Week 33: Hardcore Tennis, Westcliffe, and John

March 27, 2017

Well this week was just peachy! I survived transfers! Elder Garton and I are staying here in Pueblo so that is good. 

So this week I experienced my first class one hurricane! During the night it was super windy and the next day, there were a ton of trees uprooted and houses damaged. Luckily nothing happened to our place but now we may have some good service opportunities fixing fences and stuff so that will be good. I also found out that Pueblo is #1 in the nation for most heroin overdoses and some other drug related problems which I would have never guessed from living here. But that just means the field is white and already to harvest! 

It was also kind of a bummer this week because one morning this week we were playing tennis for our morning workout and Elder Garton got a little too excited or something because he swung to hard, lost his balance and fell on his leg. he has been on crutches for the past few days and is getting it looked at today. So that hasn't been super fun for him but hopefully he will recover soon. 

One fun day of this week was going up to Westcliffe for exchanges. I went with Elder Tome up there and it was an awesome day! Westcliffe is probably the prettiest place I have been in the mission so far. It's a small town right next to the mountains, definitely hope I get to serve there some day! Elder Tome is awesome though and we had a fun time spreading the good news.

I think the highlight of this week was going and teaching John. He is just so prepared. We had a lesson with him last night that went so well! It was by candle light because his power is out so that was cool. He expressed that he was committed to this faith now and he accepted a baptismal date for April 29th, super excited for him!

It was a pretty awesome week and I am thankful to be serving here. I felt my testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, grow a lot this week. It was fun. Anyways hope everyone is doing well and having fun!
Love,

Elder Morgan

Jonah & Elder Tome in Westcliffe, CO

Elder Garton on crutches from a hardcore tennis accident

Jonah and his "girlfriend"

Week 32: "Well, I already know it's true..."

March 20, 2017

This was an great week! We have been so busy lately, it is awesome! This week we went on a couple exchanges met some amazing people. And the weather has been perfect, 70's-80's!

We started the week with exchanges in La Junta. I went with Elder Tallman to his area in La Junta and it was a good day. La Junta is the biggest area in the mission and is probably as big as a few of the other zones in the mission, crazy! Elder Tallman is great though and I learned a lot from him. Then the night we got back, we went on exchanges again with Pueblo West. I stayed in our area with Elder LaRose. We had a ton of appointments fall through but still ended up having a fun and spiritual day. Elder LaRose just finished being an AP so it was good to learn from him. 

One bonus to serving in this area is we get a ton of media referrals that we get texted about through the week. We went and contacted Patrick from one of these referrals and it was awesome! He is such a stud. He moved here from Arizona and was taking the missionary lessons there. He would go to the temple everyday before work to pray and man he is just so prepared, he believes everything is true already! He struggling with an addiction but I know that as he relies on Chirst, he can get through it. So excited to be teaching him! 

It was also a really cool experience because we finally got a hold of an investigator that we hadn't seen for a couple weeks and were able to teach her for the second time. We taught her about the Plan of Happiness and when we asked her to pray to know its truthfulness she said "well I already knows it's all true so why do I have to pray about it?" That response  made me pretty happy to hear but we encouraged her to pray about it anyways! 

Anyways I hope that everyone is having a blast and saying their prayers and reading their scriptures! Love you all! 

Elder Morgan

Week 31: 7 Months & an Ex-Con Baptism

March 13, 2017

Golly the weeks go by so quickly! This week has been so great! It was successful, busy and way fun! We had more exchanges, a baptism and lots of other awesome missionary experiences! 

To start off the week I went on exchanges with Elder Laga. He is a great missionary and I came out with him so it was good to get to know him a bit better. We had a great day, he came to my area and we had fun finding and teaching people. it was a real cool experience because on the way out of the apartment I had a prompting to knock on our neighbor's door which led to us being able to teach the message of the restoration to him along with him becoming a new investigator! His name is Jimmy and he is hilarious and such a nice guy. It was a cool experience. 

Elder Laga & Jonah

Another cool experience we had this week was being able to contact a referral a couple days ago. We went with a recently returned missionary and contacted Doroto and John, they are so cool. They were very open about some marital and other problems they have been having and were so glad to see us. We were able to promise the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their family and see them going from a bit dreary at first to enthusiastic at the end of our visit. They committed to be baptized in the future and I am just excited about them! 

Definite highlight of the week was being able to have the baptism on Friday! This man had been waiting for 7 years to be baptized and I felt so privileged to be able to teach him and see him finally enter into the covenant of baptism. The service went so well. Elder Garton was able to baptize him and it was just a fantastic experience. he was then confirmed and given the Aaronic priesthood on Sunday. He is so great and I am so excited for him and his family. Side note, his family was actually being taught by the missionaries while he was being taught in prison without him knowing. They also didn't know that he was being taught and when they found out that they both were studying with the LDS church, they took it as a sign of truthfulness, so cool! So his family was actually baptized 7 years ago.

Well boy it was such a fun and spiritual week. It was definitely a testimony to me that this is Christ's church and he is very involved with the work of salvation. well I hope everyone is doing fantastic, I love you!

Love,

Elder Morgan

More Info sent 4/10/17:

Ok so he was in prison for 7 years. During his stay, a member of the church was a fellow inmate with him and began teaching him the gospel. Brother Benavidez took a while to come around but eventually realized that it was true. He just studied the Gospel for the rest of the time the was in there. I think he read the BOM 2 times by the time he got out. While in prison his wife and 3 kids were being taught by the missionaries without him knowing, they met them at the park. Then Brother Benavidez told him wife that he had been studying the Mormon faith and she told him that she had been too. So his wife and three kids were baptized around his 2 year mark in prison. Once he got out, he started coming to church and the missionaries finally started meeting with him and they had one lesson with him before I got here. He is on parole so he had to be interviewed by the Mission President and approved by Salt Lake before he was able to be baptized. Then he was finally baptized, super cool. He started a business and named it 'A Fresh Start' after his baptism, pretty cool.

Week 30: Some good leadership experiences

March 6, 2017

This was such a fun week and probably the quickest one of my mission so far! We were so busy with MLC, Zone Training, Stake meetings and exchanges. It made it pretty hard to schedule appointments with everyone because our days were already so filled up. Now this next week is already stacked as well! 

So to start off this week, we had MLC (mission leadership training) which was so dang cool. It is a meeting with all the Zone Leaders, Assistants and the Mission President and Wife. We talked about the allegory given in Jacob 5 and then did a bunch of training on how we could help the mission to improve and what we should bring back to our zones for zone training. It was way spiritual and yet a lot of fun. President Rehm is just so cool and I always learn a lot from him. They also fed us breakfast and lunch so that was a bonus. 

For Zone Training, we were able to pick the things out of MLC that we felt we should take back to our zones. So we spent some time preparing for that. We had Zone Training on Friday and it went so well. We taught doctrine on spiritual self reliance and faith and then trained on some things discussed in MLC. I was a bit nervous at first but once we got started, it was just a spiritual experience. 

It was a great experience being able to attend a Stake Coordination Meeting. It was a meeting with the Stake Presidency, President Rehm and one of his counselors and Elder Garton and I. It was great seeing how such spiritual people operate. We talked about the missionary work in the stake. 

We then went on exchanges with the elders in Walsenburg. I went with Elder Stark to Walsenburg and it was way fun. Elder Stark just finished being done as an Assistant to the President so it was helpful being able to learn from his experience.

The other highlight of this week was being able to continue to meet with the brother who is being baptized. I am so excited he is able to be baptized and man he is just so prepared. his baptism will be this week!

I have definitely grown a lot this week and I have felt my testimony of the Gospel and Jesus Christ strengthened. i am thankful to be able to serve here. Anyways love you all! 

Elder Morgan

Elder Garton & Jonah sent to us from a member they were eating dinner with

Another of Elder Garton & Jonah

Sister Allen & Jonah. She is an Office Missionary