2-23-2015

Dear Family,

Thanks for the emails!! And YAY!!! I got accepted into George Mason!!! :D I also got an email that I was accepted into BYU-Idaho, we're just waiting on BYU and the art program now. I am so grateful to have so many options. Thank you SO much for all the work you did to get those applications finished and everything! I'm so excited too! :) And kind of scared, haha! 

I hope Dad's interview went well! It's so crazy to see the pictures of the freezing weather... brr! I'm so proud of Dexter! It sounds like he's working so hard.  It was really awesome to hear about the lady that got baptized, and confirmed on that freezing Sunday. That sounds like a really amazing experience. :) I love hearing about Isaac and Jacob and Adam and Peter and all their goofy  jokes, haha. Hannah's hair has gotten so long! She looks beautiful! That's so awesome Jacob gave a Book of Mormon to his friend, too!! Has he ever invited him to church or anything? :)

So as for us, we have had an INCREDIBLE week. I honestly feel so humbled, because we have been blessed with so much success this week! It has been incredible!

So first of all, thanks so much for asking about R! He is an amazing man. We taught him this week, and he was smoking marijuana. And he still has some things he needs to work through... so we're pushing his baptism off for now. He's still reading the Book of Mormon though, and he remembers so much of it, and knows that it's true. He's been out of town all weekend, and he just got a job where he'll be gone every weekend for a while. So his progression has kind of stopped for now. :P But thank you so much for praying for him. We'll let you know how he's doing as time goes on.

We had a really fun p day last week! Our district got together and made pizzas :) Elder J, my DL, is from UT, and he worked at papa murphys too! So we had fun making pizzas and talking about the different kinds we used to make. It was really fun to spend time with the district! Today we are having a BBQ as a zone for p day. I'm really excited. :)

We have quite a few really solid people we're teaching. First of all, S is doing amazing! We taught her about the BOM this week, and then she came to a baptism. A whole family got baptized that the elders were teaching. She came, and she was just so happy, she was just crying. Afterwards we had a little lesson with her, and she had a hard time focusing because she kept saying "I'm sorry sisters, I'm still back at the baptism! It was so wonderful!" She is looking forward to her baptism - she is so excited!! And she wants to move it sooner! She has felt the Spirit so strongly and just knows it's true. I have loved teaching her so much. She is the cutest lady! She's probably about 55, and her husband passed away a year ago. She lives across the street from our boundaries, we were just teaching her because her member family lives in our ward so we taught her at their house. But this Sunday we passed her off to her new ward, her family went with her to her actual ward, and it sounds like she had an awesome experience - commenting in class and making friends. I'm so happy for her. :) It is the greatest thing in the world, to see the change and the light that comes into people when they accept the gospel, and discover it for themselves. She is so happy!!! She'll probably be baptized on March 7th, and we'll be able to go. :) 

We also saw D this week!! He's S and R's friend's son. We had the most powerful and heartbreaking lesson with him. He told us about his home situation, and it was the saddest thing I have ever, ever heard. It was so, so sad. His mom's boyfriend is extremely abusive, and the cops and CPS don't do anything to help them. The boyfriend just runs away when the police come, and then his mom just lets the boyfriend come right back. It was so, so heartbreaking to hear his experiences. I can't even describe it. Because D is SUCH an incredible kid!!! He loves reading, he loves books. He is so smart. But because of his family circumstances, he's had a really rough start in life. But he wants to build a better life for himself. He told us that when he's at home, his escape is putting in his headphones and reading the Book of Mormon. He reads it to his little siblings when they get scared. And he also told us that ever since he came to church, he's made changes in his life - he stopped stealing, he stopped drinking, and he's working on quitting smoking. He's down to half as many as he used to use! It's incredible!!! We didn't even invite him to do those things yet, he wants to change and embrace the gospel all on his own. He is such an incredible kid. He's about 17. He's hoping to move out on his own, and start putting his life together. He considers himself a member and wants to be baptized, but the only time we can see him is when he visits S and R on the weekends. He doesn't want missionaries to come to his house because it's so bad there, and his parents would just chase them off. It is so, so heartbreaking, but it also amazes me how incredible D is. I'm seriously going to pray for him probably every day for the rest of my life. I just want him to be happy and to have the gospel, and build a good life for himself. He is such an incredible young man, and he is also so golden. He loves the gospel, he loves the Book of Mormon, and he wants to do what's right! He is such a powerful example to me. It makes me want to grow up and do something to help people - to help youth like him.

We have also been teaching a man named W. He is so awesome!! He's probably about 50 too. His son came home from a mission in Peru. W has been in and out of jail, but he sees the light and happiness in his son's face, and in members, and he wants to change so he can have that. It amazes me how dedicated he is in wanting to have the gospel in his life. We taught him about the Book of Mormon this week, and he told us that he has such a hard time reading, but he said that he was going to give the Book of Mormon everything he had. It just makes me want to cry thinking about it, because he has that pure, simple desire to follow Christ, and he's willing to do anything to have that, even with the challenges he faces. He came to church this Sunday, so that was awesome. :)

I love the people here so much!! I love, love, love South Phoenix. I love W, D, S, Y, R.... I love being a missionary. We're teaching a young woman named Y too, and she is so fun! Her stepmom is super less active. Y wants to be baptized, she comes to church and mutual every week. We found her about a month or so ago. But she just has to ask her mom and dad for permission. So hopefully that will work out! S is getting baptized on March 7th, and W is getting baptized on March 28th. (my birthday!!! :) ) N J is also doing well! She is a funny one haha. She may or may not be slightly crazy, bless her heart. The Bishop was a little worried about her being baptized, because she came in for welfare (which in itself isn't a problem - in this area that's a ton of people) but he was just a little worried about her sincerity. But Bro T, his counselor who I LOVE, him and his wife are so awesome haha, told us that if she's reading and praying, and she has a testimony, then it's okay for her to be baptized. We're just really working with the Bishop and him to make sure we work in unity with the ward. N is a character, but we do believe she is sincere. She's been reading the Book of Mormon - she's in chapter 20, she's read almost the entire gospel principles book, and she told us she wants to be baptized to be cleansed from her sins. She also understands the apostasy and restoration SUPER well. She also keeps asking us, sisters, when am I getting baptized??? She really, really wants it! So she will probably be baptized on March 7th as well. We'll talk with the Bishop to make sure he feels good about it, but we think everything will go okay! We also had to help her quit smoking. The mission has this program we use, where they go through a series of steps and drink grapefruit juice and stuff, and we got her the supplies and everything on Wednesday. She's quit smoking and didn't have a cigarette since then, as of Sunday! So we figure if she is overcoming that addiction to be baptized, she must be pretty sincere. Because that is a tough thing to overcome, it takes alot of sacrifice and will power. It really is a test of faith I think, and it shows she's willing to live the commandments. So, yeah! That is N J! I wish you could meet her, haha. I really love her. :) She also has a heartbreaking story. She grew up in the ghettos in south phoenix and didn't really have a childhood. We've heard alot of really heavy stories this week. I'm so grateful for the gospel, and how it can help people change and heal. 

We had the funniest moments this week!! HAha oh man! So every Wednesday we have dinner with Bishop A and Sis A and the elders. So Elder J sends out a text to his investigators every day. Well, this week he accidentally sent it to bishop. At dinner, Bishop said "Elder, I didn't get the scripture you sent..." Elder J said "It's one of my favorites! It totally talks about how we feel the Spirit." Bishop just said, Huh? I don't understand. And Elder J said, okay, I'll share it as the spiritual thought! So at the end of dinner, Elder J asked Bishop, Bishop, will you read the scripture I sent you? And Bishop pulled it out, started reading it, and it said.... (John 4:18)

 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

Hahaha, isn't that hilarious?!? We laughed so hard!!! No wonder Bishop was so confused! Hahaha, it was soooo funny. Turns out Elder J meant John 18:4 or something like that. It was hilarious :D

We also got to make papoosas this week! Sister S always has us for lunch on Tuesdays. This week she had us make papoosas. Basically you take this cornmeal dough, roll it in a ball, make a hole, put in meat, roll it in a ball again, make another hole, put in cheese, make it in a ball again, ect. until all the ingredients you want are in there. They are so delicious!!! Elder M, Elder J's companion, comes from a spanish speaking home and ward, so he taught us all how to make them. It was really fun! Sister S and I are also having so much fun! I feel like I've finally learned how to laugh this transfer. :) She described it perfectly - my whole mission I feel like i've been wound up really tight, like a coil of wire. I feel like I'm finally learning how to loosen up, and still be obedient and work hard, but also have fun and enjoy the journey. It's been such a huge blessing, and really it's been the best transfer of my mission! We have had SO many incredible experiences, so many incredible people who I love with all my heart, I love this gospel and this work with all my heart, and we have fun while doing it! We have a chihuahua challenge, where we take pictures of every chihuahua we see when we're walking around hahahha. That has been fun :D And we've also been doing the gallon challenge! Drink one gallon of water every day! I feel so healthy and my skin is clearing up! So that's been awesome, too!!

It's been such a fantastic week. I LOVE  my mission. I love this area, and I love my companion. I couldn't be happier. I love the people. And I love this gospel. I know it's true, with all my heart. Oh, other miracle - we taught C - the kid in Scotland -about the Word of wisdom and invited him to live it for a day! He did!!! And he told us he's been having dreams about becoming a member. We told him oh cool! How do you feel about that?? And he said, well, if it's the Lord's path for me, I want to join! So he is considering being baptized!! We testified to him and had the most powerful lesson, and he wants to go to church next Sunday!! He and T have also started meeting with missionaries where they live :D Yay!!!! The work is definitely hastening!!! We are so blessed!!!

Well I love this gospel! I love you guys!!! :) Have an awesome week!! And I'll be praying for everyone!

love you!

2-16-2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Family,

 

Thanks for the emails!! :)  I'm so proud of  Dexter!! He is such a hard worker. It was really sad to hear about Isaac's situation. :( Gosh, I know how he feels! I'll never forget when my best friend kissed the guy I was head over heels for for over a year. I hope he always remembers that somewhere out there is an INCREDIBLE gorgeous loyal spiritual babe waiting for him... Haha, but he can just forget about that for now, because missions are way better anyways ;) That's so crazy it's snowing there right now!! Here in Arizona it's literally like 75 degrees right now... We are sitting in our car, windows down, enjoying the breeze and sunny day and it's a little hot haha. All the libraries are closed so we have to email on our iPads today :)

I loved seeing the pictures of the new pig!! Haha it looks so funny! Oh, and we got our mail key, and I got the valentines package!! Thank you so much!! The treats and everything were delicious :) 

Thanks so much for workings the art portfolio and application!! I really appreciate it sooo much. :) I'm so excited to see what happens. I also loved hearing about dads experiences with the missionaries in his email. I'm glad you all have such awesome sisters and elders in the ward! 

As for us, this week has been a great one! So much has happened! I don't even know where to start. We found a few people who want to start preparing for baptism. One is named R. He is soo cool! He's a young dad, divorced, who has a rough past but wants to change his life. He's been reading the BOM and is in alma already! We taught him the restoration, and it was really powerful. He talks a lot, so we mainly asked him the baptismal interview questions, and focused on the restoration of the gospel and the priesthood through the prophet joseph smith. It was so powerful! People say the most amazing things, often I wished I had a little pocket recorder so I could remember everything they say. He wants to be baptized, but he needs to quit smoking first. If you could pray for him, that would be awesome! He is aiming for March 7th, we'll see what happens though! He was really excited to pick a date to prepare for. It's been so powerful to see him gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. He seems really solid, but he also needs to come to church.... I think that's the hardest commitment for people to keep sometimes.

We also taught a lady named S who is SO prepared!! She is the lady whose our members daughters mother in law, who we had dinner with. She called the member, asked to meet with us, and we also taught her the restoration this week! It was soooo powerful!!! Sister S and I have been doing role plays where we teach the entire lesson is less then 60 seconds. It's helped us become much more simple, powerful teachers. The spirit was in the lesson so strongly.... She seemed to understand it, and at the end when we invited her to be baptized, it was so powerful! We asked, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the authority from God?" She got this amazing look on her face and said "Yes". The spirit was SOOO strong, and we asked "S, how do you feel right now?" Her face was just lit up and she simply said "warm." It was so powerful!! It was such an amazing lesson!  So she is also preparing for baptism, in May so her son can be there. We just need to help her transition to her ward in Tempe now. We just taught her because her member family invited her to their house to have the discussions. It was sooo powerful :)

We went on exchanges this week and that was super fun!! I LOVE Sister C, she is so funny!! And she is such a powerful missionary. We taught the funniest man in the morning... His name was R. He's an old Native American man. So he started by telling us about his book he's writing... Haha it was really... Gruesome. Apparently it's about these Indian women who sold themselves to the conquistadors, and the conquistadors killed them, so then the tribes came and killed the conquistadors and hid them in the mtns, and hundreds of years later some medicine men went into the mtns to get evil away from it and they disappeared and were never found again. At first I thought he was telling a true story, and then I realized he was talking about his book haha. He talked so much! But we started teaching him about the Book of Mormon. And that was sooo powerful!! We taught him that Christ came to the Americas, and that he healed and visited the people here, and his face was completely enraptured. He said "of all the things we talk about today, that's what I'm going to remember. I want to study more about this." It was sooo cool! And very powerful! The Spirit was so strong. Then sister C asked him when he felt gods love. He started telling this sweet experience he had, where his mom had taught him to be kind with animals, and what a huge impact that lecture on kindness made in his life. It was the sweetest story, and all our hearts were kind of warm and fuzzy, you know. And then he said "aha! That's how I'll start my book!" We were thinking the sweet story, and we all said, oooh, that would be sweet!" And then he said, "yeah! The saintly, kind woman, killed by the conquistadors! That would be the perfect contrast between good and evil!" Hahaha it was soooo funny!! We all almost started laughing, but we kept it in hahaha. It was so funny.... Oh, R. He is a funny one! But we are excited for him to read the BOM! :) 

It was so funny, we went with this awesome member who is type 1 diabetic, the oldest of 9 kids, and her birthday is in March! Needless to say, we got a good laugh about how we might as well be twins! She took us to smashburger and they had such delicious burgers.... Big juicy burger with guacamole and tomatoes and apple smoked bacon. It was so delicious :) haha. It was a fun day! We taught some good lessons. We also stopped a street vendor, and I ate one of the mangoes they sell!! Oh my goodness, they are the most delicious things!! They take a mango, peel it real expertly with a potato peeler, put it on a stick, spray it with lemon juice, slice it into what looks like a flower, and then drizzle chili syrup on it, all within 2 minutes. It is SO delicious!! :) 

The theme of this week seemed to be street contacting... We literally try and talk with everyone we see! We have had so many funny and cool experiences! We were in some apts and one persons glass door was open, so sister s called out to them, they came outside, and we invited them to the easter pageant haha. Another time we taught a young man covered in tattoos, smoking marijuana, but he really liked talking with us and wanted to read the Book of Mormon. And then we talked with a lady yesterday who was just a little crazy haha, she kept saying she knew us and didnt really make sense in what she was saying. But it's okay, because we invited her to the Easter pageant anyways :) 

N J is also doing great! It was weird, we got to her appt early, and we got there and she said she had been waiting for us for hours, and that she was going to bed.... So we rescheduled. But she came to church again Sunday, we dropped by her house beforehand to remind her, and she came! She got a brand new quad and she LOVES it. She was waiting to meet with the bishop, and she asked for stuff to read, so we gave her the lesson pamphlets. She read through all of them! She said she had been on date for baptism before, but she hadn't understood why she needed to be baptized again. But she read the pamphlet, and said it answered her question - that there was an apostasy, and all the different churches formed, and she needed to be baptized in the right one. It was so cool! She is definitely a character. She has been through sooo much in her life, it is heartbreaking. But she really wants to be baptized. So we'll be teaching her on Tuesday :)

 

That's all the highlights this week, basically! We also had zone mtg, and I trained on preparing for lessons in our studies. It was SO POWERFUL. I love the Book of Mormon, and I love this gospel, so much! I gave away my BOM I've been using on my mission to a less active man we are teaching. It was really hard, but I felt strongly prompted to, because he said he didn't have one... And his old one had his missionary's notes and things inside of it. So I gave him mine. Now I'm working on the 90 day challenge again, to read the BOM in 90 days, and it has been so, so powerful. I love the scriptures! And there was this cool parable that we used in our trainings, as well as a parable of Star Wars that the zone leaders wrote for their training haha. It was so fun! :)

Guys, I LOVE my mission. I know everything we teach is true. I know that the savior helps us become better people. I think I've made a lot of progress in becoming more patient this week. I love my companion, and I know when things get hard we can always work it out. I know the lord knows us perfectly, and that he answers our prayers.

I love you guys! Also, do you get the pics my camera sends? Hopefully you get them ok. My camera connects to wifi so it emails them to my email when it connects. It should send them to you today, too!

I love you guys! Oh, and happy birthday George Washington!!!! :)

Love,

Sister Whitney Morris

I always love your letters, and I think your incredible. :) I love you!

A girl named Y we are teaching, who came to FHE :) This is what happened when she took my iPad haha...

My camera connects to wifi... A member in our ward set it up so it should email pics to you, hopefully? Let me know if you don't get them today!

 

 

2-9-2015

 

Dear Family,

 

Thanks so much for the emails!! Mommy,  I loved the patience meme you sent me, hahaha! That was hilarious. It reminded me of the Christlike attributes chapter in PMG, and also just conference talks I've read, where they talked about how the only way to develop Christlike attributes is through prayer, they are a gift from God, and also just practicing it - one moment, one scenario at a time. It's so hard, but I'm so grateful for the Savior who helps us! The farm pics you sent were sooo hilarious!! I have never seen so many weirdly haired animals in my life, hahaha, especially the pig. Is that even real? Hilarious... I loved the painting you painted for Hannah for valentines day. That was so pretty, and whimsical. :) I loved the cute little decorations too! The sheep were so hilarious, and so cute! So many fun projects at home! 

It was so sad to hear about Peter's fever!! I really hope he's doing okay! Poor guy! I'll pray that he feels better. I haven't gotten the valentines day package yet... hopefully you sent it to the mission home? If not, I might not get it haha. Sadly we lost our mail key a while ago.... so we don't get any mail at the phoenix address anymore. I think it's great Dexter and Britt are getting married soon! I think it will be really good for them. I am sad I won't be there, but I am so happy and excited for them. :) For the Christlike attributes chapter, I'm sorry you felt guilty after reading it! Believe me, I do too! Haha, it is a good wake up call. In church they talked about the same thing. One speaker talked about how he thought he was a pretty nice person, until he got married. Exactly how I feel about my mission!  I truly want to become more like Christ. It is a sign of spiritual strength to be patient and long suffering. Sister Stratford said something really cool the other day - in Moroni 10 it talks about coming to Christ and being perfected in Him. She thought it was cool that if we follow Christ, eventually He promises that we will overcome our weaknesses. When we follow Him, it's not a matter of if we will, it's a matter of when we will. I really, really liked that. I find so much hope and faith and strength in our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well, as for me, it's been a pretty good week! A little harder in some ways, and pretty incredible in others. Hopefully you got my letter that said I bought a camera? So you don't go buy me one when Dad gets a job again. :) On Monday we had FHE at the G's house, and a young man named D came! He's living with S and R, and came to church with them! He kind of bore a testimony (we had a testimony meeting around the fire) and talked about how we invited him to church, and he came, and he loved it! It was so funny because we worked SO HARD to get our investigators there, and none of them came. But we offhandedly invited him when we dropped by S and R, and he's the only person who came! It goes to show that people really do make our own choices. No matter how much we teach, testify, and invite, they can only become converted and taste the sweetness of the gospel if they are willing to act on it for themselves, like D was. That was pretty cool!

Tuesday was great too. We had an awesome district mtg. Sister R gave an awesome training comparing the plan of salvation to missionary life. The stages are pre mission life, being set apart (born), mission life (earth life), exit interview and high counsel report (judgement and resurrection), and post mission life degrees of being a member/missionary (the kingdoms). It was a really powerful training! And then the zone leaders gave awesome trainings about setting goals and making plans, especially to improve personally and as missionaries. It helped me so much!! I just gave a little training on setting a vision for yourself. It's a really cool vision activity from a fellow missionary, I'll have to send it home sometime. It was really powerful! I feel so happy and so grateful, because I feel like this transfer I am finally beginning to become the missionary and person I wanted to be. I am getting better at being patient. I am becoming a better teacher. All this because I've set those specific goals, and specific ways I'll achieve those goals. It has helped soooo much. I really wish I had another year on my mission, so I could continue learning and growing. I feel like my growth is finally accelarating a little bit. :) Just a tiny bit haha. I am committed to making the best of what time I have left! I love my mission so much!

 

It was kind of a harder week because we had a doc appt and lots of meetings. It's in Mesa, so it's a long drive, but it's alright.

C met with missionaries in Scotland!! That was super cool! Before he said he would never meet with them! Well, they came and gave him a BOM, and he talked with them because they were super nice! :D He really enjoyed it, and he wants to go to church!! That was super exciting!! We also had a Skype lesson with I, which was way cool! We found out he's 30, so he's actually not ysa age.... but he is super interested in the gospel! It was funny, we taught him about prayer, and he was speaking english with this thick romanian accent. He lives by a castle, and he showed us some of his clocks that are over 150 yrs old and also his weight lifting medals! Turns out ten years ago he was one of the top 15 strongest men in the world! Haha, so random! But he is really looking forward to learning about the gospel and going to church!! That was really cool. :) We had MLC on Thursday, and that was AMAZING, as always. Gosh, I love my mission. I love President T and our fellow missionaries. It's amazing - everything they trained on was something I've been studying about or working on the past week or so. It was incredible! Pres T told us some really cool stories. I wish I had time to write them!!! So many miracles are happening in the work!!! I know without a doubt God's hand directs this work. We saw His hand everywhere! We recieved some incredible training on becoming an "impact teacher", and helping our investigators have testimonies sink deep into their hearts. It was so powerful. He also talked about ipads. You probably know this already, but all the missionaries who have ipads after Aug 25th or so have to pay for their own. I won't have to pay for mine. But it was really cool to recieve that training about it. As leaders, we have to do ipad checks. It's been really, really sad how some missionaries abuse having that priviledge. But it's incredible also to see how the ipad and online proselyting has brought about so many miracles. Pres talked about how he has a love hate relationship with them - sometimes he LOVES them, other times when he's in interviews with missionaries who maybe are struggling with addictions, he wishes he could throw them out in the middle of the desert forever. It's been so powerful to see how the Lord is training us to use this technology, and how learning how to use self control and use it properly - for good - will bless us and our families forever. 

We had some really funny moments this week! So one day we had about 5 min before dinner started. We decided to try calling some potential investigators in our areabook that we had never met before! So Sis S called one, and this is basically how the conversation went:

Sis S "Hey C! How are you?" M: "I'm actually M..."

S: Oh, sorry! Is C there?

M: I once knew a C in 4th grade, but he moved away a long time ago! (He's an adult man!)

S: (laughing) Oh, okay! It's probably not him then! Well, we are sister missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! We share a message centered on Jesus Christ! We woud love to come talk with you! Do you live in Phoenix?

M: (laughing) Actually, my wife and I are joining your church the day after valentines day! 

me and S: "No way?!?!! 

Haha, it turns out that he and his wife were lutheran, and they looked online for a church, found mormon.org, met missionaries, and now their getting baptized! And we randomly called them, because of someone's old phone number! How funny is that? It was pretty cool :D Haha. 

We've had so many awesome experiences this week! Probably the most awesome one was on Sunday! So, about two or three months ago, we tried this lady named N J. She was in our records as a former investigator, but from our notes she looked pretty cool! So We knocked, and she yelled through the door, I'm not interested! So, speed up to this past Sunday, this random lady walks into church, announces to everyone that she had fallen off the band wagon, but she is prepared to come back, and she wants to get baptized! Yes, it was N J! Turns out she's a recent convert's mom. Her hubsand died about two weeks ago :( So we think that might be why. But she even chose a date to be baptized, Feb 27, and she set up an appt with us on Wednesday! It was a really awesome experience, haha. We are excited to teach her! She seems like a really fun, wonderful lady. 

There's so many other crazy, awesome, and hard things that happened this week. Letters don't do missionary work justice at all. :) But I don't have time to write them, haha.

I'm so grateful for the gospel! I love being a missionary. I love my companion. She is so incredible. She is always patient, always kind, and has such a strong testimony. She really tries SO HARD in everything she does! I know she tries harder than me. She makes me want to be a lot better, and she is helping me to learn to be more patient. Most of all, I am so grateful for my Savior. I love this gospel, with all my heart. That's the greatest thing I've felt lately - such a strong love for the Savior, and for the Book of Mormon. Every day I study it, and I feel the Spirit SO strongly. Heavenly Father teaches me things I never thought of before. The scriptures have really become alive for me lately, just how they are real people, and they are sharing their testimonies and experiences with us. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon, and I know it's true! I'll never be able to deny the things I feel and what I learn as I study it. I know those experiences are from God. :) I hope each of you get a chance to study it each day! I know what we get out of our studies depends on our desire and our intent to act on what we learn. When we desire to learn, and to experience, and we intend to act on it, that's when God really teaches us. That's when the incredible spiritual experiences happen. :)

I love you guys!!! Have a great week! 

love,

 

Sister Whitney Morris


Elders took a selfie on my iPad at lunch... Sister Stier always feeds us every tuesday, with jamie, her daughter who has special needs. We love eating with them!!! (Jamie and sis stier)

 

 Random... You can see the top of my head behind the silver jug haha. The lady in the blue sweater is M.

 

2-2-2015

That's crazy news about Dexter! And great news!! :) I  bet the house is absolutely insane right now, haha, I can't imagine that many people all living there! But from the pictures and everything, it looks like it's going well. That was too bad about his job, but that's great he has extra time now to train and get ready for the Navy! And it means I can send letters to him home, and he'll actually be there to get them! :D That's a plus! Haha. That story about the picture of the man with the cat, and the cute old guy thinking that was Randi's ex husband - hahaha that was hilarious!!! Oh my goodness! That seriously made me laugh sooo hard. Oh man, that was great hahaha. It sounds so fun painting, and helping the animals, and having the elders and sisters over for dinner. I bet they love it! That's so neat they could sing for you guys! Being a missionary is so much fun. In our mission, we're allowed to have dinners with the elders and sisters whenever, so we have a lot of super fun dinners with the elders. We all just talk and laugh, and share our testimonies. Every Wednesday our Bishop in the South Mountain ward feeds us, his name is Bishop A. He and his wife are INCREDIBLE. We eat with them every Wednesday, and it's probably one of the highlights of my week! It was really fun seeing Sister R at transfers, too!

Thanks so much for handling all the college stuff! I really appreciate it! I'll write that essay and send it home this week. By the way, we lost our mail key.... so if you could send packages and letters and stuff to the mission home - 1871 E Del Rio Dr. Tempe, AZ 85282 - that would be great haha. :) No worries about sending home homemade stuff! Homemade stuff is the best stuff to get! :) 

Well, for us this week has been pretty good! I'm still in South Phoenix with Sister S!! YAY!!!! :) :) :) :) I am so happy I'm staying! I love this area so much! This is my fourth transfer here, the longest I've ever stayed in an area! And my third transfer with Sister S, which is tying with Sister R as the longest companion. I'm really happy, because I love it here. I'm staying a sister training leader, too, with Sister R. So nothing changed!

The highlights of our week were probably our online lessons. T and C are doing pretty good! We had a lot of fun putting their Book of Mormons together. We put some beautiful pictures of Christ on the covers, and covered it with contact paper, so they look really nice, and we wrote our testimonies in them and highlighted scriptures, and we sent them off to Scotland this morning! I'm so excited for them to get them, and read them! The main miracle though, was I! I can't remember if I wrote home about him last week. Basically, he commented on the church's facebook page "how do I meet with missionaries?". So I messaged him, and we started talking, and he is seriously golden! He lives in Romania, but it turns out he works in Virginia - in Alexandria - and he's going there in March! He really, really wants to go to church!! He's read from the Book of Mormon before - as a kid missionaries taught english classes in his city, and they gave him one. But he gave it to a friend a long time ago. He is seriously counting down the days until he comes to Virginia in March so he can go to church. It's been really exciting having us teach him! I'm trying to involve some of my friends from the ysa ward there so he can have some friends when he comes! Isn't that so cool?? It's incredible how prepared he is! 

We had some good experiences this week... we had transfers, and lots of lessons. It's been a bit hard in the work lately. We have tons of people to teach, but nobody is committed to coming to church, or really doing anything. It's really hard... there is one lady, M, who we're teaching. She struggles with a lot of addictions, depression, and health problems. :( She is always happy to listen, and she wants to have a better life, and we are doing everything we can to help her - getting her a ride to church, friends to sit by her, inviting her to family home evenings with a ride, everything. But she just chooses at the last second not to come. It's really sad.. and it's hard, because no matter what we do, it really is their choice. So that's been hard, but comforting to know that I can just continue to try my best to help them keep their commitments, but in the end it is their choice. We are praying to find people to teach who want to act, and who are willing to make those changes in their lives. We are also praying to know how to help M want to come to church and help her in her trials. We'll see what happens. 

We taught the man I told you about last week, with the Bishop. It was a really powerful lesson, and he's going to start coming to church again! :) We are so happy for him. He is going to work towards being rebaptized. We've started teaching a Marshallese family, who are so neat! They have a son named Y whose 9, and he is so cute! In the closing prayer, he prayed, and he just prayed thanking Heavenly Father that all we taught them that day was truth, and none of it was lies, and that he wanted to follow Jesus. It's amazing, he has the most profound answers to our questions in lessons! He's an amazing kid, and he has amazing parents too. They are so cool! They just moved here from the Marshall islands, and they were taught by missionaries in Mesa. One of the elders, his name is Elder J, his mother just died of cancer. :( While on his mission. Well, this elder is one of my greatest heroes. N, the dad, told us that during Christmas Elder J gave him a present that his mom had given him. He told him his mom had died, and before she died she gave him this present (I can't remember what it was - a scarf or book or something) and he said he wanted N to have it. It meant so much to N. I thought that was incredible. It made a big impact in how they feel about missionaries and the message we share. 

We also had the coolest lesson this week!! There is a less active grandma whose raising some of her grandkids. Y, the granddaughter, is 14, and her 8 yr old nephew and 5 yr old niece were there too. We taught them about how God loves us, and reasons why they feel God's love in their lives. Their answers were so sweet! Then we taught them how to pray, and they all prayed for the first time! At first they were really shy and didn't want to, but we taught them how, showed them the "cheat sheet" in the pamphlet they could look at, and it was so cool because they all started teaching eachother how and encouraging eachother to pray! We all knelt in a circle, and they encouraged and helped eachother, and we each said a prayer. It was so, so awesome! The nephew got so excited that he ran into the other room to get his dad to pray with us! It was such an awesome lesson!!! They are such a sweet family. We are so excited to be teaching them! Y went shopping and bought a dress to wear to church, but they didn't end up coming :( So we hope they come next week! 

This week has been a bit stressful, too. I'm learning a lot about loving my companion and living with differences, and being humble and patient. I really want to develop greater patience before I get home, and before I become a wife and mom. I  want to become more like my Savior, because I love Him. And I know when I feel the Spirit,  I feel true happiness. So, that is my goal for the rest of my mission. Feel free to follow up with me to see how it's going. :) And pray that I'll be able to become more patient. I think that would help a lot!

I love my Savior. I love this work. I love, love, love being a missionary! I had a funny dream last night that I was on a road trip in Romania, traveling between the different missions, and my family - you guys - were telling me to come home early, because it was going to get too hot in June in the summer (hahaha... it was weird. You meant in AZ, but we were in Romania...) but in my dream, I felt so sad! Because I thought, there is no way I am finishing early! I love my mission, I love being a missionary. As hard as it is, it is the greatest experience I've ever had in my life, and for my life. It's the greatest decision I ever made for myself. I know our Savior lives, and that He loves us.  I know repentance is a joyful process, when we apply it in our lives. The hard part is humbling ourselves to get started. The rest of it is incredible, and joyful, and freeing, and cleansing, and life changing. I am so grateful for my Savior and His Atonement that makes change and repentance possible.

I love you guys! Thanks for the awesome emails. I love you all. I know this gospel is true. :) I'm so proud of you for being such great missionaries! How has your goals of making friends with more nonmembers going?

Love you! :)

love, Sister Whitney Morris

We got warm coconut milk at dutch bros on the way to transfers. :)

 

 

B B, one of our recent converts! He is struggling right now, he could definitely use some prayers.

 

 

a pic of the Savior. :)

 

And me in fog!! It's been the weirdest weather - rainy and foggy the past week!!! So weird, and so beautiful!