Week 8 - Another week in Mexico

The night sky in Tijuana

Hola familia!

Espero que todo bien!

Anyways, wow. Weeks are flying now! I love you all so much and think about you frequently.

Thanks first of all to everyone for the gifts I got. I didn't get any of the candies yet, but they should be here soon! I got my slippers and comforter and shoe covers and contacts and the package from the Lawrence's! The slippers and comforter are sooooo nice! Thanks so much.

Me being grumpy!!! 

First off, I want to remind everyone to be really really nice to the missionaries serving in your ward or that you meet. Do something to make them feel special. Remember that they are away from home for years and you don't know whether they're having a good day or not! Missionary work is stressful at times and you just need a pick me up! Please make sure you do something special for them and always give them references of people to teach! It doesn't matter who it is! Everyone needs the gospel!

A little girl made us some cookies on her pretend kitchen which makes noise in English and we translated for her

Mom, I'm alive and well. I love you so much. Everything I have here is because of you. You've set me up for success mom!

Me eating lasagna in Mexico!!!! It was sooo good to eat something like this. Definitely not as good as yours mom!!!! I miss your food! 

So, we got to have another activity for new years. We watched...... Hunger Games 2. hahaha. Another pirated movie, I'm pretty sure, but it was awesome. Even if it was in Spanish and you could hear the person in the theater chewing food and see the occasional head pop up in front of the projector!!! haha.

This picture reminds me of Washington and home!

Ano nuevo (as it's called here) is pretty crazy, music everywhere! Loud! And fireworks! We got woken up at 12 AM to fireworks like crazy! We also had music and karaoke blasting our apartment until 5 in the morning! The ear plugs are for sure helping out! haha.

So, unique to Mexico. They have these little short buses called calafias that cost less than a dollar to ride. They only seat like 20 people, but they're like always full and I've been on them when they have like 50 people on them!!! hahaha.

Also, this week our boiler ran out of gas so we've had cold showers a couple of mornings! haha. But we got more today so we're all good!

Me and the little baby Jesus I bit into!! 

Funny story of the week, So, today here is Dia de los reyes which is basically a celebration of the three wise men. Anyways, look it up. It's very common to make this big cake thing with little plastic babies hidden inside to represent Jesus and his birth. Well, I didn't know anything about this until last night  when I was offered this cake and I bit into it and felt something hard. At first I thought it was bad frosting so I politely put it onto my plate, but then Elder Portillo goes, Look! Elder Morgan has a baby! It's my first baby on the mission. Basically I guess what it means is that I have to make them tamales or something now. hahaha. It's funny though.

The work is going well here! We teach 40 to 60 lessons a week here! Wow. My Spanish at times is horrible and at others pretty decent. It all depends on how I am doing.

Puppies in the street! 

The thing I learned this week is that we can rely so much on the Lord and the Spirit. If we have faith, we can do all. The days that I rely on the Spirit and just open my mouth! Wahlah! Spanish comes out and I can say what I feel, but those days that I doubt, I sink!

Anyways, I love you all so much! And I have had a bed for a long time now! haha.

We found the tree of life on a street here in TJ! 

Love you all! The church is true. It is our duty to share the gospel with everyone! Like Lehi and the fruit, we should feel the desire to share this delicious knowledge with everyone and anyone! We are all sons and daughters of God! He loves us!

Skype!! Love you fam!

Love,

Elder Morgan

Week 7 - Acclimating nicely

Note from the editor: No pictures this week.  :-(


Hey there family!! Love you all so much!

It was so good to talk to you all in "person" on Skype on Christmas! See you in May!

For those of you who didn't hear, Christmas was great here. We got to go to the Stake Center here and watch the movie, "Frozen", which I'm pretty sure is really illegal because it only came out in theaters here like a week ago. Also, you could hear the people in the theater laughing and the movie kept going in and out of focus! hahah. But it's all good!

This week has been good, but trying! I found out that the Gift of Tongues is really really real. I have been able to understand a whole lot more this week! I still struggle with items that aren't Gospel topics, but I am doing pretty good other than that.

This week Elder Portillo really is pushing us. At times we don't know what to do because we've just been following him around and now he wants us to decide what to do. It's hard because here in Mexico we can't knock on doors unless we feel guided to do so! So, the times when we don't know what to do is frustrating because we can't just "knock on doors" like most other people. We have to either go to members or something. We need to find more people to teach though!

Anyways, thank you all for the emails! I try and respond to them all, but it's so hectic to try and keep everything managed time wise.

So, we're learning, slowly, but surely. I still look at people funny when they speak to me and I don't understand, but I really made an effort to smile when I'm teaching and really just show them that I care! It's made all the difference. At times I just stop and think about why I'm here and Who's work this is. That helps too.

Mom, I'm doing fine. Just wanted to let you know. No physical ailments, no emotional breakdowns. Just trying my hardest. Things are getting easier. We are finding ways to be happier each day. I don't think I'll be able to send photos this week because the computer is not letting me, but I'll try for next week and try a video also!

Thanks for the packages that are here. I don't have them yet, but someone in the office called and said I have 6!!! hahaha. I love you all. You're the best. It's also great to see the pictures of the family! It makes my day to remember that all of you are doing so great at home! Please keep them coming!

So the best part of Elder Wood's and my day is that we have Elder Portillo say quotes from Nacho Libre. He's never seen the movie, but his broken Spanish is perfect.

Also, there's a kid in our ward named Bryan who says I look like Clark Kent, so I take every opportunity I can to either pretend like I'm tearing away my shirt to reveal my superman clothes, or flying off into the distance when I'm around him.

There's also another person that says I look like Peter Parker. Basically if you're white and wear glasses here, you're a superhero.

Also, people here ALWAYS tell us we remind them of other gringo missionaries. It's so funny because it's so mildly racist!! hahaha.


Anyways, we've taught some good lessons this week. One to a man named Efren. At the end of the lesson, he asked us to give him a blessing and we did! It was great.

Funny story, one of the homeless dogs here followed us for like a mile the other day. Elder Wood has a video.

Also, the other day we were in a member's home and I was talking about baptism when all of a sudden we heard a huge crash outside. Evidently someone had run into a house with their car and then we saw them run away from the scene. It was pretty crazy and I had a little bit of a hard time continuing to teach after that! haha.

Anyways, everything is going good. Love you all!

Christ is our Savior. He is the only way that we can return to live with God. I know that God has a plan for us. That we lived with him before this life and that we are facing all of these challenges to learn, grow, and prepare to live with him again.

Love you all! Have a happy new Year's!


Love,
Elder Morgan

Week 6 - Mexico or bust

Overlooking Tijuana

Hola familia,

I hope all is well. First off, I want to tell you all that I miss and love you!!!! Mexico is crazy different and doesn't feel like home yet.

Elder Morgan

So, how I'm feeling. At times I'm like, I totally got this, and then somebody asks me a question and I'm like, huh???? But, I'm trying to get settled. The hardest part by far is communicating. I'm starting to pick up some, but it's slow and I feel dumb.

Elder Wood, Elder Portillo

So, my companions... yes, we're in a trio! Elder Wood from Utah (got here with me) and my trainer Elder Portillo from Durango Mexico who has been out for 12 months. He's a great guy and he's trained a bunch of missionaries already and they trust him to train two at once so that's great! Man, I feel like I'm so busy all the time. Elder Portillo speaks very very little English.

Ward (Church) Building

Let's see, about Mexico. There are dogs everywhere, and basically to imagine it, take the nastiest mop you can find and put googly eyes on it. Boom! You have the dogs here. They all bark at us, but the dangerous ones are all behind fences :)

We live in a tiny apartment with 1 room and a kitchen. We're trying to look for something a little spacier.

First baptism

So, this week we had a baptismal! The mission's goals are for each companionship to baptize twice a month! WOW!

The very first night we got here was about 8:00pm when we finally got to our house and we had to go to an appointment. So we're running through the streets of Tijuana at night and Elder Wood and I are thinking we're going to die. We didn't. Anyways, it's not at all dangerous here. The people are really nice and now we laugh at the fact that we thought it was dangerous that night!

This has been the most humbling experience for me yet. The houses here are all tiny tiny with either dirt or concrete floors. It's so crazy.

We eat at a member's house every day for lunch.

Looks like a 'rocking' Ward. Elder Morgan has got to feel at home!

Sunday was really great. Elder Wood and I blessed the Sacrament. I think there are like 100 people plus in the ward.

Let's see, for mom. I'm good. Doing well, love you so much and am trying to work hard.

Funny story of the week - we ran into a little boy in the street who asked us what our job was. We told him that we were missionary's for the church. When we told him what church, and he heard Jesucristo, all he said was "amen" and left. Haha, He must have thought we were praying or something.

Another funny story. Last night we were teaching an investigator named Dolores when all of a sudden she started talking about evil spirits and all this stuff. Then this box that was sitting on the floor next to Elder Portillo started rustling and we all thought we were going to die. So Elder Portillo exclaimed, "What's in the box????" Her response -  A rat. hahahaha

Merry Christmas to you all. It doesn't at all feel like Christmas. I miss you all and love you so much.
The hardest part of this all is not being able to express or understand what I want, but I know that it comes with time. I´m getting more situated here and trying hard to love the people and the language.

I love love love love love you all. God is our father. We are his children. He loves us and answers prayers.

Love,
Elder Morgan

Below are some of the last pictures before Elder Morgan left the MTC:

Hermano (Brother) Carr with Elder Morgan's district

Hermano (Brother) Byrd

Hermano (Brother) Pasantino with Elder Morgan's district

Week 5 - On the way out...

Hello family!

I love you all so much. This week, as all other weeks has flown by so fast! 

I leave Monday and my flight is at 11:15 AM Utah time, Arrive in San Diego at 12:08 PST. I don't know when I'll call, but I will sometime around then! 

This Tuesday we got to hear from Elder Cook and his wife. That's 3 apostles that I've seen while here!!! That's crazy unique. He spoke on giving service to everyone you can on your mission! I am so excited to get down to Mexico and serve the people.

So this week was super great. So many spiritual experiences. Some of my favorites happened yesterday though. Hermano Carr, one of our maestros, was telling us about our purpose. Our entire purpose as missionary's is to open the doors of the Celestial Kingdom to the children of God! Saving souls! After we talked about that for a while, I am I so excited to get out there and do just that! (Read Dallin H Oak's Ensign Article "Why do we do missionary work?" for more info.)

Sisters Nelson and Lovell, and Elder's Backus and Morgan

So, our investigators are moving along great. Raili, he's 24, was having some problems with his mom. He wants to be baptized, but he didn't know how he was going to tell his mom, nor what she would think of the whole thing. So, we told him that he HAD to talk to his mom. He did, and it didn't go great, but he wanted to wait. So, in a 10 minute lesson, Elder Backus and I felt prompted to teach the importance of Baptism in Salvation and that if he really loved his mother and wanted to be with her forever he had to be baptized! We shared scriptures such as John 3:6 where Jesus responds to Nicodemus. I asked him, "Heavenly Father has given us the opportunity to be baptized and live with our families again. Is that something that you want now, or later?" (Obviously in Spanish) His answer, of course, was now and we got a firm baptismal date for the 20th. All that happened within 10 minutes! The Spirit guides this work!

Another amazing experience. Our other progressing investigator, Louis, and his wife Cristina (Who we just started teaching) had some cool experiences. Elder Backus and I, in our planning for what we were going to teach, I got inspiration that we should read the Book of Enos with them. I didn't know why, but I thought I better do it. So, we both read Enos and prepared to talk about it. About 5 days later, when we taught them (yesterday) we went in planning to teach about something, but they had questions on prayer and how to receive an answer! BOOM! My mind went straight to Enos. So, we read the first 10 or so verses with them and explained the experience that Enos had with prayer. It was so powerful and the Spirit was there. I am so thankful for the help that we get. Elder Bednar gave a talk about knowing when it's the Spirit that is prompting you or if it's just you. His advice was, "QUIT WORRYING ABOUT IT." We are promised that if we are good boys and girls, ask for the guidance of the Spirit, and are worthy of it, we will be guided. We shouldn't spend time worrying about whether it's the Spirit or not! We should just do it! So powerful, and as Elder Backus and I have been applying this to our teaching, we have had amazing success and experiences. 

So, some little info. Elder Backus has yet to receive his Visa, nor travel plans, so we're going to try and get that figured out today! Hopefully all works out. 

Thank you mom for the amazing Christmas package! We loved it!! However, we're curious what the Animal Crackers had to do with that scripture. HAHAHA

Funny stories of the week. One day while leaving class, our teacher was walking in front of us, so Elder Covey thought it'd be a brilliant idea to throw a snowball at his back. Well, either by luck, or skill, Hermano Pasantino got pegged in the back of the head with such a snowball. It was sad and funny. Another funny thing. Elder Covey has a habit of walking on the frozen river outside of our classroom. Well, as karma goes, one day he fell through and got his feet all wet :) That's what you get when you disobey here! Another funny story comes from Hermano Pasantino about his mission. He went to Mendoza (Same as Christian (in fact, Christian has heard about him)) Anyways, down in Argentina people would think that the Missionaries were US spies. So, one day a man was pointing at them and yelling "CIA CIA!!" So, his companion started to take "pictures" using his name tag as if there was a mini camera in there and kept touching his ear and saying, "President Obama" as if he was talking with the President in his ear. That story was so funny to me! I don't know why, but we like died laughing. 

Elder Covey and his 7 stuff Oreo Creation

Okay, so I can't think of anything else to tell you all. I love you all and know that this work is true. I know that we can receive promptings if we are being worthy of it and asking for them. I love this work and can't wait to leave in 4 days for Mexico!!!! AHHHHH. Love you all so much and think of you regularly. 

Elder Morgan's District, and some in the Zone who have already left for Mexico

Love,

Elder Morgan

Week 4 - After the Thanksgiving hooplah!

Hola mi familia!!!! Espero que ustedes tuvieron un buen dia de accion de gracias!! (I hope you had a good day of thanksgiving!)

So...... Starting with Thanksgiving. We got to hear from Elder Nelson in the morning. It was pretty good. We sang in the choir too which was cool. I think my face made a quick appearance on the screen ;) Then we had a nice turkey and mashed potatoes lunch. We spent all day on main campus, which was cool, and makes me appreciate west campus! (West side....) Then we got to participate in a huge service project. What we did was we made pre-packaged soup packs for kids in Utah that don't have enough to eat. All you had to do was add water and microwave!! Our goal was to do 350,000!!! We did 350,208!!!!!  Isn't that insane? We basically made a whole bunch of human assembly lines. my job was to weigh the bag, and if it didn't weigh the right amount, I was in charge of fixing it. (probably the most crucial job... no big deal... haha) Yes, we did get to wear red lunch lady hairnets. We also got to hear a "classic" thanksgiving story. When we heard about it, I was kind of looking forward to taking a nap, but then it turned out being a joke and people dressed up and stuff. Much needed comedic relief! Then in the evening they gave us Junior Mints and we got to watch a real movie! Ephraim's Rescue. Go check it out! It's pretty good. All and all, it was a great thanksgiving. 

Nice look Elder's!

So, surprise of the week... We got the mail on last Wednesday and we had our travel itineraries to San Diego! We were stoked, but then we noticed they said we would be leaving a week early (the 9th of Dec.) We then were sort of freaking out because we weren't expecting that. Anyways, after like 5 days of trying to contact the travel office, they finally informed us that they had made a mistake and that we were still leaving on the 16th! pheeeew! So, that was fun. 

Elder Backus / Elder Morgan

This week we got baptismal commitments from both of our investigators! They are both progressing nicely. They both have there own issues, but we're working with them! Elder Backus and I are really doing well. 

Elder Backus / Elder Morgan

Thanks so much for the package Sheridan! Everything in there is awesome and those cookies were gone in a day! Love you. Thanks so much for the ties too! The guys love them and are very thankful!

Ties Mom Morgan sent to Elder Morgan's District!

This Sunday we were supposed to hear from Elder Ballard, but due to the half foot of snow we got here, he couldn't make it. 

Outside Elder Morgan's apartment

Something cool I learned this week. SYL here in the MTC stands for "Speak Your Language." This means that we should always been finding opportunities to speak Spanish. So, yesterday I put a whole bunch of sticky notes up around the classroom and bathroom that say SYL on them to remind us. One of the teachers here came up to me and she asked if I had done that. She told me it was a great idea and also told me that SYL can stand for more. "Show Your Love," she said. She told me that every time we speak Spanish, we are showing our love for the people of Mexico by learning how to teach them about our Savior and His Gospel in their own language. That hit me pretty hard and I have resolved now to speak even more and more Spanish.

Let's see, other than that, it's just been a regular week here. I can't believe this is my 5th week! Whoa. 

Answers to questions:

Time to veg out, what is that? No. We don't have that here. We're busy 24/7

Anything like the Best Two Years? Not really so far.

Elder Scholes / Elder Tobler / Sister Gregory

District is doing great! We wore the ties and can't even explain the joy it brought to everyone here at the MTC. We got so many comments and people started trying to match too! Haha

Spanish is pretty good. I can understand probably like 95% of the Spanish our teachers speak and about 50% of "real" Spanish - haha.

These are the gym bubbles Elder Morgan talked about before

Alrighty, well. I love you all so much. I want to share my testimony that I am so thankful for everything I have in this life. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has blessed me in so many ways. I know that we have a Savior who atoned for our sins. I have no idea how he accomplished it, but I am so very thankful for his love, example, mercy, and grace. I am so thankful for a wonderful family who surrounds me with support and love. I love all of you and I cannot wait to get to Mexico. 

Love you all!

Elder Morgan