11-30

 

  

 

It sounds like you guys had such a wonderful time in Utah! I'm so happy that you have been having a wonderful time and have been safe in all that you're doing! I love hearing about all of your adventures and the crazy times and fun times that you've experienced within these last like 2 1\2 weeks I've already been gone :)

I wish that I had time to even describe ALL that's happened this week! It was so crazy and at sometimes long, stressful, and homesick. On Monday, one of my roommates, Elder E, was playing volleyball and slightly tore his acl... the next day he got sent home until he recovers. Which is SO SAD because he was the funniest guy ever and had the absolute funniest jokes! (Why did all the Lamanites knees hurt?? Because of all those dang Nephites)!!! xD I have to say though that I'm really bummed that he had to leave... his companion then had to change rooms to be with an elder who was 'solo' because his companion never showed up. Needless to say, Elder G and I have the room all to ourselves. Which I can't complain too much about the extra room! The other elders keep trying to tell me that our room stinks... not sure if it's me or the fact that my companion never turns down the heat! AND it smells fine... suppose that's what happens when a country boy gets put in a room with a total city boy from Utah! xD Also just remembered about heat, the showers in our building have one temperature... just warm enough to take a shower but nowhere near warm enough to enjoy it.

Anyway, it's been such a stressful week. I've started to miss home a lot and all my friends back home... but not gonna lie, it's worth it. Because I love this gospel SO MUCH and am so excited to go to the Philippines in like 2 weeks! On Thursday, if you didn't know... it was thanksgiving! We got to hear from Dallin H. Oaks, who gave such a wonderful talk about being thankful, it was all focused on things that we can be grateful for and expressing appreciation to the Lord! I am making it a goal that every year (and probably more often) to say a prayer of ONLY Thanksgiving to the Lord on the morning and evening of Thanksgiving! :) I learned that it's important to also be grateful for the hard times in our lives because they happen and we are able to learn and grow to become stronger! After his talk we had another devotional about service, which was cool because they had a non-member founder of a charity organization talk... it was really interesting :) Finally, SERVICCCE... as in an hour each for three groups, we made 357,900 meals for hungry children in Utah! We didn't have much of a Thanksgiving meal at lunch, with very soft turkey and some potatoes... it made me miss home SO MUCH. I absolutely love serving though, it just gives this sense of joy that cannot be described! Finally that evening there was a talent show\ gratitude thing which was awesome! One sister Yodeled for everyone after explaining that she learned how to do it on Youtube... xD It was then very spiritual with short films about gratitude and talks on the subject! After ALL that happened on Thanksgiving, we watched 17 Miracles... literally is one of the best movies I've ever seen! It's so amazing and terrible what they had to go through crossing the plains. It gave me such a deep gratitude for the early saints and their commitment to this gospel :)

Oh, totally just remembered that I ran into Sister H from our Stake back in Virginia here and we talked for a little bit, it was soooo cool! I also ran into Sister B here, and Elder W... (I can't even try to spell their last name, but King George... quiet) :)P I love seeing people that I know here! I just wasn't expecting to see ANYONE I knew to be here... crazy crazy life! What other crazy stories....? Oh, a few of the elders decided to put baking soda in balloons to make stress balls! It sounds very kind and safe, right? WRONG. it seems to have been made a pastime in the evenings to stand at opposite sides of the hall and throw them as hard as we can at each other.. .don't worry, nobody has been hurt xD

The tall, tan kid,

Elder Morris

One thing I love about Dad- He's been such a great example to me of how a father and head of a household should be. I'm so grateful also for being able to help him with wood before leaving :)

One thing I love about Mommy- What Can't Mommy do?! She's a cook, mother, artist, shepherd, sewer, cleaner, example, and so so much more! Thanks for helping me become who I am today!

One thing I love about Hannah- You've been such an example to me of being spiritual, your testimony is so amazing! Take care and keep doing amazing with the piano! 

One thing I love about Jacob- YOU"RE CRAZY. nuff said ;) Always remember that you're a son of God and have amazing things ahead in your life :) You're the man of the house now when Dad's gone, hope you have funnnnnn!

One thing I love about Adam- Limitless imagination and creativity, I miss being able to play games with you and be crazy ALL the time :)

One thing I love about Peter- You're the master of games and awesomeness! Being the youngest must be hard, but I thing you do better than anyone at it :D

I memorized the Missionary Purpose in Tagalog!! :D

Imbitahin ang iba na lumapit kay Cristo sa pagtulon sa kanila ng magtangapp and inbinalik na ebanghelyo sa pamamagitan ng pananampalataya kay JesuCrist at sa kanya Pagbabayad-Sald, pagsisisi, binyag, pagtangapp ng kaloob na Espiritu Santo and pagtitiis hagang wakas.

(Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End)

-Elder Morris- :)

11-22

I'm so sad to hear about what happened to Brother J, but I am looking at the happy side that he kept his warped humor all the way to the end of his time on this Earth! I'm so happy to hear about all that's happening out there in... Utah I guess unless y'all made it back home! :)P This week has been so crazy but so much fun :) So sad news, and Elder in my zone had his father pass away Saturday night last week, and we all did what we could to help. He chose to stay and keep on his mission, it's such a powerful testimony to hear of people who go through that and choose to stay... having a near friend Elder who went through it was just amazing to feel and hear his testimony. So this week everyone in the zone pitched in some money to buy him this REALLY nice camera because he came from a poor family and could never afford nice things, we actually just surprised him at 1:30 today with it and some other nice things and money that was left over. We could all feel the spirit so strong and he bore his testimony... I tried not to cry, somewhat unsuccessfully xD

What else happened this week?? hmmmm... we've been teaching an 'investigator' (a member RM playing the role of a Catholic in the Philippines whos wife has been taking the missionary lessons) named Ignacio about the gospel and doing it in as much Tagalog as we can. It's such a crazy language! He accepted our invitations to read and such but alas yesterday was our last time to talk to him... :)P The language is being learned very quickly... like by the end of this week I've learned how to pray in Tagalog! I mean really, it's so so crazy!

Totally just reminded me that there is some HUGE news, we're flying out to the Philippines on the 10th of December instead because they don't fly missionaries around Christmas. We'll be staying in the Manila MTC for 2 1/2 weeks... so I'll be in Manila for Christmas AND be able to go to the temple there in Manila :) It's just so crazy that now we have to super learn the language. But I do trust that we'll be blessed with the Gift of Tongues as we strive so much to learn the language :)

Today I got a haircut, everyone complains about how poor they do haircuts here... but I actually REALLY LIKE the job that they did! :)

I love you guys so much, hearing from you guys really made me miss home... so thanks and darn at the same time! Thank you so much for being the best family in the world! I can't wait to see all of you again in two years... actually I can (no offense)... I'm on a mission ;)

Nagpapasalamat po ako para sa ebanghelyo ni JesuCristo. Alam ko po na propeta ng Thomas S. Monson. Alam ko po na totoo ng simbahan ni JesuCristo!

With Love,

Elder Morris :)

#missionswag #feet #sheep #DOBBY #PHILIPPINEEEES

PS- If you ever have the chance to... watch the 12 Steps to change in the mormon videos, they are VERY powerful and the things that they provide give much insight on addictions and even other problems that people have in life.

1st letter from the MTC

First off, my preparation days are on Saturdays while in the MTC! :)

Thank you so much :D This week has been so crazy, as in SUPER crazy! You know that I flew out on Monday, so first it was a flight that only had two seats on one side and one seat on the other and the head clearance was only SIX FEET... so I had to bend over the whole time! Then I got to JFK in New York and was able to board a much bigger flight going directly to Salt Lake City. but anyway... I made it to Utah safe, although when I got there, I waited for 20 minutes alone just because they thought I was coming in another return area! I got to spend Tuesday with all of my family, and it was really fun. :) I had a chance to go to the temple there and it was so cool that I was able to go to the Salt Lake City temple to do an endowment session, it was live and so so spiritual, so if you get a chance to go and do a session... DO IT! Wednesday was the day that I reported, it was awesome but so hard, I showed up at 12:45 where they whisked me away to put stuff away and start learning Tagalog! Can I just say that learning Tagalog is SO HARD?! We walked into the classroom on the first day and learned with much craziness that our teacher speaks only Tagalog with very little English, needless to say it was a LONG 3 hours of language study! However, it's only been three days and sure we've made a bunch of progress, but it makes my head hurt! Although it's making me Tiwala ng Diyos at ng Espiritu Santo. (tee-wala nang Jos nang eh-spirit-oo sant-o) (Trust in God and the Holy Spirit) My companions name is Elder Garrett and we have a ton in common, which is crazy because I was supposed to be with this Tongan elder, but he never showed up to the MTC, which is actually really sad. I share my residence with Elder Garrett and another set of Elders, Elder Edgley and Elder Budge. We have a lot of crazy conversations and fit together very well. Our dorm has two sets of bunk beds, mine is close to the wall and a top bunk... but our room doesn't have any ladders to get onto the bed, so I have to super ninja climb up one of the sides and crawl up! 

Just yesterday we had to teach a lesson to an 'investigator' in Tagalog, who we found out later was an RM and actually understands our pain in learning Tagalog... his name is Ignacio and is Catholic, he's really kind and speaks really really fast! It was so awkward because we're expected to give long lessons in as much Tagalog as we can, which proved to be such a challenge.

Anyway, crazy story, last night we were coming back from language study and teaching the investigator and the other Elders in our district were cooking SPAM on one of the irons... literally make us laugh so hard, they shared with us... so I can now say that I've tasted iron-cooked spam!

The MTC is so wonderful, it's such a hard experience but is truly so wonderful, you grow so much closer to the spirit and every moment of every day is focused on growing closer to Christ and becoming a more effective missionary! I've come to know so much better that the Lord loves us and knows us all so perfectly, He helps us when we need help and comforts us when we stand in need of comfort :)

Love,

Elder Morris :)

Ps- I have pictures to send of me and my companions (and some elders cooking Spam on an iron) but I don't have my camera SD card with me right now so I'll send them later today or next Saturday!

words learned this week were a TON, but I feel like sharing some so you get an idea of what I'm learning :)

pananampalataya- faith

Manunubos- Redeemer

Magbahagi- share

Magbasa- read

Magdasal- pray

Totoo ng Aklat ni Mormon- True is the Book of Mormon. (their sentence structures are so crazy!

(tat-o-o)