It's beginning to feel a lot like Winter...

Helloooooo Everyone!                                                                       1/23/2012

I feel like my emails are SO boring....are they boring? Really, please PLEASE tell me if they are! I know I'm not nearly as witty as my dear Hermana Jensen - not that it's a competition - but I hope that I'm not a "Debbie Downer" (wah-wah). :) This week was CRAZY! We had snow on Christmas Eve, that lasted through Christmas Day, then suddenly it was 50 degrees! The wind - mind you - was still at frigid temperatures, but there was hardly any reason to believe that it wasn't just October or November around here! Strange. Then, suddenly, we had 8+ inches of snow and we were down in nearly single digit weather! :( :( :( It's funny how I moved from one climate in Southern Utah, and yet ended up in the SAME climate in Washington. (I say funny with as much sarcasm is allowed as a missionary! ;) Hahaha.) ANYway, the snow prevented us from using our cute little Toyota sedan, so we parked it and "hoofed it" on foot. We had to borrow shovels from some ward members to dig ourselves out of our driveway/front porch, braved a short drive to the store in the blizzard to BUY shovels, got home safely, then delivered the borrowed ones back to their owners! It was a great way to serve 7-8 people! I was upset that we had to cancel 2 solid appointments with progressing investigators, but I know that we had a great opportunity to meet some non-members in the process. See...the Lord blesses us even when we think a foot of snow is SO not the answer we were asking for! haha. In the process of that whole night, we FINALLY met a referral we have been trying to contact since I got here! We set up an appointment with her for this week! Part of me wants to say that the only reason she let us in is because she saw two bundled, frozen girls standing on her doorstep and couldn't help but feel bad for us!!! The next time we're struggling to make appointments, I guess I'll be praying for a blizzard!!!!! HAHAHA! (Even IF my eyebrows and eyebrows were full of ice and my hair was so wet and frozen that I accidentally SNAPPED a piece off when I tried to de-ice it!!!!!! ;) No worries...plenty of red hair left.)

Another exciting bit of info is that Tony and Jessica scheduled another lesson with us! Tony is USUALLY quite the "chatty Cathy" when we go over, but I think Jessica told him to just sit and listen. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation and our time here on Earth. In Alma we learn that "...this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God." It's interesting when we step back and realize that. It always helps me refocus on what I'm doing in MY life to prepare to meet my Maker, and in turn what I can say and testify about to help others learn what they can do to prepare as well! We talked a LOT about trials and tribulations, and I couldn't help but just feel such a great love for this little family that is struggling finanically, as well as with family drama. I know that the Lord blesses us with trials so that we can know how to help others that come into the same situations. It's funny that I had never really looked at it before in that way, but in retrospect, I know the Lord gave me each of my afflicitions so that one day I would be able to relate to people here in Spokane that needed that help. How amazing is that?...Truly the Lord is aware of each of our situations in life. You never know what the Lord has in store for you as you are struggling. I have been pondering a lot on the idea of the "refiner's fire." It's interesting to know that a refiner sits and watches that metal while it's in the furnace. That he knows EXACTLY how long the ore must sit in that flame to be purified...if it's a minute too soon, there are still impurities and it remains WEAK. Similarly, the Lord sits and watches us as we are purified in our own "fires" of life. When we feel like we've had enough of the flame he won't always pull us out because only He knows how long we must remain in the flame to become as STRONG as we can possibly become. Only He knows our Divine Potential. I love that in the 23rd chapter of Job, he realizes that in the end, he knows he will come out as Gold. Not rock mingled with bits of gold, but a Solid piece of gold. Once ore but now a precious metal. We are ALL precious metal in the eyes of our Saviour. :)

Wow...sorry for the deep thoughts! I wasn't planning on writing all of ^^^that! :) Thanks for listening to the ramblings of a young, inexperienced, tired but JOYFUL missionary! :) Some exciting news that I'd like to tack onto this email is about a new family that we will be teaching this week! Our Relief Society President and her family have been fellowshipping a part-member family for the last 4 years! This little family, the Neimi family, have been utterly dis-interested in the church up until they accepted an invitation to come listen to Elder Holland! :) They LOVED it and have accepted the invitation to listen to the missionaries! :) After talking with the RS Pres. yesterday, they all feel that the time is finally right and that the "right" missionaries are finally here to teach them! ....It's a humbling experience knowing how much faith they have in our calling, and yet how unprepared I feel to undertake such an eternal quest! Please pray that this week my companion and I will know what this family needs and that Sister Morgan can get it through her thick head how the Spirit speaks to her personally!

I've got to run, but I love you ALLLLLL!!! Thank you for everything! :)

Sister Morgan

1 Month Mark??? WHAT?!

Halo!                                                                        1/17/2012

How are my favorite people in the world doing these days, aye?! Man, it's crazy to think about what each of you are doing at any given moment of any given day! :) I just love each and every one of you that take the time to write me a letter or send a quick email. :) It brightens my spirits and gets me through the rough weeks! I guess what I am trying to get at is "THANK YOU"!!! :)

This week has been SO great! It started off quite rough, actually...we had somewhere around 25-30 appointments cancel on us! It was pretty disheartening, to be honest. I'm sure all of you that have served before know the feeling! It's no bueno! Anyway, after 6 days or so of this cancellation business, we decided we needed a spiritually lifting visit to a member's home. Elder and Sister Roos are just awesome...they're full-time service missionaries that actually live within one of our ward boundaries. Sis. Roos just laughed with us and our spirits were lifted! It was just what we needed. After a week like we had, we were even MORE excited for what came on Saturday and Sunday!...If you hadn't already heard, Elder HOLLAND came to the great Washington Spokane Mission!!!!!! Saturday morning we had a special meeting for just Missionaries! Before the meeting he shook each of our hands and talked with us for a minute or two! President Palmer joked about our need to not wash our hands for the next week or so...hahaha. It was such an amazing feeling looking into the eyes of an Apostle of the Lord and having him tell you "Thank you for serving the Lord"...WOW. That meeting was incredibly intense...I mean, INTENSE! The theme of his address could probably be summed up into "When you get home from your missons..." He said that as missionaries, we have not only been through the temple, but we have just spent the last 18-24 months testifying to people of the truthfullness of the gospel - SO, we are in NO WAY allowed to fall away from the gospel or become less-active. In the words of Elder Holland, "DON'T you DARE walk away from this church!...I don't want to meet you years from now and hear you say, 'I was there in the Spokane Mission, but I didn't make it...'" YIKES. I can still hear his voice ringing in my head!!!!! :) Did I mention I was sitting on the front row???...He kept looking at my companion and I....hahaha. It was an amazing experience that I will always look back on! WOW. :)

The General Session the next day was just as fantastic! The message was geared towards the age group of 12-22 ish. He said that those 10 years of our lives determine the next 70 years - or so - of our lives! It's pretty true! I'm just barely out of that age bracket, but it's amazing to see how many experiences we have or how many trials we learn to overcome in such a tender age! How we learn to deal with those and how we develop our relationship with the Lord in that time determines how we will act as Adults. :) Perhaps the crowning cute moment of the General Meeting is when an 11 year old girl that was sitting in front of my companion and I turned around and was talking to us. She introduced herself and looked down at our nametags. Then she did a double-take...before exclaiming, "Are you REAL missionaries!?!?!?!" Sister Everill and I giggled then told her YES! She just oggled at our nametags and in the most heartbroken voice said, "L-U-C-K-Y!!!!!" Hahaha. I told her she only had 9 more years or so and then she'd be able to go herself! Hahaha. SO CUTE! It just brightened my already amazing day! I realized how lucky I truly am to be here...serving the Lord...and sharing the Good News of the Gospel. I know that these 18 months will be ones that I look back on each day. And I owe my heart and soul to many of you for all of your support and help to get me to this point. I know that I saw miracle after MIRACLE when I was scrambling to find a way to serve. It's just a testimony to me that the Lord needed me HERE. :) Man, I love you all!!!!

Speaking of Divine Timing, things here in the South Hill area have boomed! Remember the man I told you about that we met on my first day in the mission field?! Tony? Well, we met with him and his wife last night! We were talking about that day we knocked on his door and he began to tell us about what had happened that day. By the end of his story, I had NO DOUBT that the Lord had guided us to his doorstep because that family needed us! The first time we officially met with them, Tony talked most of the time and his wife quietly listened in. She didn't have too much to say, but we knew that she was interested. We left a Book of Mormon with them and invited them to begin to read it as a family. Well, last night Sister Everill asked Tony if he has been reading much and he told us 'not really. We've been pretty busy trying to find work....' Then to our surprise, his wife Jessica piped in and said, "Well, I've been reading, actually..." <<<< WHAT?!?! Hahaha. I wish I could put into words the excitement that leapt in my heart, as well as the bug-eyed look Tony gave his wife! Hahahaha. It was a MIRACLE! :) He began to explain that he hasn't wanted to push the church or reading on her, so he hasn't talked about it much with her! WOW. I think he felt a bit embarrassed that he hasn't been reading, so we gave him his own copy and invited them again to read. Hahaha. Sheesh...what a crazy night! He called us today and told us to come back soon so that we could talk more about the gospel!.....What an amazing blessing! And to put it all back into perspective...I met him on my FIRST DAY HERE. The Lord knows what he is doing...I just need to learn to trust in his timing! :) Stay tuned for what comes next with this family!!!! :)

Well, I had better get going! Preparation day is coming to a close and I haven't even started writing letters! YIKES! We don't usually have P-Days on Tuesdays, but today we had the opportunity to go to the TEMPLE! YAY!!!!! :) We only get to go every OTHER transfer (So 1 time every 12 weeks). I feel blessed that we get to go as OFTEN as we do because I know that in some missions, they don't have a temple in their mission boundaries. It was the perfect spiritual boost that I needed to jumpstart this week! EsPECially since it started snowing today! :( :( :( It sounds like we have had similar weather to Utah for the last 4 weeks. Mid 60's in January, then suddenly a near blizzard outside today! BOOO! Oh well...I suppose it IS the winter! (But part of me still wishes I was down in good 'ol Argentina for that 95 degree weather right about now! Love ya, Hermana Jensen!!!!)

Well, I love you all!!!!! Keep sending those letters!!!! They mean MUCH more to me than you'll ever know!

Hasta Proximo Semana,

Brenna

Sister Morgan

It's January, right??

Kia Ora!                                                          1/9/2012

How are all of my family and friends back home, aye?! It seems like it's been longer than a week since we talked last! (...Well, since I wrote my last boring email, I mean. Haha.) I hope all is well back in good 'ol Utah. I heard several people here in one of the wards talking about my home state...let's just say most people have lots of misconceptions about Utah. Hahaha. For one, the majority of the state is NOT a desert. YES, we have trees...quite a few, actually. No, the majority of the population is NOT LDS. (Well, I hear the numbers were just barely surpassing 50% this year, is that right?) While Caucasian is the dominant race and nationality, there are still quite a few areas of great cultures to mix things up. I would say here in Spokane things are a LOT less diverse! I don't know if I've mentioned this already or not, but the demographics are 95% Caucasian, 3.999% Russian, 1% Marshallese and .001% African American/Latino. Hahaha. Let's just say the Russian population is very concentrated in my current area. In our supplies of copies of the Book of Mormon and pass-along cards, we have quite a few things in Ukranian and Russian! Pretty cool, really! Maybe I'll pick up a few things while I'm here! (...in the Gru voice that everyone misses so much...) ;)

Since we last talked, we've had quite the rough week here! Most of our appointments and Church Tours that we had scheduled fell through! :( I'd like to blame the EVIL flu/cold that seems to be plagung the population here. It's nasty, whatever it is! We did get the amazing opportunity to take a NEW investigator on a church tour this week, though! I hadn't ever heard of them until I got here, but they're so great! We invited investigators to go through our chapel for a 15 minute tour. It's a really basic breakdown of how everything we do is centered on Christ, we show them our pictures that we have, talk a little about the sacrament, let them feel the spirit inside the chapel (especially when there aren't 1000 screaming children running around...hahahaha), then talk a little about baptism and its importance. When we took Jennifer through, it was amazing to feel the spirit just testify to her. We taught her a 15 minute Restoration lesson, then invited her to be baptized. :) Haha, seems so quick, doesn't it? That's the amazing part...I like to think of the spirit we feel in a church building as an electric guitar that's not plugged in. We can hear it if we're very quiet and know what we're looking for. But, when we are on a church tour, the building is empty and it's like the Spirit is SOO strong! It's like we've plugged that guitar into a box and suddenly everything is amplified!!! (Sorry for the Rock reference, but it's the only way I could really think to put it into words!) Jennifer has been so grateful to have us share what we believe and is interested in learning more. She said at the end of the tour that, "If nothing else, even if I don't join your church, you girls have really made me start thinking about my relationship with God and Christ..." :) Those moments make your heart swell and just LOVE the people you teach even more. :D

The sad news of the week is that one of our Progressing Investigators gave all of the books and material we gave him back and said 'no thanks.' It was SUCH a hard pill to swallow...I'm sure all of you returned missionaries can relate to the experienece. My heart dropped to my toes and I just felt such sadness and sorrow for him. :( I've been praying my little heart out for him that as he begins to attend his old church that he will remember the feelings he had while in our chapel. He knows how much Sister Everill and I care about him and is grateful for all the time we spent with him. It's just hard. Maybe it's just one of those 1/7 interactions with the Missionaries before he has the desire to be baptized. :)

Let's go back to the good news, aye? We have several part-member families that we are excited about! We're really praying that things this week will be better! We have been working with a less-active family that we FOUND while out tracting that has been an amazing situation to watch unfold! :) I'm so excited for them to feel of the power that the scriptures can give them in their lives again as they are struggling to make ends meet financially! :) They have willing hearts and are excited to find the comfort that the gospel can bring. :) It was a miracle within itself that the Lord placed them in our path that day. :)

I've got to get going, unfortunately. Thank you all for your prayers and support back at home! I know that on those days where people are more inclined to slam doors in our faces or "shoo" us away that your support is what brings me comfort. I'd like to give a special 'shoutout' to my fantastic friends Terra and Miss Kiki. Your letters came at a PERFECT time and I know the Lord planned it that way! :) :) :) I'll have to wait until next week to share some insights that I have received this week while observing at church, but until then...I love you!

Sister Morgan

Brenna, Brennie, "B" , BLLSNM or whatever nickname you fancy!

P.S. We get to MEET ELDER HOLLAND THIS WEEK!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :)

 

Hola Everyone!

Wow...it's 2012! So strange! I was thinking about that this morning and just giggled to myself when I realized that maybe we'll find a few more investigators somewhere around November this year...what with Armageddon coming on the 21st of Dec. and whatnot. Hahaha. Oh boy...people are crazy! :)

This second week was pretty......good? Haha. We definitely had some ups and some downs. I don't recall if I mentioned it before, but on my first day tracting we knocked on a few apartment doors trying to find a family, but instead we found a guy named Tony! He seemed really interested and told us to come back. Well, after several days of dropping back by and him telling us that he was sick/the house was a mess/his wife wasn't home/etc we FINALLY set up a new appointment with him. :) It was great sitting down and talking with him and his wife! They've only been married a few years and have one child together, then one each from other relationships. He is from New Iberia/New Orleans, LA (I gave him one "Who Dat" for good measure...hahaha) and she's from Spokane. Anyway, we had a good little lesson and we set up a church tour with them! :) Another new investigator that we have is Jennifer. Sis. Everill and her old companion tracted into her a few weeks before I got here. :) We have a church tour with her tonight! :) So, we have a few new investigators! Hooray!

As for updates, the Three Amigos, as I like to call our C&S house men, are doing well! Darryl is still on date for Baptism and Rob is just an amazing guy! One of the GREATEST miracles this week was walking into our church building and seeing BOTH of them there this week!!!! :) They both looked sharp and Rob, of course, had the biggest smile on his face! - He's like the biggest little kid you'll ever meet! :) Darryl was grinning and was happy to see us. He is about a 6'7" African American that has SUCH a strong testimony of the Atonement of Christ! During Sacrament meeting, it's amazing to me how much I pray and pray and PRAY that they will feel the spirit and have a spiritual experience while they're in the church. It's always so noisy and quirky speakers sometimes make things interesting. As I sat there praying, the most amazing thing happened...the last speaker felt like he needed to share a different story that he didn't really want to share, but he didn't know why he needed to. The story related SO well to both of our investigators and it was just a testimony builder to me that the Lord definitely has investigators best interests at heart as they turn to Him! I was so excited when Darryl and Rob both decided to stay for Sunday School and Rob even stayed for Priesthood! SO COOOOOL! :)

I told you about a few of the ups, but there were definitely some rough patches this week. On one day, EVERY single one of our appointments fell through and we had hours and hours to tract. It was a hard pill to swallow. Our numbers had been really low this week compared to the week previous and I was definitely feeling blue. Well, as we perked up and went out we had a really cool experience. We got to a slightly sketchy part of our area and we found a creepily tucked-in house back in the trees. We looked at each other and questioned whether it was safe or not, but in the end we found ourselves knocking at the door. Hahaha. Oh dear. When a non-scary guy opened the door, we were relieved! My first instinct was to think that he was a member of the church! As we talked to him, we found out he had been baptized when he was 8, then stopped going to church when he was 10 or 11! His wife isn't a member and they've been considering going to a church! (Man, does the Lord prepare people!) He gave us his number and asked to call back to set up a church tour appointment! It was an exciting find amidst our day of upsets! :) One of those tender mercies/miracles moments.

Later that night, we had a REALLY rough experience. We were following up on a referral from an Elder in our district on two families who has a sister that is a member. The first house was...interesting...hahaha. We knocked and suddenly we heard people yelling at us from the 2nd story window...yeah, they didn't even come to the door! hahaha. Anyway, they began to explain to us that they believed in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, none of the Mormonism stuff. It's always interesting how we believe the same thing as other people, yet they don't see it! They told us that they're Born-Again Christians. We thanked them for their time and headed to the second house. When we got there, we realized the previous people must have tipped these guys off because they had a "speech" prepared for us Mormon Missionaries. :/ We talked on the doorstep for about 5 minutes before he invited us in out of the cold. We should have seen it coming...he drilled us for about an hour about what WE believed. Needless to say, it was an exhausting event. We walked back to the car and my initial reaction was to curl up in a little ball. We had tried our hardest to bear our testimonies and not be affected by what he had to say, but it was definitely hard.

That night, I sat contemplating the events of the day and Richard (the Born-Again that drilled us) wouldn't leave my mind. At that moment, though, I felt a wave of peace come over me. I knew that he had brought up a lot of things that could have shaken my testimony, and yet at the end of the night I KNEW - more than I ever have known before - that Christ is my Savior. That prayer IS a two-way communication with the Lord. That the Book of Mormon is TRUE. That we must do more than just have faith in Christ...we must also have good works. I knew that I must live the commandments to be able to return to my Heavenly Father and that we ARE accountable for our actions. In a nutshell, I knew that that experience we had with Richard was a blessing in disguise. His whole purpose that night was to shake to young women of their testimonies and beliefs, yet without meaning to he completely STRENGTHENED them. Without that test of my faith, I could not have felt that growth. :D The Lord works in mysterious ways, my friends and family. Miracles DO happen - I see them unfold before my eyes every single day. We just have to have the faith that He can work miracles and we must pray for them with that perfect faith! :) As our MTC Branch always said, "Obedience brings blessings - Strict obedience brings miracles!" I love this gospel and the opportunity I have to serve the Lord at this time in my life! I've only been out for 1 month and I can honestly say that if you've considered a misson, DO IT!...It's such an amazing experience! :)

I had better run, but I'm uploading some pictures on here. Some of them are a bit random, but they're just a glimpse into the life of our fun little companionship! Hahaha. The mailbox is a bit of a long, funny story. To make it short, I was so excited to finally get a package and Sis. Everill got her Departure Travel Plans that I forgot to get the keys out of the mailbox. About 5 miles later and no keys to the church building we realized what happened! haha. Thankfully when we drove all the way back, the keys were still sitting there, untouched. The Lord was looking out for us. We thought it was funny. The piggie picture was just fun. They were HUGE pot-belly pigs and loved the visitors! The tree is our small Charlie Brown tree! It brought the Christmas spirit into our apartment! The other is of Sis. Everill and I out driving to an appointment! :) We have some great laughs everyday. We joke that our companionship was definitely a "match made in heaven!" Haha. That is a HUGE blessing within itself!

I love you all and hope to hear from you soon! If you haven't already written a letter, please do! I would LOVE to hear how you're doing! If writing is too hard for you, shoot me an email by Sunday night! :) (Letters are much better, though!)

Sister Morgan

 

P.S. On the 15th of this month we get to have.....Elder Jeffrey R. Holland....at our STAKE CONFERENCE! IN PERSON! We get to take our investigators to listen on the front row! How amazing is THAT?!?! :) Loves!

 

(Sorry, I'll figure out how to flip these for next time!)