Week 97 - Buzz and Woodsy

Family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow. Time is going by fast. One more month to be here in the full time service of The Lord! Yikes!!! We're working really hard.

Things here are going well. We had a really great week considering it's the second week here in the sector. We got 11 different referrals from the ward members and we had 5 new investigators go to church. One of the guys we're teaching is super awesome! God has been preparing him for some time now. We gave him the first lesson pamphlet and when we went back he had read every page of it!!!! Glossary included. He even filled out the additional study questions in the back! He then said, "Sorry I could only fill out half of the questions, but it's because I don't have a Book of Mormon, where can I get one?" Bing Bing!!!!!! It was such a great lesson and he's fulfilling all of his commitments! I love being in the Lord's hands. He went to church this week and after the three hour block, we asked if he had any questions. He said, "Yes and no. I feel like I have so many questions, but God just keeps telling me that this is the right place for me, that's the only question that matters right now, the rest will be resolved later." He felt like he was at home there in the ward. He should be getting baptized right before I get home! Could be the last convert I get to see in the mission.

Anyways, things are going really well. Elder Woods and I are starting to get into the swing of things here. The funny thing that happened yesterday was we ran out of money and so we had to walk home from a really far away place. After an hour and a half we finally got there. Oh well, it was a great excuse just to talk and look at the lunar eclipse!

I know that this church is true. Christ established a perfect church. There is no need to change His church. If He put the prophets and apostles there, we don't need to take them out of it! His church stands today and a prophet of God is at the head of it on this Earth. I testify of that as His representative. En el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.

Elder Morgan

Week 96 - The hundred acres with Woods.

Family!!!!!

Love you!!!!!

So, first off... the title of this email... The hundred acres with Woods. This area that I'm in is so huge. To get from one end to the other, we take like a 45 minute bus ride up these sketchy dirt hills and stuff. It's like a storybook here. In the first 3 days, we saw 8 men riding horses. We've seen like 300 chickens, like 25 cows, a million dogs, and one little meal worm that was in Elder's Woods' food.

It's great though. It seems to be a place with so much potencial! We're going to do some good things here. I can feel it.

We're doing well. This week we were basically getting to know the area and getting accustomed to the place. We've already made ourselves good friends with some great families in the ward and we've been finding people to teach. It's crazy because from now on, I'll be setting baptismal dates from dates AFTER I'm already home!!! What the??? This whole two years thing went by way too fast. I love this place and still don't want to leave.

One of the cool things this week was that we went into a little store to see if they had any maps. They didn't, but then the lady that was working at the counter asked us if she could ask us a question. She said, "My husband is a member of your church and we want you guys to come to the house to give our son a blessing and to bless our house." Well, we set up the appointment and on Saturday we went. They're super cool. Basically their son his whole life has been able to see Spirits, one of them being his twin brother that died at birth. He's 17 now and he sees people quite often. They just wanted us to give him a blessing so he can cope with this ability that he has and to bless the house against evil spirits. A few years back some missionaries did the same thing in another house and they said it helped a whole bunch. We ended up blessing the house, and giving a blessing to all inside. It was really spiritual. Then we set up an appointment to return. We're going to reactivate this less active member and see if we can teach his family too. It just goes to show that we are not doing the work out here alone. God guides our footsteps. Even when we think that we're acting out of our own will, like by buying a map in a store, we realize that God leads and directs us.


Love you all!!! Have a great week!!!

Elder Morgan

Week 95 - Knock on Woods

Family!!!!!!

Love you guys so much!!!!!

This week was really great.

We had the chance to go to the re-dedication of the Mexico City temple. It was broadcast to all the chapels in Mexico. The doors were closed to the public, only worthy members. It was really really really great. I learned so much and was able to feel a wonderful Spirit! I love the temple and it's marvelous blessings. Thanks to these special edifices, we are able to be eternal families!!!!

Well, the news of the week is that I have been transferrred!!!!!! I'm now here in Rosarito with Elder Woods (notice that it is not the Elder Wood that I was with at the beginning.) He's a great guy that's from Idaho. I'm really excited to be working with him. We're opening up a new area (whitewashing) and I'll be serving as District Leader my last transfer. 15 months straight of being a zone leader and I can't even remember what a District Leader does! haha Should be a great learning experience. 

Well, I just want to let you all know that I love you. I got a lot of work to do before the end of this full time mission. I will never end the real mission though. The real mission that I'm serving is a life-long commitment to my Father in Heaven. I won't let Him down. 

Love you all!!!!

Elder Morgan

And a few goofy ones

Gotta love him!!  ;-)

Week 94 - el niño

Family!!

Love you all!!!!

Families are forever! wahoo!!

So, this week was good.

There was nothing really out of the normal that happened, but there was a cool miracle. We had finished up exchanges one of these days and so we went with a lady that was supposed to live in this area far away from our house. So, we went there to find her, but we couldn't find the house. We walked around all over, but it was nowhere to be found. Right when we had given up the search, we started walking and all of a sudden these two people come up to us and say, "Excuse me, are you the Elders?" We answered affirmatively and they said. We've been looking for elders for a long time! We were in Sinaloa studying with you guys about a year ago, but we didn't get the chance to finish the lessons and get baptized. We want to know where the church is, start up the lessons again, and get baptized. After we had picked our jaws up off the ground, we answered with a huge smile, "We can help you." These two are awesome. They were going to go to church yesterday, but they got lost on their way there. They walked a few miles to get there and almost got there, but they got lost at the very last bit and don't have a cell phone to communicate with us. They both have baptismal dates for the following month! This is the Lord's work. He shows us what to do and when to do it. 

Supposedly there is a hurricane that's supposed to hit this week. I hope we get to talk next week, but if not, it's because I'm swimming... haha. :)

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

Keep safe and sound!!!!

Elder Morgan

Birthday Party for Bishop's son

Minion themed

 

And a few pictures to prove that Elder Morgan is still goofy Derek :-)

Week 93 - This week was great

Family!!!!

Love you!!!!!!!!!

Well, it's been a good week. Let me tell you why. 

This month we were praying really hard to help someone else get baptized. With pray and fasting, a sister came to our mind that has been going to church for 4 months straight and is practically a dry member. She hadn't been able to get baptized because there were a few issues and President had told us it wasn't possible, but the Spirit told us that she was going to get baptized, so we continued praying and we talked with the President again and he received the revelation that she could get baptized! She was so excited to hear that because she's always wanted to be baptized! She has such a strong testimony and is more faithful than many members that have a lot of time in the church!  

Her name is Trinidad. Her sister Flora and son Eduardo got baptized like 2 months ago. It was a great baptism and we had some investigators there as well! 

The other great thing about this week was that we had the visit of a member of the quorum of the 70, Elder Pieper. He is the first councilor in the Mexico area presidency. It was so great hearing from him. We had 3 different meetings with him and all in all 8 hours of listening to him! It was so great. What I really learned from his visit is that 1. We don't need to worry about things that we can't control and 2. The Spirit must be the teacher

These two concepts are things I've known for a long time, but I guess when I heard them this time The Spirit really testified to me that that's what I need to do. Sometimes in the mission there are so many factors that we WANT to control, but ultimately we CAN'T. Such as, the decisions of investigators, the ward, the members, the area, etc. We don't need to worry about those things. Instead of wasting our time on that, we must ask ourselves "Well, what CAN I do?" 

Now, talking about the Spirit. The Spirit really is the teacher. We can give a lesson with a ton of eloquence and perfectly planned out, but if we don't let the Spirit teach, the message will never enter into the heart of the investigators. What does that mean for me? It means that I need to shut up sometimes and let the Spirit do some teaching. I need to be in tune with the Spirit and well prepared. Then, in the teaching, I must be quiet and ask a lot of questions. I must let the investigator think and share and INTERACT with The Spirit! It makes so much sense now. It's not about us teaching the people, it's about us inviting the people to have their own spiritual experiences! 

Well, we put it into practice. Last night, we were teaching a lady who went to church for the first time yesterday. As we were teaching her, I felt prompted in the middle of the lesson to ask her, "Do you have any questions?" She just looked at us and said, "No, but I want you guys to know that I've decided to get baptized." We didn't even have to invite her to do it! We hadn't even been talking about baptism, we were just talking about Joseph Smith, but The Spirit told her that she needed to get baptized. As we finished the lesson. we knelt and she offered a sincere prayer. She said, "Father, thank You for sending me Your servants, I believe that this is the true church and it's where You want me to be, help me to keep following this path." Wow! 

If only I had learned all this earlier! haha 

Love you all! I know that this church is true. Without a doubt in my mind, Jesus Christ is the Savior. He lives. The tomb is empty. I love Him and My Father in Heaven.

Elder Morgan

Week 92 - Pirate Morgan

Family!

Love you all so so so so so so so so so smuch! Yes, Smuch.

This week was a good one. We had our monthly Zone Leader report with the President and the Asistentes (Assistants). We're looking really good for this month of August. Our goal is 200 baptisms. That would be a record for our mission. 

We also had a zone conference this week. My companion and I trained on the importance of inviting the people to do things. If you read the scriptures, you'll notice that God always invites us, he'll never force us or obligate us. As missionaries we must teach with the Spirit so that the people we teach commit themselves to doing something by themselves.

We've been finding some great new people to teach that really want to make changes in their lives. I love helping those that WANT our help haha. 

Two weeks ago, there was a luchador (Mexican wrestling) match in a gym close to our house here. One of the luchador's name was "Pirate Morgan". To advertise the fight, there was a car with a speaker on top of it that went around announcing the fight and said, "Featuring the world's best luchador PIRATE MORGAN!!!!" We found one of the fliers on the ground and took it home with us. 

The other big event this week was yesterday. I spent all of my time at church in the bathroom "tossing my cookies." However, after a trip to the hospital and two injections, I'm back to full health! 

Also, there is new rule here in the mission. We are no longer able to write friends, only family. Sorry! However, the good news is that soon we'll be able to talk face to face! 

Anyways, things are going well here! Looking forward to working really hard these next few months. 

Love you all,

Elder Morgan