Week 7: Blessings in Tracting

September 26, 2016

This was a really great week and I can't believe I've been in the field for a month now! We saw a lot of amazing miracles this week and I'm thankful that the Lord has let me be part of them. 

We started off the week with interviews down in the Springs and that was great. President Rehm is a great mission president and I love him and his wife to death. Sister Rehm is easily the most brutally honest person I've ever met though, she does not take any bad behavior from missionaries and isn't shy about voicing it haha. 

This week my trainer also had temple jubilee which happens at your half way point and you are able to go attend the temple and have a fireside. Elder McCleve and I held down the fort in Florence and had an awesome day on our own. There are really a lot of great people that are ready for the gospel here in Colorado and the Lord has definitely been guiding us to them. We are teaching 6 people who have baptismal dates in October so it's going to be an awesome month! 

I really gained a stronger testimony this week that the Lord is guiding us to his elect that are ready to receive the gospel. We ran into David while tracting last week and were able to teach him on Thursday and he has been so prepared to be taught. He said stuff like "I just feel like there is something missing in my life and you guys have what can fill it" and "I prayed the other day to know God's will and then you guys knocked on my door, so now I have to listen to you" He also sat down with his Mom the night we made initial contact and read through the Book of Mormon with her for 2 hours! We were able to teach him the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he committed to be baptized on October 15th! My companions and I were pretty excited after that lesson to say the least. 

David

Another amazing experience we had this week was also while tracting (seems like all the cool/funny stories happen while tracting). We knocked on this lady's door and she opened up and invited us in. We learned that she had been excommunicated over 20 years ago after she went off the deep end when her 18 year old daughter died. She said that she thought the spirit led us to her and I 100% agreed with her. She hasn't been to church since she was excommunicated but has really wanted to come back but felt unworthy and we were able to help her realize that it's never too late to come back and now she has committed to taking the lessons and being baptized again! It was so cool because I felt prompted to offer her a blessing and she just started crying because she had eye surgery a few days ago and is having surgery again soon and was really worried about it and the day we came she had thought to herself that she needed a blessing but didn't have any means of getting one so we were able to leave her with a blessing. It was an amazing experience and we were very excited about it.

This is definitely the Lord's work and I'm just happy that I can be a part of it. I hope everyone is doing well!

Love,

Elder Morgan

Animals Everywhere!

Still Buff

Week 6: Another Fantastic Week!

September 19, 2016

Man this has been an amazing week! It seems like everyday is better than the next and everything just goes by so fast! Days go by in a flash and weeks go by in a day, it feels like I just emailed yesterday. But I am just really loving being a soldier in the Lord's army!

This week started out with exchanges with the Zone Leaders, who are super cool. Elder McCleve and I stayed with Elder Ward while Elder Rogers went up to the Springs for the day and it was a great experience to have a different trainer for a day. It was a funny day though because we had a jam packed day planned out but literally every one of our appointments fell through until dinner that day so we just still worked as hard as we could and the Lord blessed us with success. I've honestly been amazed at the success that the Lord has given us, it's awesome! 

They also had this really big pioneer day celebration on Saturday with a huge parade and festival thing in the park next to our house. We were able to contact there and it was fun to have so many people to talk to. 

The people here are just great though. We get fed a lot and on Thursday we were fed for all three meals and I almost threw up because I have no self control and ate so much I thought I was pregnant. I'm actually starting to think it's a law here to have dogs because everyone has at least two and I keep getting scared because I won't see the dog until it's 5 ft from me and it starts barking! We met some pretty funny people while tracting this week as well, like a druidess, satanic worshiper and a family of self proclaimed heathens and they were all actually nicer than a lot of the Christians that I had met. We also were able to sing in sacrament meeting this Sunday. We sang "Come Thou Fount" with the sisters and I think it went pretty well.

Being on a mission has made me grow up really fast though. It is really cool to see myself changing so quickly. I'm definitely becoming more bold because I know how special and important the message we are bringing is. And I finally understand why missionaries are so persistent now: because their salvation is on the line! It's been easy to knock again after they slam the door in your face or follow them around their house because they need to know about the awesome message of Jesus Christ and His restored Gospel!

It was super funny though because we knocked on this one door that had the door open but the glass screen closed and after a minute or so this super naked old guy walks into view and I don't think he heard us knock because he seemed just as surprised as we were when he saw us haha. We got off that porch pretty fast.

The work is going well though. We have a ton of investigators but that hard part is like 2/3 of them are pretty flaky and aren't there when we come back for a return appointment. But we still have a bunch of investigators that I am really excited about. We are actually teaching 3 pastors right now which is so cool! I mean they aren't dragging us to the font by any means but the spirit can soften anyone's heart so I'm praying that it will work out. My faith is strengthened everyday and I have a strong testimony that this is the Lord's work and all I can do is make sure I am being obedient and diligent so that the Lord can work through me. My companions and I are still getting along really well. Elder Rogers and I have everything in common and Elder McCleve and I have absolutely nothing in common, yet I love being around them both. They are really hardworking and just great guys.

Anyways I hope everyone is doing well and I love you! 

Elder Morgan

Hook 'em Horns!

Everyone has a house pet here!

More tree carvings

Week 5: Tarantula Hawks, Carved Trees, and Nathan

September 12, 2016

Being a missionary is so awesome! This past week has been so great and faith building! The weeks are going by really fast now and the Lord has really been blessing us to be able to see a lot of miracles. We set pretty big goals as a companionship and somehow the Lord is helping us to accomplish them! 

We still did a lot of tracting this week and got a ton of investigators which is just so awesome! We started teaching a family where both the parents are pastors, they are so cool and they didn't even try and bible bash so that's wonderful. The people here are so nice and a lot of them are really accepting of the gospel and if they aren't they are still really nice about it. I've really gained a testimony that the field is white and already to harvest.

Florence, where we are living, is definitely growing on me. Its an awesome little town with tons of great people. There's this lady that goes around and carves these trees into amazing sculptures and they are all over the place, I'll send some pics. There are definitely some crazies here that we meet tracting though so that makes it really​​ fun. 

Carved totem poles

My companion, elder McCleve totally got bitten by a dog on Friday! We were just walking around and this dog came up behind us an bit his leg but then the next house we knocked, we found another awesome family to teach so now Elder McCleve thinks if we get bit by dogs, we automatically get a family of investigators haha. My companions and I get along really well though, they are super cool. And they are actually both from the same town in Arizona! My trainer Elder Rogers has been out for a year and has trained 3 other missionaries, he''s a pretty awesome trainer. He really reminds me of my siblings so we have a great time for sure.

We get fed almost every night and they are all really good cooks so I haven't had any gross food. And there are grasshoppers literally everywhere, seriously everywhere. They also have these crazy bugs called tarantula wasps, where a wasp lays its eggs in a tarantula that is stuns and then they come out like these huge black wasps. One of the members here caught on and I got a picture with it that I'll send. 

Tarantual Wasps!

The investigator that we are teaching that I'm most excited about right now is Nathan. He is so prepared and so accepting of the gospel. We had such a spiritual lesson last night and he came to church and loved it. His baptismal date is the 31st of this month and I'm so stoked.

Nathan

Everything else is going amazing though. I've had the goal this past week to have a smile on 24/7 and that's been going good, It's pretty easy to stay smiling when you're bringing people the best news ever! Being a missionary is just the best thing ever though. The spirit is always with you, your faith is growing in leaps and bounds and you're just out on the Lord's errand, it's groovy. Anyways, I love you all and hope you are doing wonderful! 

Love,

Elder Morgan

Week 4: Safe Arrival in Colorado Springs

September 10, 2016

Dear family,

So these people just told me to go on a email you guys and tell you that I made it safely here. From what I've seen so far (like an hour's worth) the MTC looks like its going to be awesome!! I'm about the meet my companion for these three weeks and I'm pretty excited about that. I've also got this dot on my name tag that lets everyone know I'm new and why I look like lost and confused everywhere. I've probably heard "welcome to the MTC!!!!!!!" 50ish times because of it haha. Ill probably just keep the dot on the whole time cause I like saying hi to everyone. I also met my teacher around 15 minutes ago and she's pretty cool. All the teachers here all newly returned missionaries. For the most part I feel really comfortable here, although its really hot outside walking around with a suit jacket. Anyways that's pretty much it, love you! 

Love,

Elder Morgan

Sent to us from someone on a shuttle on their way to the airport

At the airport

Just arrived!