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!