12-5-2016

Hi family,

Hey, you guys should just move here to the Philippines.. it's super warm and the beaches are great. The people can just be naturally racist because they don't see very many foreigners xD I'm of course saddened at the fact of some things going on, I wish that I could  say a little more than that is just a joke.... But you're right, don't worry because things will all work out :) You guys are being built and founded upon Christ, the foundation upon which we CANNOT fall (Helaman 5:12)

Anyways, it's so funny that you asked how that pastor is who we had been teaching. (So one, that was in my last area... Tayug... but I transferred to Dagupan so I haven't been teaching him) But last week, Elder A emailed me and gave me an update on this pastor. I guess he still comes to church and has ACCEPTED A BAPTISMAL DATE. I guess that this pastor said that he will be baptized if the missionaries can answer all of his questions. So I've been keeping him in my prayers :) I had also gotten news from him that 3 of the investigators that I had taught with him got baptized! So it was a pretty awesome news update!

         You know, I've really not been worried about meeting people like that because my gospel knowledge and my scriptural knowledge has really increased so much since I came here!

That mini MTC idea sounds like it was SO FUN, I hope that that has inspired the youth to serve a mission :)

My week has been really tough but I've seen the rewards :) There was one HUGE miracle this week in meeting a new investigator. We had a really rough week this week in regards to total lessons and all those other things, but this one miracle made the whole week worth it :) So on Tuesday we were "punted" or what I mean is that we were pushed to a point that we were walking around finding people and literally going to every door! What happened is that we went and started talking to this one sister who was pushing a baby in a wheelchair to help him sleep and then we got to go to their home and meet her mother (who is 99 Years old turning 100 in May!!) and very soon we find out that one of this Nanays sons are an active member in the church... in Calasiao (An area probably an hour away or something). And then AS we are talking to this old Nanay, that brother shows up and we got to meet him... and it just so turns out that he has someone he wants to refer to us and asked if we could come back at 5pm to teach his referral! And then it turns out that this referral is SUPER receptive and really wants to know about the gospel! I couldn't believe it when all things played out because from a simple "open your mouth" experience, we ended up meeting someone totally different who has been being prepared to receive the gospel. I was also shocked at his understanding of the lesson and the questions that he was asking (He asked us on the second visit why it was Peter, James, and John who gave the priesthood to Joseph Smith when there are 12 apostles)! I really have high hopes for this new investigator. So that has really been a tender mercy for us so far this week, and something else that has been really great is the simple fact that:

            Tatay Tinte has FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON in like a month of reading it! :D He's our most progressing investigator and should be getting baptized this coming December 17th... it was such a wonderful feeling to see that he has been reading and reading, and not just that but really understanding the things he was reading. After he finished, what he did was write basically a short book summary... and talked about how the Book of Mormon is written to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ and talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I mean I was just shocked that he was so diligent in his scripture studyk! :)

            Overall, it has been a really great week and I learned a lot... there is also a lot of Christmas things coming up, so that ought to be fun to do! OH, and that reminded me of a service project we did at the parade opening here in Dagupan where we had water stations all set up and gave water to anyone who wanted it (from parade performers to people in cars to random people on the streets) And it was SO HILARIOUS because one of my jobs was to take cups of water and hand them out to people... I guess some people are just really weird towards americans. So the parade was like these schools doing like a parade and stuff so we gave them water and the very start before the parade began.... long story short, I got yelled at by a LOT of high school aged Filipinos. And then a lot of people were all weird about taking water (Like I was going to ask for their phone number or something) But it was just a really great opportunity to have!

But anyway, that has been my week and again... super fun!I hope that things will keep looking up for you guys over the course of the coming weeks. Keep enduring... life is hard! :) Love you guys, 

~Elder Morris

PS- We met this totally AWESOME dog who could like almost walk along the bars of this one gate. He was SO funny! We also took a boat ride at night to go to a Family Home Evening... it was super sketchy and I almost fell in the water xD

     And that one paper is what our investigator wrote about the Book of Mormon (He's WAY good at English too

11-28-2016

Magandang Umaga po....wait... the AFTERNOON! It's really great to hear from you guys and I can't believe that Katherine is home from her mission now! I will be the 3rd RM in our family, which honestly makes me really happy because Whitney and Katherine have really showed me a good example! It sounds like you guys are really bunkering down for the winter and bringing in wood! (Don't worry... this is the last time that I won't be home to help with all that wood) And I got a little homesick looking at the Christmas trees and huge Thanksgiving dinner!! But that's okay, I am where I am supposed to be right now... and that's what is important! :)

I am kind of saddened by what's been going on .. but I also have the sure hope that things will work out one day.

But anyway, it sounds like a pretty good week overall :)

My week was pretty crazy with all things said and done...So first things first, I said that we would likely be going to the beach this week.... and from the pictures you can hopefully tell that WE DID go to the beach which is only like 20 minutes away from our apartment!  The view is just absolutely stunning and I got some pretty cool pictures... we even took a picture with all the Elders in my zone that for some reason looks oddly like a boyband banner or something like that xD It was so much fun and even though I couldn't go swimming... I took off my sandals and got to step in the water some. (Yes, sandals... here in the Philippines you don't see many people wearing shoes and if we can wear our "Babylonian Clothes, we just wear sandals too) Basically the water here is WARM. So if I ever EVER manage to save money one day vacation... I think that I'll come to the Philippines! But anyway, that was super fun! :)

Something else that we did this week is apartment checks, and it wasn't too boring because some missionaries need to clean up their apartments XD However, this week I've been feeling a little more confident in my responsibilities as a Zone Leader and have honestly been really liking the fact that I get to know the missionaries here a little better! It's super weird actually because I remember before my mission being really shy around people I don't know. (You may not have noticed, but I used to get really quiet around people I don't know) and now I remember thinking to myself that the mission would basically force me to open up and to become a "people person" and.... like my prediction. I HAVE. It's been super fun to meet new people and I've really changed a lot!
But anyways, we also had companionship exchanges with the Dagupan 3 ward Elders and I worked with an Australian named Elder A (who is taller than me and like over twice my weight... I mean he's huge!), and I realized that there are always so many things to learn about missionary work. It doesnt matter that he's kind of new in the mission, I learned a lot from him. In fact, I've found that's basically the same with everyone. By meeting new people and working with them, I have been basically having my "vision broadened" and seeing how others teach and how effective that is! :D
We currently have an investigator who is progressing to baptism on the coming Dec 17th, and we feel that he is pretty solid. Tatay T (The same old man I have been talking about all the time) has come to church plenty of times now and reads the Book of Mormon like crazy!! Currently he is is 3rd Nephi 17 :D I mean this old Tatay literally has no job or nothing so all he does is stay home and read... he's super cool! :D

We also saw a tender mercy in this week as we were contacting someone that other missionaries had talked to and gave us the adress. It turns out that this guy wasn't even home and moved to Baguio for some reason. But because of that we met their next door neighbors... the A family . They are super kind and we had a really spiritual lesson... it was kind of weird though because all FOUR of their sons (Ages 2-8 or so) were quiet and listened, looking at the pictures we brought!

Anyways, it has overall been a super great week! And though at times I had been a little homesick, I really enjoyed it :) I look forward to seein' y'all this December in Skype!

~Elder Morris

PS- In answer to your questions: The creepy head is a handmade skull from wood that I found here... some active member from Baguio comes here and sends all these different handmade wooden things. I chose the skull because it looked cool xD

That "floating roof" isn't a roof at all... it's basically a floating home. Sometimes there are things like that because people have these fish ponds and I'm guessing that it's kind of like an overnight home if for some reason they are there at night. I'm not entire sure.PSS- You might see the one picture with like some sort of temple looking thing in my other pictures. That is the church:  Iglesia ni Cristo.

                     Basically a Mormon Apostate named Felix Manalo wanted to be the next prophet but when he found out that that's not how it works he left and started his own church.... where Christ is the "son of man" not "Son of man" and the lower case s therefore means that Jesus Christ was literally just a man...not a God xD

You don't even know how much that made Elder C and the other Elders laugh.... that ALL the animals come to the call

SHEEPIES   COME ON SHEEPIES