Week 25: Finding Faith in Christ

January 30, 2017

This week was so awesome! I received revelation throughout the whole week for how I can become a better missionary. Hearing from the leaders of the stake I am in and general authorities in the missionary department was uplifting and strengthened my testimony.

This last pday was a crazy workout. We went to a hike in the Springs called the Incline and man it was crazy. It is the mile long walk that is so steep. It took 45 minutes of lower body pain to get to the top but it was such a great view when we got there. Another zone in the mission went and I met a bunch of other missionaries that are so cool. It is awesome to be serving with so many good people. 

We had the Missionary World Wide Broadcast this week as well. It was really inspiring. We kind of sat in on one of their meetings and got to listen to general authorities talk about the missionary work in the world. The theme was "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts." I learned a lot from them and there were also some changes in missionary schedule and stat reports made. It allows us to have more flexibility and a better focus on the work of the Lord. 

Highlight of the week for me was probably watching the "Finding Faith in Christ" video with a member family in the ward. It struck me pretty hard and my testimony of Christ's love for us was very strengthened. It is a real privilege to be able to take that message to people.

I gained a stronger testimony of the Lords promise in Ether where he says "come unto to me and I will show you your weakness." As I have tried to come to our Lord, I have realized so many more of my weaknesses but it is true what He says that he will make "weak things become strong."

This Sunday was also just great. We had a ton of returning members to church and 2nd and 3rd hour we had a member of the stake presidency give a presentation on parenting that changed how I would like to raise my family in the future. 

Well hopefully everyone will have a fantastic week! Love you!

Elder Morgan

Me and Elder Heywood, a missionary I came out with

Elder Davies, one of my zone leaders from England

Week 24: Zone Conference & Exchanges

January 23, 2017

This was one of the best weeks of my mission! I learned so much and it was just a fun week! We were able to attend our Zone Conference and go on exchanges with the zone leaders so that made it go by pretty fast. 

Zone Conference was so great! It is pretty long but the spirit is so strong there and I got a lot of reveltaion for how to become a better missionary. I definitely felt the need to involve Jesus Christ and repentancce in teaching people more and staretd doing that this week. It brought the spirit into lessons so well when we testified about Jesus Christ's redeeming power and the need to use his atonement through repentance.

Going on exchanges was a big highlight of the week. I went with Elder Tillman up to the springs and I just learned so much that day. I have loads of respect for Elder Tillman and learned so much about how I can be a better leader. It was an amazing miracle because when we had a bit of extra time, we were able to go tracting and literally every door we knocked on led to a lesson and a new investigator! We got 6 new investigators in like an hour!!! It was so dang cool and I questioned if i was dreaming or not. 

We also had a great miracle happen this week with an investigator family. Jordan is 17 and can't seem to keep herself out of trouble. She has been in and out of jail for a while and got caught sneaking out again and was sent to a foster home. It was great though because she was sent to another family that is in our ward and now is coming to church and youth activities and it will be great for her! 

Chruch was also a miracle because we had 3 investigators there! So cool! I just really love serving out here and being a missionary! I know this is God's work and that He loves us.

Anyways I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and remembering Jesus Christ! I love you all!

Elder Morgan

Jonah & Elder Tillman

Just a super sketchy neighborhood that we were looking for someone in but I would bet the farm that most everyone there was cooking meth, haha

Jonah, Elder Zaugg, Elder Coverly

Week 23: Zone Training, School Teacher

January 16, 2017

Well it has been an awesome week! I can't believe how fast everything goes by! We had Zone training this week which made it go by extra fast. It was also a real blessing this week to be able to exercise the priesthood and give a few blessings to some members and nonmembers. 

Zone Training was really inspiring and I was really impressed with how well they taught. It stuck out to me that the motivation of missionary work should be love. When we love those around us, we are more motivated to share the awesome message of the gospel with them! I have definitely noticed that as I have been a missionary, I am a lot more bold with people when I remember how important our message is. 

I had an awesome experience this week when we were contacting a referral. It was at a college and we were invited in by the referral to teach him in a classroom. While we were teaching him about the restoration of the gospel like 3 other people just came in and started listening! It was so cool and we got to answer a bunch of questions and they asked us to come back. The Lord really does bless us with people to teach when we strive to be worthy of those blessings. 

We have an investigator that is so great! His name is Matthew and we met him tracting. After the first lesson he committed to be baptized and I am so excited for him! He works on Sundays right now which is a bummer but he will have a schedule change in February. 

It was a bummer deal but I found out a few weeks ago that Nathan (a guy I taught in 2nd ward) had stopped going to church! I was sad about that but I saw him in the hallways at church yesterday! So that was really nice.

Other than that it has just been a really fun week spreading the word and serving those in Canon City! It has been a real blessing coming to know my Savior so much better as I am on a mission. Anyways, have fun everyone!

Love,

Elder Morgan

Jonah vs Elder McFarlane

Elder McFarlane Wins!

Week 22: Goals

January 9, 2017

Well the holidays are over and it was just great to be able to celebrate them while serving the Lord! This was a great week and we had a lot of fun spreading the word! We made some awesome new goals and are excited to continue the work in Canon City 1st Ward.

It was funny because we had so many bike problems this week. Just about everyday we had a flat tire or some other problem. Luckily I never had any problems but my companions had a bunch! Probably the funniest one was when Elder Zaugg rode his bike into a huge snow drift in an attempt to jump it and ended up cracking the frame of his bike haha. But still the work of the Lord goes on!

I was able to be part of a real cool miracle this week as well. One of our investigators, Caleb was feeling pretty sick so we were able to give him a blessing. The next day we saw him and he was completely healed! The best part was he realized that it was the power of God that did that! 

This week we also got Elder McFarlane in our district and dang this guy is tall. He's like 6'7 and I'm pretty sure I'm a legal midget when I stand next to him! Our district is so fun though and we made some killer goals for this transfer that I am so excited to carry out!

I am pretty excited that the holidays are over now because so many people said to come back after the holidays! We have an awesome teaching pool and there are a lot of prepared people here that are ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We started doing this program with a family in our ward called the Light House Program and it is going to be awesome! It is a 6 week program where we teach lessons and leave them with challenges that eventually lead up to them inviting someone to take the missionary discussions! I love working with the members so I am happy to be trying it out!

Other than all that it has been a fun but week though a bit slow. As a companionship we set some goals that will definitely make us stretch and hopefully help us to become the best missionaries we can be. I have learned so much on my mission and I'm only 5 months in! It is amazing how much the gospel makes sense and my testimony of it has grown so much. I can testify that Jesus Christ is at the head of this church and loves everyone of us.

Well I hope everyone is having fun, love you!

Elder Morgan

Beautiful Churches

Beautiful Country

Week 21: Happy New Year & New Year's Eve Baptism

January 2, 2017

Golly this week went by in a flash! It was a fun week and it was nice to be serving during this holiday season! 

Transfers are this week and luckily I am not being transferred! I really love serving in Canon City 1st Ward and was pretty sure I would be transferred! I was happy when we didn't get a call. The only one getting transferred in our district is Elder McCleve, he is going to East stake. I get to serve as the district leader too. 

New Years was pretty laid back. New Year's Eve we weren't allowed to go out much so we went to a Catholic mass that evening and that was pretty neat. New Year's Day we went to a few member's and investigators houses and it was awesome. We went to the Carr's house and they are the nicest people you'd ever meet. They have been investigating the Church for quite a while but I think they will come around.

The highlight of the week was definitely the baptism of Hunter. He is an awesome guy that we have been teaching for about a month and a half. On Thursday he decided to be baptized the next day and that was so cool. It was really last minute but was still attended by a lot of people. He was so prepared for the gospel and it was so cool to see him enter into that covenant with God. 

Hunter's Baptism

On New Year's Day Hunter was confirmed a member of the Church and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost and that really just made it a special New Year for me. Then both Kyle and Hunter were able to get the Aaronic priesthood and that was so neat. I'm so happy for them. 

Well it was a great transfer and I plan on making this next one even better. My testimony is constantly strengthened that this is Christ's Church. The Gospel of Jesus Christ really is the way to happiness and joy. Sometimes we don't notice God's hand in our lives but I can testify that he is always helping along the way. 

Anyways love you all and happy New Year!

Love,

Elder Morgan