Week 37 - A night of talents

Hey there family of mine! 

I love you all more than the cockroaches love hiding under refrigeradores. 

So....

This week was good. We just work our tails off every day.

This week we had a nice talent show as a ward mission activity. I was the MC for the night. It mainly consisted of little girls singing and one middle age single mom doing some awkward karaoke. 

Elder Smalley for his talent did a handstand for 21 seconds. He used to be a gymnast and was a male cheerleader. The sisters in our ward did this legit skit on two girls that knew each other in the preexistence and promised each other they'd help each other out. The one girls goes on a mission and ends up converting the other one. It was super powerful. Our ward mission leader also played the guitar. An RM played a primary song on this pan flute thing. I told a joke in Spanish. Que hace el pez? Nada!!! It's funny because it's asking what a fish does. Then the answer is nada which can either mean "It Swims" or "Nothing" Yup.... That's the humor here. We also sang a hymn to stall at one point. 

Basically that was the fun part of this week.

We also saw some cool miracles this week. We had been praying to find a family this week and especially I asked for a family of 5 to teach. Well, we went and visited this family of less actives whose kids aren't baptized. Well, we went and started teaching the kids and set baptismal dates for them. As we were teaching, I noticed that we were teaching 5 people. Just what we had been asking for! I know that God answers our prayers and that the family can be forever. 

Another cool story of this week. We've been really working with one of our investigators who needs to quit drinking coffee. He was drinking 10 to 12 cups every day! I'm surprised too because he's like super chill. Anyways, he was starting to drop it, but having difficulties dropping it completely so I shared my testimony of a few of the members in our family and their testimonies of being able to quit and then we gave him a Priesthood blessing. He hasn't drunk a single drop since then! I know that the power of the Priesthood is real! He even had this big temptation, but felt the Spirit tell him no and help him to overcome! I love this work!!!

Anyways, love you all. Do really good this week and try and share the Gospel! 

Love,

Elder Morgan 

Here's a few silly pictures Elder Morgan sent of combining some currency pictures with Elder Smalley's head.  :-)

Week 36 - Wero Giants

Hey!  Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So.... I didn't get transferred and either did Elder Smalley!  The wero giants remain a team!  (wero translation:  a word used in Mexico to denote a person of fair complexion or with blond or red hair).

This week was so legit! 

Frida got baptized!!!  At the last minute, she found trouble with her parents as her Mom begged her not to get baptized, but she escaped from the house and got baptized and then confirmed on Sunday!  I'm so proud.  The baptism was awesome. Her Mom told her, "No! Don't go get baptized, that's a big commitment." and she just responded, "I know mom. The missionaries told me that like 20 times, I'm ready."  Whoa!!!!!!  The church is true. 

Frida is super cool, but she's also super timid and gets really nervous, and whenever she gets really nervous, she starts to laugh uncontrollably. Basically she laughed through like half the baptismal service.  I also wasn't really thinking and before the baptism I tried to show her how to bend her knees by doing a sort of 80's jazzercise move that made her laugh even more. OOPS.  It was so cool though because the ward mission leader asked her to bear her testimony in the baptismal service.  I was worried she wouldn't be able to make it through, but right then I bowed my head and offered up a quick prayer pleading for her to be able to do it.  She then got up there with no giggles, no nervousness or anything and bore the sweetest testimony ever!!!!  I was so excited!!  Our Heavenly Father knows us and listens to us. 

That was really the main thing that happened this week. I'm really loving being here.  This week I did transfers with a really good Elder.  He was the Assistant to the President when I first got here, and now is my zone leader.  He leaves in 2 weeks.  I was able to learn a lot from him, and want to care about people as much as he does. I want to work myself to the ground here. 

Love you all!

I know that this church is true and that sometimes the Lord asks us to do tough things to make us stronger.  Ether 12 is a great chapter for that!  I know that God loves us and knows us!!

Love,

Elder Morgan 

 

Frida, and her friend Lupita who is a boss!!!! She got baptized like 6 months ago and has already helped all her family and her friends get baptized! She's putting in her mission papers right now!!!! whooo!!!

The white wall we're still in the process of painting. (Thought this was an overexposed picture at first)

This is where Elder Morgan is currently serving (His meeting house is outlined in orange)

Week 35 - Time is flying

Hey there family!

This week was pretty good. What we really realized this week is that we need to find more people to teach.

There's this phrase in Preach my Gospel that says that nothing in the work of salvation happens until after you find a person to teach. Something like that. It's so true though!

This week one of our investigators Frida was supposed to get baptized, but at the last minute she told us she had her doubts still. Basically "we" knew she was ready, but she didn't "feel" it. So this week we went and visited her everyday to help her out. We didn't see too much progress, but we saw something start flickering. We were praying and praying for her. Then, on Sunday she told us that she's sure of everything now and wants to get baptized! Prayers really do get answered! She still is worried about what her family might say, but we're going to help her with that today!

What else happened this week?? Hmmmm... Not sure. The weeks go by like days. And the days are like hours. Its super fast paced because there's always work to be done.

We're really going to focus this week on baptizing every week because this is what The Lord has commanded us to do here in Mexico. It's very possible too. Just takes a lot of work. If there's one thing that I've learned here, it's how to work.

I love the Gospel and love my Savior who made it possible for me to return to live with our Heavenly Father. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he helped our Father in Heaven restore the Gospel again to the earth. When I talk to other people about their beliefs, it just doesn't make any sense. I'm so thankful for a knowledge of who I am, who God is, and the purpose to almost everything in this life.

It cooled down a little bit here, but it's still hot. You can't trust the temperature either because it's even warmer in the houses. They're like little ovens.

Anyways, love you family, and I exhort you all to do as Paul said and work out your own salvation.

Love,
Elder Morgan

Week 34 - A Mexican 4th of July

Dear Family,

Love you all a whole bunches and oats. 

This week was really good. 

Elder Smalley and I are doing well. Sometimes we get on each other’s nerves, but that was bound to happen at some point haha. We still laugh all the time. Today during our companionship study, while he wasn’t looking, I drew a mouth, nose, and two eyes on sticky notes and then stuck them to my glasses. He then turned around and we had a nice chuckle which basically turned into me chasing him into our room and him falling on the bed not being able to breathe because he was laughing so hard. Then we got back to studying. 

Basically Mexico has become the world’s hottest place. We literally melt every day. Last night was impossible to sleep. I literally got up in the middle of the night just to do as many pushups as I could so that I could literally just exhaust myself to sleep. No deodorant in the world can stop these pits from sweating. I literally now carry around a handkerchief wherever I go so that I can wipe the sweat that drips down my face like someone dumped a bucket of water on me. Basically.... it’s hot.

This week we also had a great zone conference with our new Mission President. I was nervous because I really loved Pres. Carreon, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to love this new president or that he’d be way different. However, he’s SUPER COOL! I love him already. He basically told us what the whole mission needed to hear and he only had a week here! Very inspired. 

Today we had a fun time trying to clean soot off the walls and ceilings of the upstairs. Basically the short story is that somebody..... cough cough.. Elder Smalley... left the iron plugged in for 24 hours. This happened before I even got here in this area. Well... the iron, and the ironing board caught fire and melted into the ground, and soot now covers the white walls that the landlords had just painted 3 days earlier..... So, I arrived with this mess. For the past few P days we’ve tried with sponges and soap and brushes to get it off, but it hasn’t been working. Today we borrowed a power washer to spray down all the walls, but that hasn’t worked either. We’re painting next week. Anyways, we’re safe! That’s what matters. 

I love you all.

I know that this church is true and that we have the Priesthood of God which blesses our lives. 

Love,

Elder Morgan

Week 33 - This week we laughed more than any other week

Baptism of Camilo

Family!

Love you all sooooooo much.

This week was pretty good!

Elder Smalley and I are just having so much fun it's not even funny. The best part is that we're working stinking hard and having fun! The best combo.

So..... This week. The funniest part of this week was probably Friday. We called an awesome family in the ward to help us out in the morning with an appointment. This family deserves some explanation. It´s an older couple that have never been able to have kids. So they explain that the kids for her (the wife) are her 4 cats, and the kids of the dad are his collection of like 500 toy airplanes, helicopters, and cars. hahaha. They also say that we are their kids because they take care of us. Well, anyways, they drove us to the appointment and the lady wasn't there. So then we went to like plan b,c,d,e,f, and g and nobody was there. So then we looked for a reference, not there. Anyways, these two told us, Alright, were going to go get gorditas. They literally like kidnapped us and made us go eat with them in the street gorditas. They're super nice, and crazy at the same time! Its a blast. Well, I ended up eating chicharon which is basically like pig skin. Later that night, I was sicker than a dog with so much stomach pain and bathroom trips!!! Guacala!

That was the highlight. The next day we went to go do service at this lady's home which basically consisted of us peeling and scraping off old paint for 2 hours and then painting for like 15 minutes. haha. It was great because her neighbor was blasting music of literally every genre you can think of and we were like "reverently" jamming out to it. haha.

Then we had the baptism of two 9 year old twins! It was a baptism for the Sisters in the ward, but Elder Smalley got to baptize one of them! He said the water was freezing cold! haha.

It's seriously been so fun here in this ward! I never want to leave, but I know that because I said that, The Lord will probably move me! haha. Elder Smalley and I are just having a blast. Literally this week we've cracked up during like 6 hymns and I made milk come out of Elder Smalleys nose!!! Success!!!

I know that we are here to have joy. "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might find joy." 2 Nephi 2:25
But we need to find out what gives us everlasting joy. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was created so that we can find joy. Not in money, success, nor worldly things, but in our families. In obedience, and in hard work. I know that this church is true. I know that families can be forever through Our Heavenly Fathers plan. I love our Heavenly Father.

Love you all! Stay strong and hold firm to that Iron Rod!!

Love,
Elder Morgan

One of our awesome investigators this week read like 10 chapters in the Book of Mormon and wrote down 26 questions about it. She´s 12.... It was like her second lesson with us. It was sweet. She also drew a picture of Elder Smalley and me.