August & 9-10-2017 letters

9-10-2017

Thanks for the Birthday wishes :D It means a lot! To be honest, I'm pretty surprised at the news of planning to move homes--but it doesn't bother me, you guys feel it's what you should do... so go for it hehe :) I'll adjust! It's pretty bumming though just because I'll miss the good ol' Woodstock home! It'll be cool though to see what the new place will be like!
I'm not going to have too much to say this week! Except WOOHOO---I'm 20 Years old now! Which means that I'm not a teenager anymore :D #Getting old. Too bad not much has changed with my personality... but at least a lot has changed in my spirituality! It doesn't feel super special though---considering that in missionary work I don't have a whole lot of time to think about "me" xD

It's been really good though- we were thrilled when S came to church! (With her less-active live in partner) and we have been talking with them and trying to help them get married! The only thing we are waiting on is for S to get her paper back with her Moms signature (which she sent to Manila to get signed)- and hopefully they will be getting married in October! It was so cool to see them come to church as a couple! Her "husband" has been changing a lot in the past few months--- we noticed that as they read and prayed as a couple, they enjoyed greater joy as a family! When we got to their home now, Brother J is smiling to see us :D

Other than that, we've been focusing on finding more people to teach! Something that we did this week was go on an exchanges with the San Fabian Elders... what happened is that my companion spent the day going to appointments and I went the whole day---knocking on doors and talking to people! We actually found a fair amount of people that we can go back to and teach! :D It was a pretty big blessing!

We're just happy to work and work hard! It's so awesome to be a missonary! I love this work and I love being able to serve Jesus Christ in all I do :)

You guys take care, I'll be seeing y'all in about 2 months- which is a rather freaky thought! Love you guys!

Elder Morris

8-27-2017

Woah! That IS something different from the old Mumbo jumbo about running and stuff ;) Although that is plenty exciting as well! That honestly made me so happy to hear from everyone and I'm so happy to hear from you guys- it's good that you guys are all going well! I whish I had time to respond to everyone, but I'm pretty much out of time!

Anyways, this was ONE crazy week! Who knew that setting up a stake Baptism takes so much work xD I would go into more detail on that, but it would be very boring- so long story short... it took lots of work, but it worked out well and the baptism was successful! :D It was SO COOL to be a part of a group baptism, especially since it was an opportunity to see the candidates and friends of the other companionships in our zone! The two in that baptism were B P and J F-- N is the grandmother of some recent converts and J is their cousin! It was a really special experience and they bore a great testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ! The P family is becoming my favorite family here in Mangaldan, just because they're so open to the gospel! There is even one less active in their family though who are less active and are going through personal problems, but it was a HUGE blessing to see her come to church and even find the courage to talk to our Bishop, Bishop T! It's so neat to see their family being completed :)

Other than that, our week was pretty normal... we've still been working hard and trying to find new people to teach and invite them to come to church with us :) I've decided FINALLY to have my Filipino companion teach me how to cook Filipino foods---that's honestly something I probably should have done a LOOOOONG while ago. But that's okay, it's never too late to learn ;) You guys will LOVE Adobo! (Once I learn how to cook it... hehe)

Anyways, I think I can OFFICIALLY say that I'm getting close to going home (Don't worry... it's not distracting me from the work at all.) I can only say that though because we had Zone Interviews with President D and he asked me what I'm going to do after my mission xD I still have one more interview with him though hehehe

I think that's about all though that I can say for this week, it's been a really awesome week . I'm so blessed and grateful to be a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The only true and living church upon the earth :)

Love,

Elder Morris

8-20-2017
Haha, don't worry- I know the world is just a messed up place. But it's a good thing we know about the gospel and where we need to stand :) I'm THRILLED at hearing that Dexter is going to be able to come home....and even more that it means he'll be there when I get home!!!!  It's so good to hear about how things are going back home! 

Jacob got a JOB?! That's so weird----Jakey Wakey is getting all old xD He'll almost be 17 when I get home... wow.

And one last note... Chicken Feet taste WAY good... they just have a lot of bones :)P

Anyways, Well, to be honest, I don't have a whole lot to "report on" this week- we've just been working as usual to help people come unto Christ! It was really good in the sense that we were blessed to see people come to church who have not been able to come in the previousl weeks! One of which is M M, who hasn't been able to come to church these last weeks, although he has been able to come to church with previous missionaries---so that was really neat :D

I think that the most exciting news, is that B P, and J P have passed their interview this previous Saturday and will therefore be able to be baptized this coming Saturday on the 26th, along with some others who missonaries in the zone have helped to prepare! It's going to be a really awesome experience :D :D

In our apartment as well, we have a new missonary- Elder S (He's Elder E's new companion). and he's pretty cool! He's from Australia and is 7 months in his mission!

Haha, that's probably all I've got to say! I've been put in charge of making the baptismal programs---so that's what I'm going to do now hehe

Love you guys, I'll email you again next week :D It'll be longer, I promise! 

Elder Morris. PS Actually- something cool is that those glasses we are wearing in the picture are reading glasses. Our mission started something where investigators and recent converts can have reading glasses given to them if needed :D N B was the first was we gave glasses to! She was super excited :D

8-13-2017

Woah! That's some way crazy news-- it's so cool that Hannah is deciding to serve a mission! There is no way that can go wrong :D WOOO She should be assigned in the Philippines Urdaneta Mission :D

It's good to know that some things haven't changed... #magiccards

And that you guys were able to get a new(ish) car!

Also, HAPPY Anniversary Mommy! Dad! 14 years seems like a loooong time... but it's not hehe ;) 

Anyway, I don't have too much time left so..... I should probably tell you guys about how my week has been going, hehe! Elder L and I have found success in finding new people to teach in areas we havent visited yet. Especially since we applied what I mentioned last week in working in the Morning, studying at a members home when it comes to lunch (since our schedule was changed to have study in the lunch time hours) and staying until night- it was an awesome idea because we were able to eat our lunch and then find a quiet spot to study at a members home or outside while enjoying the fresh air. It then saved us a lot of time on travel (like 30minutes) that was previously wasted on sitting in a jeep :)

It was just a really good week, Nanay P and J are still on date for August 26th, which is going to be really exciting! Nanay is getting really excited, since she's been seeing the changes in the lives of her grandkids! Other than that, we've been just finding new people we can teach--especially since some of the ones we were teaching previously have began to hide from us... I mean literally. We walked up to this one home, and we saw our investigator and she saw us and she LITERALLY ran away like she saw a ghost... when we knocked at their home, her husband came out and said nobody was home. So that was sad.

But it's her choice, we just try to help them!

Speaking of which, we are teaching M and S... they're siblings who have been being taught for a while but have been lacking faith to act. This week we read 3 Nephi 27 with them and committed them to baptism again, they said they will and Elder L and I feel they are committed to start acting! S has been going to seminary as well with one of her recent convert friends!

Anyways, there is something that I remembered today in district meeting that opened my eyes, and I remember hearing it a long while ago and it was a quote from C.S. Lewis on our potential as human beings... he said:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

It humbled me to remember that "As man now is, God once was. and as God now is, man may become". It humbled me to remember that EVERYONE we meet (The drunks, the hiding investigators, the nonresponsive people, the curious searchers, the elect) ALL have the potential to become Gods. It humbled me in the sense that, there are times which I fall short on loving everyone, especially when someone hides from us---to remember that Heavenly Father sees them as people who can become even as He is. I should never judge someone to be of any less worth than that.

That's also something that makes our teachings, and message, so uniquely different! It's so depressing to think that people believe that they will go to heaven and just be happy forever and sing and not remember anyone they met in this life.... it honestly just amazed me :)

Well,Whew, I think that may be enough... hehe... I don't want to use up all of your time in just reading my email- just wanting to let you guys know that it was an AWESOME week :) We are going to work even harder to improve all of the work here!

With Love,

Elder Morris

8-7-2017

Haha, don't worry- I totally understand why you guys weren't able to email me last week, in fact I wasn't even sad ;) I'm really glad that you were able to go to Grandpa's funeral, Mommy! I'm also really happy that the house also didn't burn down while you were away hehehe!

I'm just glad that you guys are doing okay, I love to hear from you guys always!

Well anyways, as for this week, it has been really great! So obviously the first thing I want to share is that we had a baptism this last Saturday, for L H and R(the two cousins of a recent convert here named R)!! It was a really awesome experience! We even gave a topic to R so she could give a talk for the baptism, and it was really good! She was super nervous to give a talk, since it was her first... but did really good and the spirit was so strong! It's really great to see the changes that have been happening in their family because of this message!

This coming August 26th, we plan to have a Stake Baptism---we've talked to the missionaries and plan to have 14 candidates as a zone! Among those are Nanay B, and J- the two I've been telling you about. The P family is slowly being completed through the gospel of Jesus Christ :D

Actually, there is something that we decided to try this week in order to improve our work here in Mangaldan and make it more of a model area- so on the days that we go to Malabago, one of our areas, we will go in the morning to work in that area, eat lunch out there, and have companion study at a members home (Less active, or active) The idea is that we can even involve one of the members in our companionship study by having roleplays and discuss the things that we are studying! We figure that in doing so, that our work will be continuous from 10am-9pm... and it will open up a new area for us to work in in the mornings!

    And something else we are going to be doing is organizing a "special lesson" for the P family, where essentially we will have them call ALL their family members for a "special lesson", and then to have one of the recent converts share a message. What we may do then is go around and ask the family members (some of which are still non-members or are less active) and ask them what things they have been seeing change in the home because of the missionaries and because of the gospel. Elder L and I then will testify of the family and how important it is- and connect it to the gospel! 

    What we hope from that is to see their whole family become more closely knited to one another!!

Mangaldan zone is picking up speed! Last week we had 78 investigators come to church as a zone- and we are really going to push to have that magic number of 100!!! But that'll come through time and us really pushing ourselves as mi

Love you guys so much,

~Elder Morris

Elder Morris

Philippines Urdaneta Mission

November2015-November2017

PS---I don't have any pictures for this week as I left my card reader once again at the apartment, but these were sent to my by the Dagupan missionaries--Nanay T finally got baptized :D :D

I also heard news that B A is the new Gospel Principles teacher in Bugallon as well, that was way exciting!!