Week 41 - Where does the time go?

Hello friends and family! I love you all soooooooo muuuuuuuuuch.

They say that time flies when you're having fun, so I must be having a blast because time here is like fast forwarded 10x.

This week was good. 

Sister Missionaries with Juan's wife and daughter

Our district is doing really well. This week I had to do a total of 8 baptismal interviews and 6 of them were in one day! Needless to say I'm a little wiped, but it's really good. I love interviewing these people and see that they are truly repentant and wanting to follow the path that our Savior Jesus Christ set for us! I love the special time to sit and talk with them and feel the Spirit testify that they are ready. I've learned a lot about how to feel this special gift that we've been given. 

We've had many opportunities this week to give service. The other night we got a call at 1:30 in the morning. Obviously we didn't answer, but in the morning they called again needing our help. It was a less active lady who's been living with her rather aggressive father trying to help him out. Well, they had a fight or something and ended up calling the cops. Basically she needed us to move all the furniture out of her house so she could go move. So, early in the morning we spent a few hours moving furniture! haha. It was pretty crazy, but it's also good to help out.

Then, this week one of our investigators broke down crying in the lesson we had with her and explained that she was being kicked out of her house. She's a woman of like 50 years and has her 25 year old son living with her too. It was really hard to see her so distraught. Well, we offered her all that we could. We told her of places for rent that we've seen and offered our help with the move when it comes around. We've been praying a lot that she can find a place to live. She's super cool!!!

Juan's wife got baptized this week! It was so cool. She was an investigator of the Sisters (long story short, they were teaching her and we were teaching him) All in all it was great and I was honored and blessed to be the one to baptize her! That family is so cool and we're working with their kids right now to help them as well. The whole family went to church yesterday! Juan got the Aaronic Priesthood and will get the Melchizedek next week, His wife got confirmed, and the kiddos stayed all 3 hours and went to their classes! It's so great to see the whole family progressing! 

Juan's wife's baptism

Juan's family and the Sister Missionaries and Elders

But probably the most unique story of this week had to do with a less active that we went and visited. We went and got to know her last week, but she told us to come back another day so that we could meet with her husband too. He's not a member so we were excited to help out the family. Well, we came back and everything was good, she invited us in, gave us some water, we started to chat and she told us her husband was from the US. Born in LA. I thought, oh that's cool we'll be able to speak to him in English a little bit. Then, all of the sudden her husband who's all tattooed up came downstairs and started to swear at us in English. Basically he spent the next 40 minutes cursing and "Preaching" to us about how there's no God, that is doesn't matter what you do, that he had spent 10 years in jail and that it doesn't matter. He also said some really blasphemous stuff that I will never ever repeat. We just sat there as he blocked us and the door. He was really confused and probably drunk. He kept telling us how he respected us a lot, but he didn't really show us. I haven't heard that many swear words in all my life. There were probably at least 600 curses that he used. About 1 every third word. It was the most filthy language I have ever heard. Well, eventually we got up and left and he gave a rousing goodbye using more curses. I can't

even really explain what went on. I never once felt scared, he didn't want to hurt us. He's just a confused man. The whole time I was just praying for him and thinking about how bad I felt for him and the confusion in his life.

Juan's Family

I testify that God DOES EXIST. That he sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for the sins of the world. I know that through the atonement we can be made clean. I know that God loves us. If any of you who are reading this doubts for one second what I testify to be true, I invite you to drop onto your knees and pray to your Heavenly Father. Ask Him if it's true. Don't just believe some 20 year old snot nose kid. Ask Him for yourselves. 

I love you all and I love this mission.

I hope that everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Morgan 

Week 40 - This week.....Wow

Hey there family!!!!

I love you all so much!!!!!

This week was super weird. We were so busy, but then at the same time we did like nothing. 

To start off with, this week we spent a whole bunch of time planning this Ward Open House that we did on Saturday. We went out with the youth for a few hours and passed out like 400 invitations and we were inviting everyone that we talked to this week. It was so great. The day of the actual activity came and everyone from the ward had done a great job. Basically we set it up so that all the organizations had a room in the church and had to give a 5 minute schpeel on what they do in that organization.  Well, everybody did a great job. So, then it came time to start and NOBODY CAME. Not a single investigator nor non member showed up. We were pretty bummed, but the good thing was that the ward all pulled together and saw that we are trying to work. I even tried to get people that walked by to come in by standing outside holding a sign that said, "Free passports" haha. I didn't really do that. We would have had a way bigger turnout though. 

So anyways, that really hurt our week because we had been planning that activity and everything. Oh well.

Our zone here is doing really good right now. Our zone is known as like the worst zone of the mission basically, but it's really turned around. When I got here, the whole zone only baptized 1 person in that month. The record here is 19 baptisms in one month, really really low! However, we've been working really hard and focusing on the people, not the numbers. As a result of that we should end up with like 25 or something this month. A huge improvement. 

Juan baptism

Juan baptism

Anyways, there's not much else to tell. This week we tried to get permission to go over to the San Diego temple because Frida, our recent convert was going, but I guess the missionaries here can't go to the temple anymore. which is a bummer!  Oh well. She went and had a great time!!!

I know that this church is true. I know that because God has told me. I know without a single doubt in my mind that

we have a prophet that leads and guides us.

I love you all so much! 

Elder Morgan 

Elder Morgan's and Elder Smalley's desk at their apartment

Week 39 - A Juan Ton Potato

Family!!!

Love you all tons. Have like  no time to write!! I'll make it quick!

This week was pretty good. Highlight of the week was Juan's Baptism!!!

Juan basically is this 58 year old guy that has lived everything. He was in jail for 22 years for something he never did. And after 22 years, they let him out and told him he was innocent in the first place. Anyways, he's a really cool guy. When we found him, he had a Quadruple combination, but in English! He basically wanted to know more. Anyways, we've been teaching him for like a month and he finally got baptized. He's super cool. He likes to tell 30 minute long stories so sometimes we only could teach like 10 minutes without him starting up on a crazy story. He knows a ton about the Bible and has already read the Book of Mormon a ton and right now is reading D&C and Pearl of Great Price. He studies a ton. Every pamphlet that we've given him he's read at least 2 or 3 times and highlights them all up! He also asked for a triple combination in Spanish so we got him one and the next day he had it all nicely covered and had made his own divider tabs for all the books in it!! He also had us sign it and put our favorite scriptures. He's so cool. We're also working with his family and hoping that he can baptize his family here in another 2 weeks! Wooo! He calls my companion El Campion or The Champion because Elder Smalley is from German descent and Germany won the world cup this year. He calls me Mister Morgan haha. He also likes to cock fight. This guys basically the greatest. Yesterday he asked us to give a blessing to his kids and wife to start the new school year. It was legit!!!

I love this mission. I know that God loves us and that the church is true. As Paul in the Bible says, there is only one true Gospel and that Gospel is found here in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I don't say that because I'm proud, but rather because God has told me so.

I love you all so much!!!

Love,
Elder Morgan

Week 38 - This week on ... A Life In Tjuana

Hey there fams.

Love you all so so so so so so much!

This week........ Well, this week was pretty good. I don't really remember what happened. One of the coolest things this week was when we did exchanges. I went with an Elder named Elder Zempoalteca. Pretty much the second hardest thing to pronounce here. The hardest is Parangaricutirimcuaro. Yup, I can say that. 

Anyways, we were on these exchanges and we had a really cool experience. We went with our first lesson of the day and it was with this less active family at like 11:00. Well, they like surprised us with breakfast and like forced us to eat it. It was good. but we were like so full. Anyways, fast forward in the day and we show up to where we were supposed to eat. We knocked on the door and the Sister walked out and told us we couldn't come in, but that she had made us some sandwiches. She made a bunch! So, we went to go find a place to eat. While we were walking we saw this homeless man. We went up to him and started talking to him. Elder Zempoalteca asked him if he had eaten and he said no, so he gave him one of the sandwiches and went and bought him some water as well. It was super cool and super kind of him. Then we went on our way looking for another spot to eat. We found some benches in this little store and bought some water. As we were in line with the water this guy came up to us and started asking us who we were and everything, that he has seen us walking around all the time, but had never talked to us. Well, we spoke with him a little bit and wrote down the referral for other Elders that are where he lives. Amidst us talking with him he explained that he was having a rough time finding work and everything. So, we offered him a sandwich as well. At first he refused out of pride, but eventually he took the sandwich and thanked us. Elder Zempoalteca and I just sat there afterwards thinking about the situation. We realized that had we not eaten that breakfast in the morning, we probably would have been really hungry and had gone all day hungry, but in this way we were able to help these two people and be full ourselves. I testify that sometimes we don't realize all the little miracles around us. "Lead me, Guide me, walk beside me."

We also did other exchanges with the Zone leaders. One of the zone leaders is Elder Lundbeg from Utah. He was the assistant to the president when I got here, and he leaves in 2 days. It was super cool to talk to him. He's a really great missionary and I was able to learn so much from him! Yesterday they baptized a man named Jose that has no legs! I did the baptismal interview for him. He's super cool. I am so thankful for the leaders that I have had out here in the mission and for all the things that I have learned. 

I love you all and challenge you all to do something that Christ would do this week if he was here in the Earth. 

Love you tons!

Elder Morgan

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.  :-)