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!)

Brenna's Most Recent Info...

"......First, I made it to Spokane safely. Transfers were crazy the last two days, but I'm finally settled in at my new apartment with my rad new companion! Sister Everill. She's from Riverton, UT and we're gettin along just great so far! We've already had several awesome experiences with Investigators! It's been less than 24 hours, and miracles already! Can you believe it?!......

Here is my mailing address: (though you can still send mail to the mission home), 3728 1/2 E. 27th Street, Spokane, WA 99223 (Yes...that's a half street...hahahaha)."

We'll get to talk to her on Christmas Day!! Yay!

"I'm Gonna Be a REAL Real Missionary!!!!"

HELLO EVERYONE!!!! :)

Wow...I know that I use that word multiple times in every email that I write, but it's honestly all my brain can come up with after a full day here at the MTC! Ah! Haha. It's frustrating that we only have 30 minutes to write home on Preparation Day because I feel like I have SO much to tell y'all about life as a missionary! I start writing down funny things that happen here or think of spiritual experiences that I'd like to share...and then when I sit down at the computer and see that little "time bomb" ticking, I have an anxiety attack! AH! Hahaha. For all of you return missionaries, I'm sure you can relate...and for all those that are anticipating a mission in the near future - practice your WPM typing skills while you can! ;) Hehehe.

Well, let's see...what can I share with you today?!...got it. This week was hard, frustrating, exhausting and painful....and yet so exciting, comforting, and spiritually uplifting all at the same time! I had many missionary friends back at home that prepared me for this sort of mixture of emotions on a daily basis...so I feel like I have anticipated it well. I guess it doesn't surprise me at all that you can feel all of those emotions in one whole day (...cause let's face it...we women do that even when we're NOT missionaries!) but it's more of the....magnitude?...of the range of emotions. (I don't know if that makes any sense!) Let me explain:

Progressing Investigators: We meet specific ones on specific days. Sometimes we only get to have ONE lesson with them and then it's a new person the next time! SO, as Sister Morgan, this is what goes through my head!

-AH!!!! Someone I don't know!!!!

-Calm down, self!! You do this ALL the time!

-Okay, you're right. So, if we don't know them, what are we going to prepare to teach them?

-Let's Pray!

-...You're so smart, self!

-Okay, let's do this! The Lord has confidence in you, so have confidence in yourself!

Meeting the Investigator: (Thoughts that come into my head)

-Hey, I can really relate to this person! I feel like I am already starting to love them!

-...How can I love someone I just met?!...crazy...

-Oh no!...This person REALLY needs to hear the message of the gospel! They will be SO happy to know that their lives can be so much more joyful!

-...Now I feel SOOOO responsible for helping them to understand and come to know their Savior!

-I LOVE THEM!!!...What ELSE can I do to help them!!

-It's time to leave, but I just want to stay all night and share everything with them!!!!

Bedtime:

-(Brushing my teeth) Hmmm...they need to hear about the Plan of Salvation...

-(Still brushing my teeth) I wonder if they know how much I already love them?

-(Walking around the dorm in a daze)...Or we could teach them about ______...

Dreams:

-WHY AM I DREAMING ABOUT MISSIONARY WORK?! Hahahaha

So, there you go. I don't know if ANY of that makes ANY sense, but needless to say...Investigators become a part of every thought you have. You worry about meeting them and how you are going to teach them...at times you feel insignificant and think that you're too weak to express the Lord's gospel properly. Then, as soon as you meet them, you feel such a LOVE for them that can only come from our Heavenly Father. You lose sleep over how you can serve them and help them know they are loved and that God is aware of their needs. Then...you pray...with ALL of your heart that you can prepare a lesson and have the spirit guide you to say those things that will touch their heart! :) The craziest part about it all is that I'm only in the MTC! And these "investigators" are usually teachers or members of the church that are posing as investigators! I can only imagine how I'll feel when I'm out with REAL REAL investigators with REAL needs!

Funny enough...one of our investigators is SO great. Her name is Hely Meza, and we taught her 4 times while here. She's quite a "chatty Cathy", so we don't usually get much of a lesson in. This drives my Companion NUTS because she feels like we're wasting time letting her tell us about her problems. BUT, just this last time we met with her, I TRULY realized that by letting her talk and explain herself, she answered SO many of her own questions and REALLY progressed! She has 5 children, 3 of which have various types of special needs. One has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair. She struggles to stay afloat emotionally, as well as physically, trying to keep up with all three. You can see it in her eyes that she needs MORE than what she has. As we have been teaching her, we challenged her to begin reading the Book of Mormon in the morning for just 5 minutes, and promised that she would recieve an added measure of strength to get through her days. When we asked her about it on Thursday, she said that she isn't reading much because she feels like she gets SO much out of just a verse or so! (WHICH IS AWESOME!!!!). Also on Thursday, as we were teaching her, I felt like I needed to tell her about fasting...yeah, fasting...We haven't even gotten through a full lesson about the plan of salvation. Anyway, I went with it and told her that if she went without food and prayed with faith that the Lord would help them find their missing daughter, that he WOULD answer that prayer! Well, after we talked about her BOM reading, she told us how she remembered what we had told her about "fasting" and tried it out because she couldn't think of ANYTHING else to do in her desperation. Well, that next night, that prayer was answered! :)

Just thinking about how she wept with gratitude and the spirit that we felt in the room warms my heart. We were all crying, to say the least, and I felt so grateful that the Lord granted that miracle. At the end of the lesson she was SO excited to learn more, when I told her that it was our last time meeting with her! She was so upset!...She said, "I know the Lord has blessed me with you two angels...what am I going to do when you are gone?!" I just cried! I suddenly realized that she MAY NOT be a member! (Actually, I'm quite certain that she is a REAL investigator!!!) So, I gave her my mission address and promised we woulld send someone along to help her!!! How amazing is that?!

I have to run!!!! AH!!!

Love you all!!!

Sister Morgan

HELLLOOOO!!! :)

Well, here i am writing as a missionary again! I'm happy to say that i survived my first "real" week here at the MTC! The rumors were true...if you could make it to your first preparation day as a missionary, you'll be just fine. It was an insane week, though. SO much to learn, and so little time! I'd love to bore you all with all of the details, but I know less and less people will be inclined to read my emails and write me letters if they got a play by play each week! SO...here are some highlights!

Things that were fun and/or different this week?...Well, I am LOVING going about my day, walking different places, and randomly seeing someone ELSE that I know! It's truly crazy how many people i have seen that I recognize or know well! Besides having Sister Allen in my own district, I've seen a few other "Cedarites" here at the MTC. I had been keeping my eye out for Tyler Eastmond my first few days here, but gave up after not seeing him the first week. (I mean, there are 2500 missionaries and multiple lunch schedules...) So, to my surprise this Wednesday when the new missionaries came in, lo and behold, THERE HE WAS! Elder Eastmond! :) It's always hard not hugging an Elder, but especially when you know them from home! Haha. Then, yesterday I saw a girl that was in my singles ward just before I left. She got called to Cambodia and will be here for a LOT longer than I will be...Cambodian sounds tough! :/ One of my favorite reunions, however, was when I was walking down my residence hall on Tuesday or so and I heard someone yell "Sister Morgan!!!!" When I turned to look, walking towards me was my childhood bestfriend, Kayla Batty!!! We haven't seen each other in 12 years or so, and yet there we were!...in the SAME dorm hallway, heading on missions at the same exact time!! What are the odds, aye?! :) We got a chance to take a picture together before she headed out tonight for Calgary, Alberta. :)

Another exciting thing that happened this week is that we got our travel plans! Already!!!! I cannot believe we are leaving in 1 week!!! We fly out early Monday morning and arrive in Spokane at around 9:30 their time, I believe? I SHOULD be able to call some people from the airport, but don't have any phone numbers! Send me a quick DearElder letter with the home numbers in them if you can, aye? I'll get to call home in about 2 weeks for Christmas anyway, but I figured it'd be fun to say hello if i have some time before catching our flight! The sad part about leaving in a week is that our District will be split up! :( I can't believe I'm not going to see Sister Allen and Sister Brand for 17 months...as well as our 4 other Elders that are leaving with them! :( We've all become such a close little family! It's amazing to me how much you can grow to love a bunch of people after only knowing them for a week and a half...the power of sharing spiritual experiences. Mmmm, it makes me happy and sad to see them head out to be missionaries in So. Carolina!

Another random thing that happened (okay, not really random at all...) is that I got called to be the Coordinating Sister. It's similar to a Zone Leader but just for Sisters. It adds a tremendous amount of stress to my world, but I figure if the Lord is extending the call, then he knows that I can't only handle it, but that it will prepare me for whatever will be coming my direction within the next 17 months! Haha. Scary thought, but I can handle it. ;) It just means tons of meetings for me...pray for me! Haha. I'm still the Senior Companion, for now, but I'm sure that will change soon?...It's strange to think that in a week I will have a completely new companion! We just got here!!! :)

Well, my time is running out! I had better wrap things up! I just wanted to express my gratitude to all of you that are back at home. Regardless of HOW you are supporting me, I feel that added measure of strength each day I wake up and commit myself to building up the Lord's kingdom. I appreciate every prayer, package, encouraging word or just thought that you send my direction! I need it!!!! :) One of my favorite scriptures is in D&C 84:88. I consider each of you one of those "angels" that the Lord is surrounding me with. Without the MANY miracles I have witnessed in the last 6 months, I wouldn't be here today!!!! I love missionary work!!!! :) Gotta run!

LOVE YOU ALLLLLL!!!!!

Sister Brenna Morgan

GREETINGS from the MTC!!

(NOTE: This is Brenna's lovely sister Caitlin updating her blog. This is NOT Brenna posting from the MTC!)

Hello Everyone!!! :)

I can't believe I am typing this from the MTC! It is truly amazing to me that just 7 weeks ago I was hanging around, just waiting for my call in the mail! Actually, I'm even more amazed that just a short 6 months ago I was unsure of whether I was going to have the amazing priviledge of serving a mission for the Lord at all! And yet...here I am! The first five days here have been SO amazing! :) I am honestly so blown away by what has come to pass over my first few days as a missonary! I'll try to give you a blow by blow without boring y'all to death, but here goes!

I was nervous, anxious, scared, excited, overwhelmed and joyous all at the same time when we arrived here last Wednesday! The dropoff on the curb was short, but sweet. As soon as I stepped onto that campus, the first thing I noticed were the beaming smiles wherever I went. (A friend of mine in Cedar said that the MTC seems like it could easily be a "cult" because of how different the environment was!) Haha, while I think he was exaggerating a bit when he described it like that, there really is such a STELLAR feeling here on campus. The first day was a lot of lines, meeting people, smiling, meeting more people (including a companion), more smiling, laughing, unpacking, devotionals, classes, and finally bedtime. I had remembered a few times throughout the day that it was my birthday, but it wasn't until I was finally laying in my bed that i realized just how busy the day had been! :)

The following day weren't much different, besides cramming in even MORE classes and devotionals! BUT, I must say that I have never enjoyed sitting in the same chair for 6 straight hours x 3 days in a row than I have as a missionary! Honestly, everything we learn is so incredible! Not that any of it is new information, but that we are finally learning how to USE what we know! (It sounds so simple, but in reality...My mind is spiritually blown EVERY DAY!) It's so amazing to come out of a classroom where you feel like you have a purpose in life! What a blessing it is to be a servant of the Lord!!!!!!

The idea of "TIME" here is so mixed up! When we are powerwalking to get to lunch, we all think it's dinnertime. When we're sitting in class at 9:30 PM we think it's sometime in the morning! My first day here, a Sister told me, "Next week you'll realize that your days feel like they are weeks long, and your weeks will breeze by like days!" I haven't yet hit the week mark, so I don't know if that part is true or not, but I can DEFINITELY feel what she means by days feeling like weeks long! Hahaha. It's amazing how many new life lessons you can fit into a 24 hour period of time! I love it!

Our district is FANTASTIC! I hear missionaries walking and saying how some missionary in their district has a bad attitude or is too hyper. I can honestly say that every member of our district is amazing! The weird thing is that within our district, there are 2 separate missions! My companion, Sister Schoppmann and I, then 2 Elders (Whiting & Bobo) are serving in Spokane, WA. THEN, 4 Elders (Brimhall, Mckell, Worthen & Sisson) and 2 Sisters (Sis. Brand & Allen) are serving in Columbia, South Carolina! At first, I didn't quite know why we were all together, but the more we are around each other, the more I realize the Lord planned it this way! Actually...Sister Allen is Heather Allen from Cedar City, TOO! Haha, we had mission prep together and it was quite the surprise when I walked in and we realized we were in the same district! I LOVE our sisters...It's going to be so hard to say goodbye in 2 weeks! :(

I'm almost out of time, but i just wanted to share a few stories! We have all adjusted to the missionary life SO well that the other day, as our district was walking back from dinner, we saw a man and a woman sitting next to each other on a park bench talking.......this doesn't seem like such a strange thing to everyone else in the world, but to a group of missionaries, it's a whole different story! The moment I saw them, I realized that we had ALL seen them and our whole district slowly came to a standstill. Jaws dropped....hahaha. Eventually we realized that they were teachers and were fully "authorized" to be paired off like that, but it was funny, none the less. ;) Oh, missionaries. :) An amazing thing happened today...as we were walking up to the temple for our temple day, my companion and I, then 2 sisters from our zone were approached by a woman just outside the entrance. She had an accent and looked asian. :) Well, she asked if we were going to do a session and I told her we were. She then asked us if we would help her out by doing some family names for her!!! It was such an amazing experience! The name i received was Wu Shi. She was born in 1669!!!! Moments like that just brighten your whole day! She was so grateful to us, but at the end of the day I was so grateful to HER for giving us that opportunity! :)

I'm out of time! I love you all and want you to know that I am SO grateful for the opportunity I have right now to serve my Father in Heaven! I feel so blessed that he deems me capable and fit to share the message of the gospel! I can HONESTLY say that I can't imagine being anywhere else, doing anything else that being a missionary RIGHT NOW. I love this gospel! Please write, if you have time! Missionaries can use all the letter support they can get! (Especially this redhead! ;) Hahaha)

Love you all!!

Brenna

Sister Morgan

New Beginnings!

Hellooooo Everyone!

Well, this is the beginning of the next 18 months of my life! If you didn't already know (or simply have forgotten) I am now serving in the Washington Spokane Mission! While I am "out" for the next year and a half, my kind sister has taken stewardship over my blog and facebook so I can attempt to keep people informed of my whereabouts! SO, here it is! ALL the information one could possibly need to stay in contact with me while I am out serving! :)

MTC: (11/30-12/20)

Sister Brenna Nicole Morgan

MTC Mailbox #117

WA-SPO 1219

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo, UT 84604-1793

LETTERS/PACKAGES IN THE MISSION FIELD:

Sister Brenna Nicole Morgan

Washington Spokane Mission

820 S. Pines Rd. Ste. 101

Spokane Valley, WA 99206-5420

United States

STAMPED LETTERS ANYTIME:

>>>>> dearelder.com

**Create a new account

> Select Provo MTC (if I'm still in the MTC) or Spokane Mission (if after 12/20) from menu!

>Write Sister Brenna Morgan, Mailbox #117, WA-SPO, 12/20 in the appropriate fields! :) (They know where to send it if it's going to the mission home in Spokane!)

>Type your "email" in the text box!

>Click "Send Letter"

>They print off the email in Provo, then mail it to me! :)

SENDING EMAIL ONLY:

If you would like to email me, then here is my new email address!

brenna.morgan@myldsmail.net

I prefer hard copy letters, just because of the limited amount of time I have on the computers each Monday, but an email is better than an empty mailbox anyday!!! :)

Thank you ALL for all of your support, encouraging words and prayers in my behalf! I look forward to hearing from you! :) :) :) Don't be shy!

Until May 2013, I'm officially signing off and turning the powers of blogging over to Caitlin!

Loves,

Sister Morgan

Senior Project Pictures

Hmmm....Senior Project!!!

Here are the first versions of my images for my BFA Senior Show!

Update

Hello...

I don't know that anyone even checks in on my blog anymore, but here goes!:

I've been home in the States since the 1st of December! Huzzah! It's been great being home with friends and family again! I do, however miss my lovely New Zealand. :( And not JUST because the weather here in Utah is in the teens on average. :( Let's just say the greenest Utah gets is in the outfield of a softball/baseball field. Nothing like the Natural beauty that surrounded me constantly while living abroad!

The good news now is I'm finally registered for classes! Technically I got it taken care of a while ago, but now I've got everything all worked out and ready to go! I'm actually really excited for this new semester. I've got some excellent classes ahead of me, and I'm in 2 classes that I need to finish off my general ed stuff. (Not that I'm excited for the classes themselves, but to finally be rid of them after May!) Haha. But I AM looking forward to my fun, stress-reliever class of...BOWLING! I know, right? It's gonna be great! I've been working my tail off to get college credits for the last HOW many years, and I'm finally letting myself have a bit of fun! I'm also in a 3D art class, and a Drawing II class! I'm stoked for them both! I'm not the most accomplished artist, by any means, but I love learning and broadening my skills! Cross your fingers I can do better than stick figures after May! :)

Along with being back home in good 'ol Utah, I've been working quite a bit! About 4 or 5 days after I returned home, I started my job at the movie theaters here in town. Before I left for New Zealand, I was building sets for new movie Premiers. It was sooo fun! I got to use my handy-woman skills and make things fun! Well my job now is finally being on the actual movie theater staff. I work behind the counter with concessions, take tickets, and work in the box office. :) I know I know...sounds boring, but it's really not! I enjoy interacting with customers and making things fun for other people around me! Besides that, I work with 4 of my roommates and loads of other fun people.

Christmas was pretty good this year. :) Juli, Caitlin, Jason, the kids, and I all went out to Parowan on Christmas Eve and spent the evening there with Mom, Craig, and the girls. It was nice. Not to mention my mother is an AMAZING cook! Oh, how I've missed her food!!! We stuffed ourselves with homemade rolls, stuffed pork, wild apricot/cranberry rice, and some other good eats! Then we opened some presents from each other. :) It was definitely a good time! Juli and I ended up just sleeping at our house in town, then driving out to Caitlin's early Christmas morning after opening our presents from each other. Juli and Amy got me an AWESOME airsoft gun!!!! I know...it sounds nerdy, but it's the BOMB! It's a CO2 Gun, so it goes so fast and it's so powerful! Awesome! And then Juli gave me an AMAZING camera tripod! I've needed a good one soooo badly, and my best friend knew exactly what i needed! Huzzah! I'm stoked to use it! I'm banking on getting some good shots this summer and selling them at the Shakespearean Park sales thingy in June and July for some extra cash! If you're interested, talk to me! I've got some AMAZING shots from New Zealand that I want to print!

Okay, back to Christmas...We drove down to St. George to spend Christmas Day with my Dad, Cheryl, and the kids. We spent the day hanging around, having fun, watching some TV, and an early dinner. Man, those Jamaicans sure know how to cook meat! We had some lamb, goat, chicken, pork, and lots of side dishes! MmmmMM! I love it! Caitlin and Jason had to leave to California straight from there, so Juli and I caught a ride home at 5 ish from my Dad. Unfortunately, at the end of the night we didn't realize Juli had accidentally dropped her keys in Katy's van...so now she's stuck without a car until they return home tomorrow. :( Boo!

ANywho...today is New Year's Eve, and I don't work! Neither does Juli! We spent most of yesterday babysitting her niece and nephews while her sister Toni spent time with her husband who was having surgery. They stayed the night with us at our house, and man was it tiring!! Whew! And now that it's 2PM, we decided maybe we should get ready for the day! Haha! We are planning to hang out at the theater tonight with some friends. We deemed the party "Rock 'N Eve 2008" hahaha. AKA...we play rockband and singstar allllll night long on the big giant theater screens! It's gonna be great! We're dressing up as Rock Stars, so it'll make things even MORE interesting!

Have a Happy New Year!!!

Brenna

NEW NEPHEW!!!!

Hellllloooooo!!!!

Well, it's late...I'm bushed...and I want the pictures to look good. So I haven't posted any pictures of the new nephew this time, but I will soon! I have loaded them onto my facebook if you're just too impatient to wait, but I'll get the official story posted soon!

Kylie started having contractions early this morning at about 3 AM. Then she monitored them for the next several hours. By about 9:30 we were heading from the house to the hospital, with the contractions getting more and more intense as we drove down the motorway. By the time we arrived at the hospital, her contractions were already coming quickly. So her total time for the birth from the actual labour contractions to the birth was 2 and a half hours. 

She had Hazen Fuller Seth Morgan at 12:52 PM on the 3rd of November, 2008! He was 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 20.5 inches long!

As I said...I'll post pictures soon, or you can look at them at this site if you just can't wait! ( http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60563&l=f8d20&id=596861471 ) :) Cheers, and love you all! Oh, I have 4 weeks left, P.S.!!!! :)

Sorry for the Delay...

After much anticipation...here's the next chapter to my book of life:

Well, sooooo much has happened in the last 4 weeks, but at the same time...nothing has really happened! Haha. I guess you could say the majority of our activities boil down to cleaning the house, finishing the bedroom, and getting everything ready for the baby! Although most of us that have seen Kylie would have thought she'd have popped by now, she's still roaming around with the belly of hers. And contrary to our bets that we placed for an early delivery....she still hasn't had Hazen! (And to be honest...he'll probably come right on schedule or even a day or so late!!!) This isn't the greatest news for those of us that only have a limited amount of time to play with him before being 8,000 miles away...ahem...ME! :( But, I guess I DO get to see him in person compared to looking at him via photos. :) That's always a great advantage. I guess I'll have to have patience.

Along with the dreaded cleaning and preparing for the baby, we got to have a bit of fun in between! For all of those that didn't think Christmas happened twice a year...try having a baby! Haha. A few weeks ago, after wearing our patience down to nonexistence, the baby stuff from the Aunties arrived! Hooooorrrraaaayyyy!!!! We we're ALL soooo excited! We loaded up the car and headed home to unwrap all of the gifts! Because of the excessive amounts of pictures, I resorted to loading the "Baby Gift" pictures into the slideshow below. :) Most of these are 'real' first reactions, including Kylie's excitement. She was so happy to have baby clothes! We also set up the "Jungle" baby equipment line that Rusty purchased overseas. All of it matches, and we now feel like the jungle has taken over the rest of the house scenery! Haha. So cute! Thanks Aunties and Katy for sending such cute stuff!!

I have a couple friends here that I frequently hang out with. Including the awesome McKay Turner. He's in our ward and is definitely fun to hang out with. The pictures here are from the NZ Breakers game we went to! It's the only professional Basketball team here in NZ and they play in the Australian BBall League. The game was pretty fun, even though it's COMPLETELY different from NBA style of play! Haha. The court is also shaped a little differently, if you look closely at the key. :) The other two in the picture are Deeana, McKay's sister, and her boyfriend Matt. :) We had a great time laughing and yelling. Not to mention playing with those annoying noise makers that you bang together???...let's just say they're EXTRA fun to play with when you're hyper! Hahaha.

McKay and I have taken to bowling against each other a few times, and let's just say he REALLY hates losing to me. On that note...I passed my highest bowling score last time we went!!!! Any guesses???...179!!! Hooray! I wont tell you what I scored after that, because I was ashamed. But the 3rd game I ended the night with a 130. Not bad. Apart from bowling, McKay and I went to the Golf Driving Range next to the Airport...it's a 24 hour one. Haha. In this instance, he is much better than I am. I recieved a new nickname, for it's the only golf skill I seem to possess: Chip. Haha. McKay, on the other hand can't use the irons as well, but he's definitely got the skill of Driving. :) It was fun! Afterwards, we went and drove around downtown Auckland City. I would have taken a picture of the Sky Tower at night, all lit up, but I didn't take my camera with me! :( We went on top of One Tree Hill and looked at all of Auckland and the surrounding areas. It's beautiful at night with all of the lights!

On Saturday, we made my first trip down to Hamilton! Yay! It was Stake Temple day, so the three of us drove down. Rusty went through a session, while Kylie decided she could only stand to sit through Initiatories. I spent the hour or 2 taking pictures of the temple and roaming through the visitor center. The Christus is so beautiful! And the murals are amazing as always! I went into a little theater to watch Mr. Kruger's Christmas when Kylie had just finished. We sat together and watched the old movie together while we waited for Rusty to finish! I love being at the temple...it always makes you feel so good! Awesome! The weather was interesting though. Typical NZ weather. When we first got there, it was really really rainy and dark. Then while I was in the Visitor's Centre it POURED, then after we were all done, it was incredibly sunny! I wanted to take a picture of Church College, as well as Mom's old house that they lived in when Grandma and Grandpa taught there, but I didn't get the chance. Church College is being all torn down within the next several months!!! It's a legacy! :( The picture of the lake is a sail race that was going on when we drove around Lake Rotoroa, just outside of Hamilton!

After Church Sunday, we drove down to Waihi Beach to spend some time at the beachouse. It was fairly good weather that night. We were enjoying being there just the 3 of us, until the cousins showed up. :( Kimberly tends to be ADHD and has an EXTREMELY high pitched voice, so having her + spanky = no quiet whatsoever. :( That night I resorted to trying to hide myself away and write in my journal. Haha. (If you look closely at the first picture below, that's an ocean storm out yonder. There's a rainbow too!!! :) Pretty...) We escaped Monday morning (which was a holiday here...) and headed down to Tauranga and Mt. Maunganui! It's on the Eastern NZ Shore of the North Island. It's actually one of the top vacation spots in the world, according to Rusty! It's so beautiful there! The beach was so nice! Pretty sand, craggy rocks, and warm weather! It's amazing how much warmer it was in Mt. Maunganui compared to Waihi! We didn't have much time there, but I roamed a short distance on the beach and collected quite a few shells! They're really quite neat! I'm going to do some Dremel work on them and turn them into nice rings and necklaces...

And here's Mt. Maunganui and the beach...really pretty points and the water was a GORGEOUS blue! I love it! :)

And there you go! I know it's not the most detailed, but it's better than nothing, right? :) I figure if I post things now about myself, I wont have to feel bad if all of the rest of my posts are about the baby...oh wait. That's why you'll be looking at my blog anyways, huh??? :'( I guess I don't mind being ignored...haha. :) Just remember...I'll get to be here holding the cute smushy and you guys wont!!! NEENER!!! :P But no worries, I'll post pictures as soon as he comes! Cheers! Love you all! Muah!

HI HI!! :)

So, everyone...I went to the Zoo again yesterday. :) It's so incredibly fun! The animals are so different everytime you go, it's crazy!! We didn't get to see the tiger cubs this time...they had a late night out the day before, and there's only so much "party" in 3 cubs before they get all popped out!! Haha. I made a slide of the good pictures that I took at the bottom of the page to save myself from posting ALL of them again...haha. Hope you enjoy. My favorites were the otters and the baby spider monkeys!! Soooo cute! (All that was missing was my nerdy, zoologist sister to explain all of their species and subspecies to me!!! Haha..Just kidding Katy! Love ya! )

Anywho...today I decided that I really love the song "Suo Gan"...it's a welsh lullaby. And it's from the movie Empire of the Sun, too, I guess. I dunno...I just sang it in Madrigals in High School! It's one of my favorite lullabies! The translation is really pretty into English, but the original version in Welsh is still beautiful! There's a King's Choir that does it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM9uyA0wVIA ...they're really good! :) I'm gettin back to my Welsh roots, baby! I want to learn the language someday...especially if we (meaning the roomies) go to the British Isles in a year or so!!! It'd be amazing to be able to speak it!! :)

Anywho...better get goin! Cheers!

Where Did the Time GO?!?

I'm a slacker, I know! :) It's just that last week was soooo crazy! :) I didn't really have much time to sit down at the computer, edit/delete pictures, and THEN post to my blog AND my facebook page! Ahhh!! So time consuming! But....alas...because I know certain of you are living vicariously through me, I'm here to fill you in!

So the beach at Waihi was amazing! :) It was nice to have a house all to ourselves, and a beach awaiting me! I have to say, I got quite an amazing collection of shells!!! And some Paua shells...it's the shiny greenish/greyish stuff. (Katy...you know what I'm talkin about don't you?? Haha.) But yeah! Good good pictures!

I wont be able to post all of my favorites, because there are JUST too many...but as a note, I woke up at 5:30 to catch the sunrise. I went out by myself and waited for the sun to peek over the ocean horizon. Sooo pretty!

Then later on in the week...it was craziness! We got things ready for the wedding! Renee was surprisingly calm the few days leading up to it! It was awesome! She was just so happy that it was finally here! The morning of rolled around and we had stayed out at Bruce and Michelle's for ease of transporting everyone together to the wedding site! The girls got up SUPER early to get their hair and make-up done. As for me?...yeah, I slept in and hung out! Haha. The boys and I got the cars ready and mosied around the house for a few hours or two, until the Photographers came! They were really cool! She just started her own separate business and it was nice talkin to someone doing what I want to do for a profession! She was excited to hear that I was majoring in Photography, so she let me follow her around with my camera and shadow her! I even got to go to the official wedding photo spots! Yay! My first Wedding gig! Haha...sort of! I got some great pictures! ( Just please don't save the pictures and spread them around! They're special! :) Thanks!)

Then...the next day...I went with Bruce on a roadtrip! (And sort of "air"-trip too...hehe) We flew to Gisbourne super early in the morning. (It's on the East Coast of the North Island...) We went to pick up the Transporter. It had a bunch of Heavy machinery on the back of it...the biggest truck I've ever ridden in, actually. Haha. The picture is of a 1-way bridge built on TOP of railroad tracks....yeah, it was BARELY wide enough for us to fit on, cause the transporter is HUGE!!! Ugh! AND...it was made of wood...even worse! But, I caught some awesome sunset pictures on the way back! :) The one with the sailboats and buildings is downtown Auckland and the big tower is call Sky Tower...it's got a revolving restaurant and cool stuff. :) Reminds me of Seattle, really. But yeah! Our trip back from Gisbourne took about 7 hours driving...ugh. :) And it was only about 315 miles long...that says something about the narrow roads and speed limit here! Yikes!

So...then Saturday morning Bruce and I got up early again and went North to deliver the equipment to the work site. It wasn't too far away. If you're looking at a map of NZ (...not that I expect any of you to have one handy...but...) we went to about Orewa. Close to North Shore.... :) Then when we got home, guess what we did?!?!?! We went to the ZOO!!!! YAYAY! :)

So...here's a collection of Zoo pictures! :) As a note, some of my favorites included...the meerkats, especially the baby ones (They whine like dogs...so cute), wallabies, Kookabura, and the baby tigers!!! They just barely released the cubs to the public a few weeks ago! Great timing to go visit the zoo! Enjoy! I took an incredible amount of pictures, but, of course, couldn't fit nearly even an eight of them on here, so my solution is the new hardrive I bought! It's a terabyte! (That's 1000 Gigabytes, in case you were wondering... :D ) So, when I get home, maybe we'll have a big party and I'll show everyone ALL of my pictures if you're interested! :) So if you're wanting more...you'll just have to wait a FEW more days! (It's 81 officially today!)

Now, I know you're all thinking to yourselves..."She took these photos from online somewhere!"..you're wrong! I took them all with my own camera! Not lying! :) Hope you enjoy! (And remember..don't knick any of the pictures! They aren't copyrighted, but they're my own work! Thanks! :) )

Toodles! And thanks for keepin up with my adventures! Love you all!