love, serve, teach: Monday Aug 11

Dear Family,

Thanks for the emails! I'm so excited to get the letters and package... and I'm glad things are well at home. Mommy, cravings and stress.... that is THE WORST haha. I'm sorry to hear Hannah has been having a hard time too. I'll keep her in my prayers! And all the kids! It was so fun to see Adam and Peter when we were teaching E. They are sooooo cute :) I love my brothers. I'll definitely be praying for Wednesday... I hope all goes well. That's awesome Isaac is going to be seminary president! That's so awesome he's a senior! I still can't believe he's going to be graduated and on a mission soon... I'm so excited for him. Sometimes I think of him being an elder in France or something, and it makes me so happy :D Elder Morris! My guess is somewhere in South America for him, actually... I can see him going to Brazil or Mexico. That would be sweet :D That's so funny S is coming to help slaughter lambs haha... we have the weirdest family! :D

Thanks so much for everything going with E.!! That really was an amazing first lesson. I'm so sorry it was so crazy... past Skype lessons have gone really well, but we've never skyped in members to join too. So it was just really hard with three screens... I am so glad he's gotten in touch with missionaries in his area! Do you think he'll be able to meet with them there? I was thinking that would probably be best. It's kind of hard over skype, and I think they're the ones who could really help him the most, especially with the awesome ward there!! That's so cool you all have so many friends that he ran into! What a small world :) I love how sincere he is and his true desire to know! It is seriously the best feeling in the world, teaching someone who has been that prepared and is that sincere in searching for the truth. Thanks so much for referring him and being his good friends :) I'm so happy and excited! And I'm sorry if my one message sounded irritated... I did kind of feel like Dad threw us under the bus, haha. But it's all good! I know he didn't mean to.

That's awesome your friend flagged down the elders!! I love stories like that!! I bet they were so surprised and happy to have someone flag them down and want them over for dinner! As a missionary, I know how happy that would make any missionary... that's so awesome :) You guys are seriously the best missionaries. I am so proud of you all!

That's so awesome you could do baptisms too! Dad, that's so cool you were able to baptize Isaac and Hannah and Mommy... I bet that was so amazing :) I can't wait to go to the temple together. We'll have to go when I come home!

Thanks so much for the package! I'm really excited to get it and to read all the letters :) There were a few more things I need... could you send an ultratouch meter? I accidentally told my doc the wrong test strips, so the prescription I got only works for those meters, haha. I'll get a right prescription today, but it would be nice to have the other too. It's the onetouch ultra. I'll also need the set changes - the quiksets? Their in the orange cardboard box with the little tube and needle. I'm down to one box, and I'll probably need two or three more for the rest of my mission. Thanks so much :) Sorry for all the trouble. And I should be okay with the diabetes doc, I'll just need an eye doc.

Thanks for the well wishes and everything! It's funny, this week went really well. Sister A and I have finally kind of gotten into a good rhythm. I'm going to miss her. We have good times & they are really fun. I have learned soooo much from this companionship, and I am so grateful I was able to serve with her. Last night we found out she is getting transferred, (transfers are actually this Wednesday :) ) and I am staying in the area! Funny enough, I'm really nervous. I'm excited... but I feel nervous. I've been out almost 9 months and I've never been left to take over the area when my companion leaves. I've always whitewashed out, which means I left the area with my comp. So this time she'll be leaving and I'll be staying and getting a new companion... so I have to learn the area more and work with the ward and everything. It's a silly thing to be nervous about, I know I'll be fine, but it's kind of scary! Haha, but it will go great.

Other than transfer news, this week has been a really good one. We've been doing a ton of finding, but haven't found new investigators yet... it's been hard. We have a few people we're teaching - B, a funny old man in his 60s who is a little bit flirtatious haha, but doesn't mean anything by it, and he also has like a ton of cats, R - a man in his 50s who has a few kids, is divorced, and is open to learning but believes in kind of a metaphysical spiritualness... he doesn't believe the Bible literally, but believes the principles in it are true and are from God. He believes in pretty much every religion. It's so hard when people are so open minded that they don't accept the restored gospel... and then there's another man named S. S is AWESOME. He's probably in his 50s and is super super nice, and is sincerely interested. He's just so busy that we hardly get to see him, so it's hard to help him progress. Our area is pretty small, I think it's 3 square miles, and everyone just seems so content with their lives and not interested ha. But we'll keep working and doing our best and praying :) We're really focusing on working with the ward. The ward here is INCREDIBLE, and so we're just helping them to share the gospel with their friends. It means other missionaries in other areas will probably get to teach their friends, but it's helping the work hasten - even if it's not in our specific area. So that's okay. :)

Nothing else too exciting happened this week. We had an awesome handoff lesson where some members in our ward had P over to dinner with the new missionaries - the elders - who will be teaching her. It was amazing :) Their house is so gorgeous! Their the ones who have the Michelangelo statue, and their house is literally like an Italian villa. Granite pillars, it kind of wraps around, there's a courtyard in the middle and pool and landscaping... it's crazy haha. And, random story, the wife was in the original cast of Saturday's Warrior! She was the little girl! How cool is that? But the dinner was awesome. We had this awesome, awesome lesson where P basically told us that she is loving church, and has felt the Spirit so strongly, and loves the goodness and light she sees in the families and the members of the Church. She has a really strong Christian background, and some of the huge Christian churches around here literally have anti Mormon classes taught in their congregations, so she's heard alot of bad things... but it's cool because she said she was praying to Heavenly Father, and said to Him " Really, Lord? The LDS?" Haha, but it's amazing how open she is. She is seriously golden :) I'm so excited for her and I really hope she continues to do well with the elders and her new ward. It's amazing how much you grow to love the people you teach! Their really like your little children that you want to take the best of care of! And it's funny because P said we felt like her daughters. You just make the strongest friendships and have the greatest love with those you share the gospel with.

I had another fun moment this week... K, from Phoenix, messaged me on FB and asked for help, because her and J were asked to speak in sacrament meeting. She sent me the sweetest message, and it just made me so happy to know their both still going strong :) I just LOVE being on a mission!!! I love the people so much! It is the best!!

Well, there's not too much else to say. Sorry this was kind of a boring email this week :)

One other cool thing happened... yesterday was awesome. Church was so good! We had this awesome lesson on eternal marriage, and Sister J - the bishop's wife who is SO cool and so real! taught it. She wrote happily ever after on the board and then told us that it really didn't exist, and once you get married that's when the work really starts - and also the most happiness. She talked about how the things that have helped her marriage the most are not making the little goals - like not yelling, or keeping the house cleaner - but deepening their commitments to keeping their covenants together. She said her and her husband hit a really low point in their marriage and they sat down - had a comp inventory (they both served missions - and decided to go to the temple every Friday night for a year. She said to do things together spiritually... and also to pray for them by name, and also to ask forgiveness when your praying with them. I really liked these because I've seen that SO MUCH as companions. Those times when Sister A and I prayed together and we prayed for each other by name, then that's when we felt the Spirit and could really forgive and have a stronger companionship. It is so humbling and so hard. But I just really loved that part in the lesson. It's so crazy how much missionary work and being a spouse/parent coincide. I feel like everything we learn about companionships applies to marriage, and vice versa, and everything with investigators applies to parenting, and vice versa. It's really cool ha. Missions are the greatest preparation for the rest of our lives. :)

Well, I love you guys! I'll keep you in my prayers this week. I love you!!! Good luck with everything.

Something I love about Dad is how awesome he explained the priesthood to Ed and his awesome testimony of how it's blessed our family.

Something I love about Mommy is the amazing emails she writes me every week, that make me so happy and I think back on when I feel alone, and I know I'm not. And also what an amazing missionary she is and how she shares the gospel with everyone!

Something I love about Isaac is how strong he is! What a hard worker he is and also the goofy pictures he sends me.

Something I love about Hannah is what an incredible young lady she is. She is soooo strong, and so smart, and so spiritual. She is truly incredible and is such a great example to me.

Something I love about Jacob is also how strong he is. I love his sense of humor and what a good speaker he is, and also his spiritual thoughts. And his awesome drawings!

Something I love about Adam is how much he helps Mommy and Dad out, and how much he loves Heavenly Father and Jesus and the Book of Mormon.

Something I love about Peter is how sweet he is, and how he loves the temple and our family.

Something I love about Dexter too is how strong he is, and what a good husband and Dad he's going to be someday... (that's sooo weird... but true.) And also what a hard worker he is.

Something I love about Brittney too is how happy she makes Dexter, and also her sense of humor and how nice it is to have her as part of our future family.

(Maybe you can send them those for me. :) )

I love you all :) Have an awesome week!

love,

Sister Whitney Morris

K sent me these pics of us from J's baptism!

This, my friends, is the Michelangelo statue in the front doorway of the B's home... yes, you walk in the front door, and that's what you see, on a marble floor and with pillars. Behind it is the courtyard and the house stretches out to the right and left on either side.. it's so pretty! I had to get a picture!