle gangster. So they're friends, and they'll be speaking. All the empty nesters in our ward are going, and hopefully P (even though she's in a different ward now) will be coming too, and B. And I think a few of them are bringing their friends! So that's exciting!

Well, that's pretty much all going on here. Missions are crazy. Yesterday at church a girl came home from Argentina... it was so amazing. I just cried in her talk, because she talked about how hard it was, but how she doesn't even remember the hard times because of the joy she feels and the love she has for the people she's met. I completely, completely related to that. :) 

How are things going with the college apps? Sorry if it's stressful haha. I just found out K - the girl that was baptized in Phoenix, the golden one haha - is transferring to BYU-I next fall!!! And so is Sister D, my AWESOME comp when we taught her.... so they all want to room together. It's soooo tempting haha! I'm definitely going to have to pray about everything. I feel at a loss of what to do. But I'm sure in time I'll know what to do.

Well, love you guys! I miss you all, a ton! I can't wait to see you again... halfway there... but please pray for us, especially in finding people to teach. :) I was also so excited to hear about the wedding stuff! Dexter's comment "anything for my dumplin" on facebook made me laugh soooooo hard.... did he really type that?? is that my brother?? hahaha... so funny! I would love to see a pic of her dress :) And that's so awesome Dexter has been reading too and has such a strong testimony :) I love our family!

Love you guys!!!

love,

Sister Whitney Morris


Goofy elders returning my iPad

cool furniture a member paints and a bark scorpion