4-13-2015

Dear Family,

Thanks for the email! I loved hearing about how everyone is doing. Happy birthday this week, Peter!! :) his bday party looked so fun! Haha, I love the plastic noses! Isaacs crutches that are too small are sooo sad!! And hilarious haha, poor Izey wisey... Or should I say, tiny tim... Haha that's so funny :) I do hope his leg is doing better though!  I got Brittanys letter this week, which was SO sweet. I know they'll pull through. It will work out somehow. I'm really proud of Dexter and that he is doing so well and trying his best to do what's right! I know Heavenly Father will really bless him for the faith he is showing and with his righteous desires. It will work out. :) I did get the Easter package, thank you so much for sending it! We especially loved the gummy lambs and ducks - they were delicious :) and I LOVED the earrings! Thank you!

As far as logistics when I come home, I think the main things are getting released - hopefully the same day I get home? That is the saddest sentence ever.... Gosh, I donnt want to not be a missionary anymore :( I'm going to miss it sooooo much. I guess please be patient with me and my returned missionary struggle ha. It will be a great blessing. I want to get involved in institute, getting a job, and preparing for school asap - which includes getting a cell phone... I think that might be the main thing at first. That and a job for gas and savings. But we'll work that out when I get home! I also will have almost no clothes haha, but I've saved all my gift cards for post mission shopping, so that will help! Anyways, this is making me really sad, so I'm going to move on to a different topic. 

It was so sweet and sad to hear about Adams experience sharing his testimony. Adam, I want to share a story with you. So my companion, sister w, is the most awesome missionary EVER! She's from Arkansas, and is such a powerful teacher, and has such a strong testimony. She is one of the best people I've ever met! She is incredible! With how awesome she is, I think Heavenly Father gave her a weakness for a reason, I don't know why. Maybe to help other people. But she gave me permission to share this :) She has social anxiety, and so if we're in a big group of people she sometimes will start crying. But the most hard thing for her is public speaking. In district mtg, our district leader asked her to share a 5 min thought. She stood up, and she started, and then she started getting soooo nervous. Her eyes kind of rolled back, and she started tipping forward, and I had to catch her! We went to the bathroom, and it was so sad. She was heartbroken and felt like a failure. But the awesome thing is that she didn't give up. She was scared that nobody would ask her to speak again. But after the meeting, our district leader apologized, and said if she ever wanted to share a thought again to let him know and she could do that. That meant the world to her. Well, Saturday night, at the luau we had, we had to give a little lesson about missionary work. In front of like 50 people! And you know what she did?? At the end, she gave a little presentation in front of everyone!! It took so much courage! It's okay to get nervous sometimes, and it's okay if we feel like we messed up. The good thing is that we can always get up and try again. And when we finally succeed, it's all the more valuable because of the struggle we had to overcome to succeed. She is one of my greatest heroes, and you are too Adam. :) I loved your testimony about sheep and the savior! It was so good! I'm excited to hear you share it again someday. :)

I had one other story I wanted to tell you guys. So we have the most amazing young woman in our ward. She is incredible! We went on visits with her, and at the end she asked us for advice. She said some of the yw were mean to her, and gave her unkind stares and remarks during church that made her feel really sad. We comforted her, testified of Gods love for her. And the amazing thing is this young woman tried to smile at them, and be kind in return, but it didn't help anything. She shared this with us, and then I felt prompted to share Hannah's poem with her and tell her a little bit about how Hannah struggled with similar things. But how AMAZING and strong she is, and how the young woman was so strong and incredible too. She started crying, and it helped her soooo much! Hannah, your poem and example made the difference and brought comfort to a young woman many miles away from you. You never know what difference you can make. I just wanted to share that with you :)

As for us, it's been such an amazing week! I love my area, I LOVE my companion, and I love this gospel - especially studying the scriptures. I absolutely love being a missionary. :) we had so many cool experiences! 

The first is that we have an AMAZING investigator named R!! He's probably in his early 60s, a navy veteran who is disabled (he's in a wheelchair and has alot of pain :(  ) but he is sooo prepared. We taught him the restoration, bom, and plan of salvation, and he is amazing. He studies on his own, reads everything we give him, and he wants to be baptized! May 9th is the day! It's so cool, he has started telling his family, and they all started asking him why, and saying he shouldn't do it, and even got angry, but he told them that he is doing this for himself and God, and he has already started gaining such a strong testimony. On Sunday he came to church and it was so awesome. Afterwards the elders, eq president, and our wml and his dad gave him a blessing of health because of the pain he was in. It was soooo powerful. They taught him a bit about the priesthood and what a blessing is and how it's dependent on his faith beforehand, and he told us that even when we first told him about what a blessing is he believed it would help. Elder C (an elder in our ward - we have 3 sets of missionaries) pronounced the blessing, and instantly the Spirit filled the room. We could feel that R had such strong faith, and so Heavenly Father blessed him sooo much. The Spirit was so, so strong. It was so powerful!! It was one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission. It is truly an absolute honor to be able to serve and teach these people! R is so awesome!! When he's baptized we might have to do it on a stretcher, or have multiple people baptize him because he can't lean backwards, so he'll have to go go straight down laying on his back. But the eq and bishop are going to work something out! He is so excited!

Yesterday was such an amazing day. So many special, incredible things happened. It is the greatest miracle to know that the Lord is working through you, and to see Him answer prayers and bless the lives of His children through you. 

We got to go to the temple on Thursday, and that was awesome! We did a session, and it was so beautiful and so spiritual. I love going to the temple. The Spanish missionaries had a big conference this weekend, and they got to go through and do a session in Spanish! That seemed really cool. :) 

We've been teaching so many people and have had many incredible experiences - whether it be somebody on the street, or less active families, or with our investigators. On Saturday we had a ward luau to help motivate the ward to share the gospel. It was crazy, but so awesome too!! We have AMAZING Polynesian families in our ward, so they made delicious food - bbq pork, delicious noodles, and pineapple upside down cake. Yum! They also had a dance group come and provide entertainment - hula dancing and some of the brothers did the Hahkka (the dance the rugby team on forever strong does before their games.) it was kind of intimidating haha, but SO awesome!! After the dinner we as missionaries provided different workshops, along with some awesome members in our ward. We based our trainings off of he book "the power of an everyday missionary" which is an AMAZING book! And it's easy and fun to read! Our mission pres approved us to read it because alot of stakes in az use it. It's an awesome, awesome book! So that was great. 

We had some funny experiences this week too - one of the less active guys we were teaching had a lesson with us. He was baptized 5+ yrs ago. But hasn't been to church in forever, and just lost his testimony :( he loves Christ but doesn't understand why we need the bom. So that was really sad. He basically dropped us, and we just shared our testimonies and told him if he ever felt he was missing something in his life that he would always be welcome. A few hrs later though he called. We missed it, so we texted back "did you call?" This was his reply... "Yes I want to talk more but maybe I'm wrong but the thing is and don't take this wrong I'm in love with you, everything about you please call me. I ask God to give me a woman who love Him then me please never let me go." Hahaha... Oh man.... It was a little crazy! So we didn't text back or anything, and we made a note in his teaching record to not send sisters. Poor guy! I feel so sad for him. 

I think that's about all for this week! Soooo much happens every single day, so many miracles and times I feel the Spirit, and it is incredible. Also some hard and discouraging times, A dropped us. That was really, really sad. We met with her, and her mom has been telling her bad things about the church, and she also looked up anti material. We talked with her in the lesson and just bore our testimonies, expressed our love for her, and hopefully left some seeds planted. She was doing well but just started listening to the wrong voices, and wouldn't give the Book of Mormon a chance. She wouldn't read it because she was scared. It was really, really sad! But the good thing is before we left she had us teach her kids a little bit about the Savior. We taught them using a few videos and pictures, teaching them about Christ and his life and atonement. It was a sweet note to end on, and we just bore our testimonies and invited her to read and pray and left. I feel that someday she'll be ready, right now is just not her time. But I'm really grateful we had the opportunity to teach her, I really love her and her kids. 

I love the people so much. My companion is THE BEST. I love her so much! She is hilarious, and also so sweet and kind. I feel myself becoming a better person because I'm around her! I am quite serious when I think Heavenly Father blessed me with a companion near the end to teach me what to look for in a spouse! As funny as that sounds, haha. I love training her, and I feel like I'm learning more then she is! Being a missionary is the best!

Well I think that's all for today! As part of the technology program were only allowed to use iPads for email now, so no pictures today :( and probably for a while. They're going to try and work something out, but that's why my grammar is so bad - silly autocorrect!

I love you guys! Thanks for the awesome emails. :) I love you and have an awesome week!

Love

Sister Whitney Morris 

4-6-2015

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for the emails! I absolutely love reading them, they really make my week. :) I haven't gotten the package yet, but I hope to get it today! The lambs are sooooo cute!!! I especially loved hearing about how it has helped Adam and ya'll come closer to the Savior, and gain insights to His love and how He cares for His sheep - including the one, out of the ninety and nine. Those experiences are so sweet. :) Wasn't Conference incredible? I wrote down many questions, and within the first two talks half of them were answered. There are so many things I loved, and I know with all my heart that President Monson is a prophet of God, and that this church is Christ's kingdom on the earth today. I am so, so grateful that we have this knowledge and the knowledge of God's plan for us in our lives.

 

 I can't believe Isaac is starting his mission papers soon!! That is soooo exciting!! :) I am so, so excited for him! Serving a mission has been the greatest experience of my entire life! He is going to love it. It is so hard, it's probably the most difficult thing I've ever done, but also the most incredible. If I could give anyone going out to serve any advice, it would be to remember Christ's Atonement, and how it can enable us - give us strength and power to do things we cannot do ourselves, and also to love and befriend your companion, no matter who they are or how different you are. I loved the story in Conference about the obedient, hard working missionary who had a difficult companion, and how Heavenly Father gave him a gentle reminder that compared with God, they weren't too different from each other. I think that is sooo true for each of us. It's strange being near the end of my mission, I see younger missionaries who make similar mistakes or have similar weaknesses I had, before I learned what I was doing wrong and started to change to become better. It can be frustrating, but then you just do remember that you made similiar mistakes before, and that we're all at different stages of growth, but we are all on the same path, and God wants each of us to return to Him and become perfected in Christ. That's one thing I truly want to remember throughout my life, because it's true. We cannot become perfected in Christ if we are not humble, if we are judgemental or have pride in us. Pride is a stumbling block that keeps us from love, from service, from feeling the Spirit, and from being close to Christ and accessing His Atonement. There is SO much pride I need to remove from myself, and it can be a painful process stripping it away. But I just hope I can always turn to the Savior and become more like Him, do what He wants me to do, and say what He wants me to say. 

I also loved Dexter's facebook post. That was so awesome, thanks for sharing with me. :) I'm glad everyone is doing well, and I love you guys!

As for us, it has been an awesome week! Wrapping down to the end of my mission has been a humbling experience. I think it's sort of like how you feel before your earthly life ends - you think back on the mistakes you made, the things you wish you had learned from the beginning, and I have realized there is so much I need to repent for. The natural man can easily influence us to sin - whether it be sin by omission, like not talking with someone on the street, or not following a spiritual prompting, or to sin - like by choosing to remain angry with your companion, or choosing to feed anger or be self absorbed. I feel sorrow for the mistakes I've made and my many weaknesses, and I just want to apologize to the Lord and to those people who I may have impacted because of my weaknesses and mistakes. At the end of my mission, I want to feel like I have done all I could, like I have done what my Heavenly Father wanted me to do. It can be hard to know and feel like you've done enough, to know if He is happy with you. I can say with confidence that I have strived to be exactly obedient and work diligently throughout my entire mission. I am so grateful I did, if I hadn't then ending my  mission would be so difficult and would be filled with so many regrets. I think this is a really good analogy for our earth life, and I want to live my life in such a way that I can be reunited with the Savior, and that He will see my face with pleasure, and wrap me in His arms, and tell me, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." I would want Him to know that I loved Him and that I did my best to serve Him and become like Him, that I really tried to give my heart and life to Him. After all, He did give it all to me. I love my Savior, and I know He lives. I want to spend my life coming to know Him personally, and helping others come to know Him and feel His love through me. 

 

It has really been a great week. My heart is just so full after Conference. I am so grateful for the  prophet and apostles, and for our wonderful leaders, and most of all for having the knowledge of the gospel in my life. 

L is doing okay, he actually had to go to the hospital, and he's hooked up to some hospital equipment, so we are having to postpone his baptism for a week or so. He's doing fine, just has to have a little recovery time. His family is really excited for his baptism, his son (whose a member) is going to baptize him. We are excited for him!

We got to go to the Easter Pageant again, and I didn't see Sister C, but another sister in our mission talked with her! Sister C asked if she was in the Tempe mission, she said yes, and then she told her to say hi to me! So it was fun to have that little Woodstock connection! We went with K and our investigator A. It was such a wonderful time! We've been doing a lot of street contacting, working with members, and having great lessons. I absolutely love this area, and I love the people here. We had a cool experience yesterday - there is a lady we've been trying to teach, but her parents really don't like us and are against the church. Well, last night we were walking through their apt complex, and we saw her mom standing alone in the dark (the one who doesn't like us.) We asked if she needed help, and she said she was looking for her son - he was lost, and she had been searching for him for an hour, and didn't know where to go to find him. We offered immediately to help, and went to look for him. We went a direction, and found him almost immediately - about 5 minutes later, playing with another family and looking for easter eggs. (yeah, at 8:30 at night. #maryvale) We called him over, and told him his mom was looking for him, and walked with him back to his mom. She was so relieved. She thanked us, and just walked away. It was a really cool miracle. We were thinking how cool it might have been if she were standing there praying (because she's a strong christian) looking for a son, and the Lord led us to her and helped her find him. It was a really special experience, and I know the Lord helped us and guided us to help her, and hopefully help her heart soften more to the gospel and the message we have to share, that could bless her life soooo much if she could only accept it. Maybe that little experience was part of her journey to prepare her someday to accept the gospel. It felt good to be able to serve and help one of God's children.

Well, I can't think of too much more to tell - I LOVE Sister W. I think she's one of my best friends. After nightly planning we always talk and laugh, and we have so much fun together. She helps me be a better person. Walking into the library today, she started singing the mulan song defeat the huns, but the words were "Let's get down to business to email our moms" hahahaha. She is so funny! I absolutely love her!! She says funny things like that every day, that keeps me laughing. It's funny, I feel like Heavenly Father blessed me in this last part of my mission with a companion who I get along SO well with, who helps me see more of what I want in a future eternal companion! Hopefully that doesn't sound weird! She is sooo awesome!!! 

We did our mission 5k this morning, and it was so fun! We got polar pops afterewards, yum. :)

Well, I hope ya'll had an awesome Easter! I love you, and I am so grateful for you. Thank you for being such an awesome family. I hope you all remember how much God is aware of you and how much He loves you. I hope all of us can take time in our lives to recognize His hand and His miracles in our lives, because I know they happen every day, sometimes in unexpected ways.

Well, I love you! Have an awesome week!

Much love,

Sister Whitney Morris

Easter bunnies after service at St Marys food bank (thats why we look tired haha)

 

 

kittens!!! sooo cute!!

 

blossoms :)

 

 

 

easter pageant and a sweet yw who comes out with us with her future sister missionary badge

 

 

3-30-2015

Dear Family,

 

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes!!! On my birthday we had an all mission sister meeting in Tempe, so I was sitting in the chapel waiting for the meeting to start, and I opened my email and there were your and Dad's emails for my birthday. It made me so happy to read the lyrics of the John Denver song. I'm so grateful for you, Mommy. You've been such an awesome Mom and I'm so grateful I've always been able to feel your love for me. That song also reminded me of Heavenly Father's love for us - He'll walk in the rain by our side, He'll cling to the warmth of our tiny hands. I am so grateful for families and for our loving Heavenly Father, who created this beautiful plan for us to be with our families for forever. :) That made me so happy!

I'm so proud of Dexter. I hope his training is going well!  I LOVED hearing about the baby lambs being born on my birthday, and  Adam's testimony of the Savior and taking care of the sheep. I would LOVE to read his testimony, if you would share it!!! That reminds me, I was asked to share my testimony at the sister meeting on Saturday. I don't know if Hannah remembers this, but she shared a poem with me before I left on my mission she wrote about how Heavenly Father's acceptance is more important. I hope she doesn't mind, I didn't tell anyone who wrote it, but I shared it in my testimony, and it was sooooo powerful... just how she could find confidence in knowing she was a daughter of God, and what knowing that brings to us, and how POWERFUL it is to help God's children come to know that for themselves too. Her poem really made a difference that day. :) 

It was sooooo awesome to get E's email!!! That seriously made my day as well!!! I am so happy for him and the young man he helped. They are amazing! Couldn't have asked for better news on my birthday. :) Thanks also for sending me some comments people wrote on my fb wall for my birthday! I loved getting J's and E's and Aunt L's! That was really sweet, thank you. :)

I'll definitely pray for Dad and his job! And thanks for explaining the campfire haha! I wasn't worried or anything, I just thought it was really funny :D

Well as for us this week has been amazing!!!! It has been insanely busy. Thanks for praying for L!!! Great news - he has been living the Word of Wisdom!! He's believed it's true from the beginning, this week he just explained that when he went one morning without coffee, he started feeling withdrawals, and so he drank it again. But the good news is that we had an AWESOME few lessons with him this week, and Saturday we called him to make plans for his baptism - speakers, hymns, and everything, and he said that he's been living the Word of Wisdom! He sounded so proud and so happy to tell us! It was such an awesome moment. :) So thank you for praying for him! I think your prayers really did help to strengthen him. He is so excited to be baptized and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost!

We also met the coolest lady named A! Last P day she stopped the elders in the walmart parking lot and asked if they were mormons, and wanted to meet with us. So we met with her a few times this week, and she is incredible!!! She has a little bit of Christian background, and loves the Bible, and she has soooo many awesome questions. She is very interested in learning. She's a little fearful, but she is asking so many questions and wants to pray and ask God if our message is true. So that has been really exciting. She's a really special lady, she's already started making changes in her life to come closer to Christ, and she really sincerely wants to follow Him and find truth. It has been such a powerful experience sharing the message of the Restoration with her, last night we taught her about it, and the Spirit was so strong! She is an amazing person! 

We did some service this week at an old folk's home, and I met the sweetest old man named J. We just played games and talked with them. He was an Air Force vet, and told us how he used to love roller skating really fast, and what oldies song he used to love to skate to. He was sooo sweet! Just the happiest, young at heart older gentleman I've ever met! It was really fun to talk with him and spend time with the people there. 

I got to go on exchanges into the Spanish area which was so fun too!! I love going into Spanish areas - they always feed us the most delicious food, and I get to practice Spanish a little bit. It's amazing how you still feel the spirit so strongly and have an idea of what their talking about, even though you don't understand everything. We taught an older lady the Restoration, and Sister J (the sister I was with) told her she liked her skirt. Well, the lady brought over her skirt and gave it to her! It was so sweet! We also had a really cool experience - we were looking for a member who they had never met before. There was a lady in the backyard doing laundry, so we called out to her, and she came to the front yard to talk with us. At first it was realllyyyyy awkward, but she was willing to talk, and we asked if we could share a video with her, and she said yes. We shared Because of Him with her (Because He Lives hadn't come out on our ipads yet) and I thought she wasn't really paying attention - she was kind of looking around, not really looking at the screen, or when she was looking she just looked expressionless. But after the video Hermana J asked her a question, and the lady just started crying. She opened up and shared in Spanish her feelings, and how she hadn't been to church in so long. We could tell she was having a really difficult time in her life. So Hermana J testified of God's love to her in Spanish, and I was just praying in my heart that she would feel His love, and it was soooo powerful. She told the spanish sisters to come back again, and they are going to start teaching her! That was such a powerful experience for me. You never know what someone is thinking or feeling when you teach or testify. Even if they don't show it, they could be having a spiritual experience inside that you just don't know about. It reminds me of when Abinadi preached to the judges, and the one man who believed was Alma. Abinadi probably didn't know he was the only one believing, but because he testified and taught boldly, the one person who was prepared believed and felt the truthfulness of his words, the one whose heart wasn't hardened. It was really cool to see that in real life!

We've done a TON of biking this week, which has been really fun, and also really hot! It's already in the 90s... and we're getting pretty nice tans. :) We had some pretty funny experiences this week - for some reason, in Phoenix there is just a theme of sister missionaries getting hit on. We get marriage proposals/invitations to date pretty regularly, all of us sisters. This week we were standing on the side of the road, looking up our next address, and this car pulls over and the guy yells "Hey! Do you two have boyfriends?!" We both felt really awkward so we just turned around and ignored him haha, and then he yelled for a few more minutes (Come with me! and finally, Happy Friday!) and then he drove away. It was pretty crazy though! Also on Spanish exchanges, we were knocking on a door, and these gentlemen across the street started ay yay yaying at us (that Spanish ayyy yayy yayyy, if you know what I'm talking about.) and then they started serenading Spanish love songs to us! It was sooo hilarious! We just ignored them and biked away quickly hahaha. It was pretty funny though!

My birthday was SO awesome. We had an all sister missionary meeting in Tempe, where all the sister missionaries came. They gave us four conference talks to read before hand about women, and it was sooo powerful. Some sisters were asked to lead discussions on the talks, others were invited to share their testimony. It was cool, the night before we were biking home around 8:55 pm, and this sentence just came into my head "Soy un hija de Dios" which means I am a daughter of God. Those words came into my mind, and I felt this profound love from Heavenly Father, for me and for my companion and His daughters that we had talked with and taught that day. It was such a simple yet profound spiritual experience. About 10 minutes later, Sister T (our mission president's wife) called and asked me to share my testimony the next day! It was a really neat experience! So that was a fantastic meeting on my birthday. We had a brunch too, and I got to sit next to President and Sister T and talk with them. I love them so, so much. They are some of my greatest examples. We had that meeting all day, which was super powerful, and then at the end we ate dinner together, then went and watched the Womens Broadcast all together!! It was soooo awesome!!! President T also gave us each permission to text our moms 10 minutes before the broadcast, to just tell them we love them. I couldn't remember Mommy's phone number so I looked it up in my lds tools and texted the number in there, but I think it may have been a house phone haha.... oh well. It was cool though, he talked with us about forming traditions that will keep our families strong and participating in the gospel, like attending womens broadcast together as mothers and sisters, and how maybe from now on in our lives if we're not with our mom we'll send her a text before the broadcast, letting her know we're thinking of her... because at home, probably most of our moms are sitting there, wondering where we are at that moment and what we're doing. It was just such an awesome day. 

Afterwards our roommates, the sisters we live with, got permission to get us ice cream on the way home for my birthday. It was sweet :)

Well, it was such an awesome week!!! I LOVE being a missionary!!! I love my companion, so, so much! I feel like Heavenly Father blessed me with her to really help me prepare for my future marriage and family. Because I have learned so much from her! I'm learning how to be happy, how to laugh often, how to keep the Spirit and happiness in our companionship, and she's just shared so many things with me that have strengthened my testimony and faith in the future. It's probably the best transfer ever :) And L's getting baptized, and A is just golden.... things are going amazing!!!

One more funny story - we were biking, we stopped at a traffic light (sweating profusely because it's hot, of course.) And this random man jumps out of his car, and starts taking pictures of us! He took two or three, then yelled at us that he didn't know that the girls rode bikes too, and then jumped in his car and drove away! It was so random! 

One more awesome thing happened - I was sitting in ward counsel on Sunday, and someone opened the door and gave me a note that said "Sister Morris, your mission mom is here!" I didn't know what it meant, so I just sat there, but then later the zone leaders knocked and asked if I could come out - I came out, and Sister R was there!!!! We gave each other the hugest hugs, and we were just laughing and were sooo happy to see each other!!! It was such an awesome reunion! She was my trainer, the best one I could have ever asked for. I love her so much, she's home now and came back to visit. I'm so grateful I got to see her. It was an awesome day. :) 

Well, I think that's all for this week. I love you guys! Thanks again for all the love and support and for writing me each week :)  I love getting your emails!! If you could send L's pics to me next week, that would be awesome!!!

I just want to let you know that I love being a missionary. It's definitely the best choice I've ever made in my life. I know with all my heart that this church is true, that the Book of Mormon is true, that God lives and that He loves us and is aware of us. I know His hand guides us in this work each and every day! And I know some of the greatest happiness in life we can ever have the privilege to feel comes when we bring souls unto Him - whether it be on this side of the veil or the other side! This gospel is true and it's the greatest! :)

I love you!!

 

love,

Sister Whitney Morris

Sorry I didn't take many pics this week - just this random sign we saw, drilled into a palm tree with a screwdriver hahaha, looking for a lost person. :P Oh, Maryvale! It's an adventurous place, that's for sure!

3-23-2015

Dear Family,

Thanks so much for the emails!! It was so fun to hear about the baby lambs being born, and Hannah's birthday, and how things are going at home with Dad's job and the kids and everything. I especially loved hearing about Adam's sweet love for the baby lambs, and how you related that to the Savior. That was just the sweetest story! It is such a powerful thing to work with our Good Shepherd to gather His lambs from every corner of the earth. He's going to be a great missionary someday. :)  Dad's new mustang looks sweet! I'm so excited to come home and have mine! Gosh, you guys spoil us. :) I'm glad Brittany could come down and spend the weekend! . We have the best family in the whole world!

That's great about Netanyahu! It was funny, in Sunday school the other day a lady brought him up.. I can't remember why, but she was basically saying "So he won't go to heaven even as awesome as he is?" and our teacher explained that if he repents and follows Christ he will. :) Haha it was just funny, it reminded me of ya'll! He's amazing!! I'm glad to hear he won office again!

That's so cool Dad's renting a bedroom by Mount Vernon! That will be amazing!! We will have to visit for sure!! I'm so glad things are going well at home. :) 

Well, It's been an awesome week for us! I love being back in Maryvale. I
feel like Heavenly Father has blessed me so much, allowing me to come
back to this area, and be with the companion I have. I love Sister
W SO much! We get along so well! I feel like I've had so many
companions that have taught me really important lessons, and have
helped me develop charity and patience (hopefully at least a little
bit. I've been working on it.) but I feel like Sister W is
teaching me more about what a good relationship is like - as weird as
that sounds, haha. We work really well together, and she is so
Christlike that when I'm with her I want to be a more Christlike
person. She's been helping me so much! And it's been really fun going
through training together and going back through the basic
fundamentals of missionary work.

The time is going so fast. I can't believe it's Monday again! We had
some really cool and funny experiences this week. L is doing great
:) He's such a funny, sweet old man. We went to his house to teach him
the word of wisdom for the first time. We walked into his house with
our member, and there he was, finishing a bottle of wine! He said,
"hold on sisters! Let me finish this before we start our lesson." And
then he downed the rest of the bottle hahaha. We were just both
thinking oh no.... This is a little awkward! But he actually took the
word of wisdom really well. He committed himself to live it, but we
went back again two days later and he said he doesn't understand why
we need to abstain from coffee. We just pulled it back to it being a
revelation from God through the prophet Joseph smith, and having the
faith to live the commandments, even if we don't always understand
why, or why me - I don't see why I need to. We talked about trusting God and not letting those
things get in the way of our obedience and love to Him. Hopefully it
helped! We have another lesson with him today, and definitely recieved some guidance during studies to help us address his concerns. It was such a powerful comp and personal study - I know Heavenly Father is guiding us to know how to help him. If you guys could pray that he will be able to gain a testimony of the Word of Wisdom, we would appreciate it! 

He did come to church Sunday, and he's aiming to be baptized
on April 7th - he's really excited. So we are hoping and praying that
we can help him understand and live the word of wisdom, so he can gain
a testimony of it. He believes Joseph Smith was a prophet, so that
will hopefully play a big factor.

We had another miracle! Did I tell you that L R - our recent
convert in south Phoenix who we helped quit smoking and is the
sweetest lady in the world - she moved to Maryvale like two months
ago! We were all worried about her, a member of the south mountain bishopric even
took her to her new ward the first Sunday she moved (South Mountain ward is SO awesome). Anyhow, we've
been teaching her the new member lessons! She's fallen off from going
to church a little because changing wards has been a hard transition
for her. But she's been strong on the commandments, and she still has
such a strong testimony of the gospel!! Yay!!! She's in alma 40 or so
in the Book of Mormon too! We taught her this week, and she came to
church Sunday!!! Yay!!! We helped her make some friends, and we are
really, really hoping she can find a network of friends and support in
the ward. That was an awesome blessing! I love L so much! She is
the sweetest!


We also did some really fun service at the st. Mary's food bank. Every
month our zone goes and helps them prepare meals, organize stuff, ect.
This week we organized around 15,000 lbs of food, to go to people who
are hungry this coming week. It really feels so good to do so much
service! It's definitely something I want to continue to do for the
rest of my life.

We've been having really, really awesome studies. I've been studying
the Book of Mormon and using a study journal every day, and it has
been such a powerful spiritual experience. I learn so, so much. Sister
W and I also have amazing comp studies too. A few days ago we
read through d&c 89 (the word of wisdom chapter) together, and just
picked it apart, learning the different meanings of words and thinking
and pondering about questions we had. It was soooo powerful! The
Spirit was so strong, and we both ended up actually learning a lot
about the temple and the Creation, which was so interesting and amazing. I have grown
to love the scriptures so much on my mission. It is incredible the
Spirit we feel when we ponder, study, and apply them in our lives.
I've been thinking about how to stay spiritually strong throughout
life, and something that keeps coming up is feasting on the words of
Christ, and keeping close to the word of God. In my scripture study,
in hymns we sing in sacrament meeting, in conversations and lessons,
it keeps coming up that when we study and ponder and keep a strong
testimony of the scriptures and words of living prophets, we won't
fall away or be led astray. That has hit me very powerfully this week.

Sister W and I also have really funny role plays :) She does the
funniest, most perfect impressions of people haha. There is a lady we
are teaching who has no teeth, but she likes to chew gum, so she
chomps very loudly during the lesson. She also has a short attention
span, so if we start rambling a little she just says "I think I'm done
now." We have to work to keep her attention! It's so funny though,
because I had forgotten those little details, until we did a role
play. I started teaching and Sister W just started chomping away,
and then I remembered, and it was just sooo funny haha. Not in a mean
way or anything, it was just so funny how accurate her imitation was
:) but we love J and we really love teaching her! She's a really
sweet lady too.

It's been really cool going by people we taught last year and seeing
them again. It's funny, most of them remember me! We went by a man
whose less active, whose uncle had died and so he had been drunk and
he proposed to us... But when he wasn't drunk, we had some good
lessons with him. He remembered us and he was a lot more positive and
open then he was last year, which was good.

It is going to be the best transfer!!! Sister W feels like one of my best friends. I am SO grateful for her. Every night after planning we always talk and laugh about different things that happened during the day... I love her so much! and I'm so grateful for the things that I've learned that have helped me keep our companionship happy, and not let my temper or contention disrupt the Spirit we feel and the happiness we have. We also had one other cool experience - we've been thinking of ways to make our days more spiritual. We decided to begin and end each day with a hymn (we had read the intro to the hymbook during sacrament meeting, and it was sooo powerful!) So last night we ended by singing "Abide with me, tis even' tide". It brought the Spirit so, so powerfully into our little study room. Us two sister missionaries, kneeling on the floor, after having planned our day and what we could do to help our investigators, we sang and pled with our Heavenly Father to continue to be with us. We read the scripture with the hymn as well, and it's about the Savior -  how he walked with the apostles all day, and they must have enjoyed their time and conversation with Him so much. He was about to leave, but they pled with Him to stay, to abide with them that evening. And He did, He stayed. I love how the Savior had the love and the patience to serve and love the people. He took the time to truly get to know them and show His love for them. We also read the account where He washes His apostles feet. I love how He showed them to serve and love one another by His example. First He showed them, by serving them and loving them. After He was done, then He taught them the commandment to love one another. I think that shows the power of His leadership and His example. I want to be that kind of leader, that kind of parent one day. It has been so powerful.

I love the Savior, and I love this gospel. I know it's true, with all my heart. I love being a missionary. I love my companion, I love the people, and I am so happy!

I love you guys! Thanks for being such an awesome family. :) 

I love you!!

love,

Sister Whitney Morris

This picture of us laughing describes our companionship perfectly :D We are always laughing and happy! I love it!

 

 

a cute baby chicken at a member dinner

 

 

Soo i'm really sad, because the hilarious Mr. Beanish movie we took on accident is too big of a file to send home.... so, when I get home, be on the lookout for a hilarious, hilarious video we accidentally took of us. Yes, it involves the crocheted chicken pot holders a member gave us... hahahaha it is the funniest thing I've ever seen. I'm so sad it won't send! One day you will see it! In the meantime, here's other pics!

 

 

a member made us these hilarious crocheted pot holders. it's funny, she always gives them to new missionaries... last year she made me a green pot holder that I still have, but these are way cooler!

a terrifying cat!!! asleep next to me at Lori's house..... so scary.

Me & Sister W.

a super sketchy ice cream truck

 

 

 

us biking in the morning while on exchanges :) 

 

 

 

us eating dinner with sister f :) she's amazing! we ate at a place called garcias - a  mom and pop restaurant in phoenix that has DELICIOUS mexican food. We ate fried ice cream and carne asada tacos!!! my favorite!

 

 

us eating a little picnic before going to a meeting in tempe :) our old ward mission leader from last year and his wife drove us. They're so cute! They are in their late 60s, they've been touring the state doing tap dancing, and they gave us marriage advice on the way there! They got sealed in the temple last week! They are sooo sweet!

 

 

self explanatory :)

3-16-2015

Dear Family,

Thanks so much for the emails! Dad, first of all, I am SO sorry about your birthday! I have meant to send you a birthday card for the past two weeks, but with transfers we've had mixed up P days, so today is the real day we've had to write letters since two weeks ago. So I'm so sorry!!! But I love you and hope you had a Happy Birthday!!! And thank you SO much for handling all the college stuff for me!! I got the package you guys sent me, and I LOVED it!! Haha thank you so much!!! I especially loved the mustache pen and the Irish swag t shirt :D Did one of the boys wear that before you sent it? Haha because I put it on and it smelled like campfire :D It was a great reminder of home, I loved it haha!! Thank you so much!!  I'm glad E. is doing well. He is such an amazing convert! I hope things work out for the best with the struggles he's going through. I loved Dad's new mustang pic, and I'm super excited to have a car when I get home :) Thanks sooo much for the gift card for my birthday! Sorry I accidentally opened it haha. But Im super grateful, because when I get home I won't have anything! no cell phone, hardly any clothes, ect... so that money will help sooo much. Thank you :) The baby lamb is sooooo cute!! Mommy I love how sheep are your thing now, haha! Especially how you've always loved horses so much. I think getting a horse in the future that's more small and that everyone can ride is a really, really good idea. I can't believe how old Hannah and Katharine (And I!) are getting!! Ahh it is so crazy! I hope she has a fun birthday. :) There's nothing better on a birthday then just spending time with your family - except for serving a mission, of course!

Well, as for us, it's been an AWESOME week! You'll never guess where I'm sitting right now.... I got
transferred to Maryvale!!!! WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!! It has been one of the
happiest experiences of my life!! I stepped down from being a sister
training leader, which was kind of a relief. :) No more trainings, I
can just relax and enjoy learning from the meetings now, which I LOVE. And I was
asked to second half train a missionary!! So my new companion has been
out for 7 weeks. Her name is Sister W and I LOVE her! She is the
sweetest, most gentle and positive person I have ever met. She always
has a positive spin about everything, she has such a strong testimony,
and she is really funny too! She has a really cute sense of humor. So
I am so happy to be her companion! I was nervous to train, but as we've started serving together I
honestly feel like she's training me. She came out pre-trained. She's an awesome teacher, and I forget that she's only been out a few weeks. She is sooo awesome!  I am
really excited for this transfer :)

It was sad to leave south Phoenix. I think south mountain ward is the
one I've most loved serving with. I love and miss Bishop and Sister
A, Brother T, and Brother and Sister G. But I am so
happy to be in Maryvale! It's been one of the happiest experiences of
my life, reuniting with the people I loved, served with, taught, and
baptized here :) our first night we got to go see K and J!!!
Their the two sisters sister D and I taught and baptized last May
here! That was sooooo awesome!!!! They are both doing so well - their
active in church, K serves as a young women's leader so she's with
J in young women's, and K is going to byu Idaho this fall!
Her testimony is so strong, and they are just doing soooo awesome.
K is even rooming with sister D there, and I am so excited for
them. :) that was such a sweet reunion! They even made me a welcome
back poster with really sweet notes on it. It was so cute! It's been so special, because I remember in the MTC there was a general authority who talked about how we would be somebody's missionary. All missionaries are special, but the missionaries who first taught you or who you had that first friendship with are sooo special. It's such a sacred blessing to be someone's missionary, and I am SO grateful Heavenly Father gave me that opportunity for K and J, and it really is such a sacred privilege to live up to that, and to continue to be faithful and live the gospel for the rest of my life. 

It's so fun, everywhere we go I have all these fun and awesome
memories. Sister w is an awesome listener, I tell her all kinds of stories every day haha, and I love listening to her too when she shares stories. We did a lot of service this week! I'll write more about that later! But first of all before we left south Phoenix, we taught R one
last time. It was so awesome!! He had an experience last week when he
was in the hospital. He was going through some rough illness, and he
was so down that he just prayed very deeply, with all his heart. When
he was praying, he told us that he received a witness that the bom is
true and that Joseph smith was a prophet. His heart had completely
changed. He said he needed to make God the first priority in his life,
and he said he would come to church this Sunday and do everything he
could to be baptized. It was crazy though because he was going to find
out if he had to go to jail the next day (he had been pulled over
driving on a suspended license, and he's had a rough past). So we
called him the next morning, shared a scripture, and gave him some
encouragement. He brought his bom with him just in case he went to
jail, so he could still read it. But they didn't send him there!!! He
was sooo happy because it meant he could go to church! He is also
preparing for baptism on April 18th. It was such an honor to teach
him. He has a reallyyy rough past, he's never done anything super bad,
but he used to have a reputation in the neighborhood for dealing drugs
and being a gang leader and stuff. So he's going to have to go through
a lengthier interview process. But I am so, so excited and happy for
him. The day we taught him, we shared a video called "lifting burdens"
where the apostles and prophet share their testimony of Christ.
Afterwards, R just started crying. He shared the most powerful
testimony of Christ I have ever heard - so, so humble, and so full of
heartfelt gratitude for his savior, who had helped him through so much
and could forgive him of his sins. It was the most powerful testimony
I've ever heard.... It really strengthened my faith in the atonement
and the power of Christ's sacrifice for us. It was so, so powerful!
I'm so excited for him to be baptized!

It was so fun coming to Maryvale. L, the lady we baptized in south
Phoenix, she had actually moved to the Maryvale ward a while ago, and
brother Torres and bishop Allen were really worried about her. But my
second day in Maryvale we went to go see her, and she was sooo happy
to see us too! It was so awesome!! The sweetest reunions of my life.
:)

We had a stake bbq this Saturday, which was super fun. It's funny - I
went to it last year too, my first week in Maryvale last year! I love
serving in this stake. I'll have served at least 6 transfers in the
Phoenix stake - which is about 9 or 10 months I think? I am SO
grateful! It is such a special area. We did service this week too, we
helped a lady move into some sketchy apts. she's a single mom of 7
kids and she's moving into a tiny one bedroom apartment :( she's
actually an investigator. Their sketchy apartments too, all those odd
smells from people not living the wow and last year it's where one
intoxicated man started yelling at us that Joseph smith wasn't a
prophet. It makes me so sad to see the circumstances some People live
in :(

We are teaching an old man named L who is SO cute!! He's an older Navy veteran whose wife passed away a year ago. His family are members, and they referred him. He's been learning for a few months, and he wants to be baptized!!! He is the cutest man! I love him! He came to the stake BBQ and we got to know him and talk with him. Apparently he loves chickens, and has them trained to crow when he tells them to crow haha. He is very stubborn, but is also so sweet! We brought him to the mission president's fireside last night, and he almost started crying during the testimonies. It was sooooo powerful. K drove us all. It was so funny, afterwards we brought him up to meet President T. Pres T is over 7 feet tall, and Leo is about 5'3 hahaha, just the cutest little older gentleman. It was so sweet to see him shake President's hand, and it meant so much to Leo! His eyes crinkled up and he almost started crying when he shook his hand because Pres. T had shared an incredible testimony, and the Spirit was so strong. It was such an awesome experience!! I'll never forget that sweet handshake I saw :) 

I am just so happy right now. I don't know why Heavenly Father sent me here, but I do know it's been one of the happiest weeks of my entire life. I love my companion. I don't think I've gotten along with a companion so well since Sister R! And Sister D! I have learned SO much. Every day in personal studies, I'm really striving to develop patience and charity. So every morning I read a scripture from those sections in PMG and think of a specific way I can develop patience or charity that day. Being focused on that has made such a huge difference, in my happiness, in the love I feel for others, in the way I look at others and look at situations, and the way I handle difficulties or setbacks. I am so, so grateful for the gospel, and for the Spirit. Something I learned in personal study today is that the Spirit helps us be patient! When we feel the Spirit, it causes us to have joy, to be patient, to love others and seek to understand them and help them. We don't get overstressed or frustrated or offended easily. I hope I can continue to develop those Christlike attributes, even when life gets a little crazy.

It's going to be the best two transfers of my whole mission. :) I think I'll probably end up dying in Maryvale unless they transfer me next transfer. I'm happy wherever the Lord sends me, but I am so, SO grateful he sent me here!! I love the people of Phoenix so much. It is such an honor to serve here, and to serve them.

Well, I love you guys! I hope you have an awesome week! What has been some fun things happening at home? :) I love hearing your stories, and your experiences, the things you learn, and the pictures!!! I love you guys so much! And I am excited to see you again soon. I'm so happy in my area now that I don't even think about going home, it's awesome. But I love you guys and hope you have an awesome week. :)

love,

Sister Whitney Morris

Me and Sister D and K at the MPD!!! I LOVE these ladies!!! One year ago, Sister D and I knocked on K's door for the first time - both of us greenies, fresh on the mission field. It was so, so awesome to see them both again, together. One of the sweetest experiences of my entire life. I can't even describe the joy :) I love them so much!

 

 

Reunion with L :)

 

 

 

Us and L at the mission president's fireside! He is soooo sweet!

 

  

They made me a poster :)

 

 

Reunion with K and J, and my AWESOME companion!!! :D Sweetest moment ever!

 

And group selfie during service! We share our ward with two sets of elders! There are officially 1200 names in the ward, and only 200ish or less come to church. So there is a  TON of work to do!

 

  

Peace out, South Phoenix! I'm going to miss it there!

 

 

 

Our district in south phoenix :) I LOVE and miss these missionaries!!!! Probably my most favorite district in my whole mission! We got super close!

 

 

A hilarious chihauhua sighting.... (notice the signs). yes, it was barking at us.

 

  

The cutest kid ever :) He walked in holding these two puppies and I had to take a picture!! He's the son of a wonderful member in the south phoenix south mountain ward!

 

 

Saying goodbye to R. He is such an awesome man! I'm so excited for his baptism on April 18th! I hope I get to go to that one too. He has such a powerful testimony of Christ, and of the Book of Mormon now!

 

 

3-9-2015

Dear Family,

I loved getting your emails!! I especially loved the pictures of Hannah giving the piglets a bath, and the pics of Jacob as a red lobster!!! Haha, those were hilarious! All the boys are looking soooo tall and old. It's so weird! I was so happy to hear about E's missionary work!!! Wow!!! It makes me so, so happy to see how his new convert fire is still burning bright. He is such an amazing man! I would LOVE to go down with you guys to be with him when he gets endowed, if he's okay with it. :) I loved the diabetes paragraph!!! Holy cow, that is sooooo true!!! Diabetes doctors that I've had have been super judgemental and just mean. There have been a few awesome ones, but a lot of really mean ones who make you feel like you're doing a terrible job. I love how that person let them know how they felt, and told them to not be judgemental. I'm totally going to do that if I get a mean one when I go home! Thanks so much for setting up that apt when you get the health insurance figured out :) I appreciate it! One kind of around DC would probably be best, or one that's close to home!

We received some super cool training this week about using online proselyting from a member of the 70 that I'll write more about later, but one thing he said was to not post negative things about other people. Don't post negativity!!! Post truth, but don't post negativity. I just absolutely loved that. It reminded me of a scripture I read this morning, where Nephi talked about how he shared the plainness of the truth, and the people who had the "spirit of the devil" were the ones who got angry about it. Sometimes truth is hard to hear, but if we are humble and seeking Christ, we will have an attitude that wants to change. We won't get angry or contentious about things. Anyways, he also shared Moroni 7 and talked about sharing goodness, that sharing goodness comes from Christ. I loved that. It reminded me of what you guys have been going through.

I'm so happy it's getting warmer there too! It always makes me smile, here it's in the 80s every day already.... they said it would be in the 90s by next Friday. Everyone's guess is when it will hit 100 - usually it's April or May. It's going to be a big shock coming home :) 

It's been an awesome week! I still don't know if I'm getting transferred, we'll find out either Tuesday or Wednesday. Their switching it up so our p day is in transfer day - Thursday - which makes for kind of a long week, but it's alright! We still get time to email today. 

It has been an awesome week though!

 My favorite part was the technology meeting with Elder PM, of the 70. He is AMAZING. He's from Sweden, so it was fun to hear his accent. He shared incredible spiritual training, and he was also very funny. One funny moment was we had some time for questions and answers. One elder asked if the first presidency is leaning towards us using paper scriptures or electronic scriptures. Elder M looked at him and said, "The Brethren will no sooner answer that question then they will tell you what to eat for breakfast." Haha it was so funny, he said it with a smile, but I felt a little bad for the elder. He gave the most amazing training. The test period for the iPads is officially over, so the church has taken everything they've learned from this experiment and formed a training plan. The training plan takes about 12 weeks,  but the mission president only moves his mission forward to the next step once he feels they've mastered the step their on. So the first step is using it in studies and in lessons, the second step is using it to plan and set goals ( basically using area book), and the last step is online proselyting. So it will probably be 2-3 months before we use Facebook or Skype again. We messaged our investigators online and put them in a chat with a member who could continue to talk with them, and we gave them our myldsmail emails so they can email us. It's a big change, but honestly I haven't felt too big of a difference! 

The meeting was soooo incredible. A few of my favorite things I learned was first, about agency. He talked a lot about how we are free to choose. The closer we are to truth, the more free we are to choose. The further we are from truth, the more our agency is limited. This was interesting - it reminded me of a talk president uchtdorf gave where he talked about a professor who wrote this paper that basically said we don't make choices - our choices are predetermined from our genetics. He talked about how this obviously wasn't true - all of us are free to choose. But I thought that was very interesting. 

He also gave us three equations that I loved. The first is I + God = OK. He taught us that to be close to God, we need to have the spirit with us. That means we need to repent quickly and be baggage free so we can have a close, constant with our Heavenly Father, and always have the spirit with us. The second was + ♥️= OK. (Or mind plus heart equals ok.) He shared the scripture that says a house divided cannot stand. He said discrepancies between our heart and our mind weaken us. I took this to mean that they need to be united, or on the same page. That is SO hard to do sometimes! But I really loved that principle, and I can see how someone could gain so much confidence and strength if their mind and heart are aligned with each other, and are aligned with God.

The last formula was We Say = We Do. He talked about having integrity, and how trust cannot be bought - it can only be earned. He told us to build and be worthy of trust. He said if we do this, we will be missionaries with a high level of integrity. 

The last thing I really loved was he read Moroni 7:16-17. It says 

"16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him."

He then compared this in a way I had never thought of before. He taught us to have the self discipline to always seek out the positive and share good, true, positive success stories. He told us to eliminate negativism from our lives. He promised if we do, there would be a spirit of continuous improvement in our lives. I just loved this, and I'm striving to apply it in my life each day. Part of it that he applied to online proselyting was to never, ever post something unless you feel comfortable with the entire world seeing it, forever. Because things we post never disappear. He also taught us to not post negative things about others. This really made an impact on me. I'm sorry R hasn't learned these principles in her life. We're at different stages of growth, and I feel sad that she hasn't learned those lessons yet - to be kind and grateful.

It was such a powerful training! I love being with the seventies and with the apostles. It's the most amazing feeling. 

We also had some really good lessons this week! The work has been slowing down with investigators going out of town or dropping us. But we have one lady at church who has the cutest kids ever. Her niece just moved in with her, so we taught her the restoration this week. It went really well! She's a neat girl, very serious and smart and helps out her aunt a lot in the house. We helped them paint their house, and that was really fun. 

S's baptism was also this week! It was such an awesome baptism :) She asked me to speak about the Holy Ghost, which I felt like was such a great honor!!! It was such a spiritual baptism! Sister S and I got to go to her ward in Tempe and attend. S was simply beaming with happiness :) The best part was seeing her come up out of the waters of baptism, simply glowing with light and joy! It was soooo beautiful!!! She shared her testimony, and it was so, so powerful. I'm so grateful we could be there with her :) I love being a missionary!!!

Other then that, I forgot my journal, so I can't remember what else happened haha. The weeks are so busy and they fly by! I do have two more things to tell you - so first, I got accepted to BYU Provo!!! Yay!! To be honest I was really surprised, I've heard it's really hard to get into so I thought there would be no way I would get in. That's why I've never applied before :) So that was happy! I'm still seeking the Lord's guidance to make that decision... I think I'm just waiting to see if I get into the art and honors program to make my choice now. But I know Heavenly Father will guide me :) I've learned so much that has helped me know how to make the best choice. I was thinking, this may be a little harsh, but if someone asks to come to my homecoming talk, they need to bring a nonmember friend haha.

Well, as for me, I think that's it for this week :) So much always happens. This Thursday is transfers, so we'll see if I move or not! I love South Phoenix so much. I have been in Phoenix for half my mission now, and I have loved every minute of it. It's such a special area. Oh yeah, last thing! So yesterday the zone leaders and stl's had a stake meeting with our stake presidency. We have one once a month to talk about the work, how the missionaries can support the stake, how the stake can support the wards and missionaries in missionary work, ect. Well, yesterday they talked about family history work! I got to go on my family tree, and I downloaded some of the family stories of some of our ancestors to read during lunch. I found so many cool things!!! One was that one of our ancestors - one of Winnie Mounteer's grandsons I think? Was called to the Arizona Tempe Mission!!! He arrived in the MTC, and when he got there they told him his assignment had been reassigned to Spain! So he didn't actually come here, but he was called to my mission!! How cool is that?! It was really fun to read about her thoughts when Mommy was born, too :) And about Grandpa Mounteer's mission... I never knew he was an AP, and his mission president wrote a really cool letter about the difference he made in some of the cities in Chile. It was really cool to read!!

Well, I love you guys! Thanks for the package!! I'm excited to get it for my birthday. :) I love you all!! I'm so proud of Dexter too, and I hope things are going well with him and Brittany! I'm praying for you all, and I love you all. :)

love,

Sister Whitney Morris

S's baptism!!!! :D :D :D And that's Brother T! He's one of my favorite members! He's the second counselor in the south mtn ward bishopric. He feeds us delicious authentic mexican food all the time. His wife doesn't speak spanish, but he'll send her authentic recipes in spanish to make haha... he actually served his mission here too, a long time ago! We love him! He's hilarious and AWESOME! And S, of course! She is the sweetest person ever! I love her so much! :)

#southphoenixcar #weberollin'inthechurchparkinglot (haha)

I forgot to tell you, I got my trunky call on Friday! That means they called me and asked to verify info for my flight home information. They should be buying my ticket this week and sending the itinerary to you guys. Scary!!! I requested a day or so layover in SLC, but I don't know if they'll let me do that or not. That way I could just see Daddy and Mom and Katharine for a little bit on my way home. I don't know if they'll do it, and I know they'll want me to get released pretty soon. I don't know if you need to set up an appt with the stake president for that or if he'll contact you..... but yeah. just a heads up. :)