he's on his way...

june 16, 2011 around 6:38 pm utah time...

(left st. vincent around 6:00am this morning)

(long flight home - 2 three hour layovers - ugh!)

(he's almost here....)

we can't wait!!!!!!!!

6/13/2011

I feel kinda odd right now... words can't quite express it...


I love this place so much. In church yesterday, President Jackson surprised me by having me bear my testimony in sacrament meeting. In my testimony i revealed that i was going flying away on Wednesday and was returning home. Everybody's jaws dropped. It was a neat exerience to share my testimony one last time with these great people. I love the members here more than most things in the world. They're so humble and genuine it's amazing. I sat there pondering in church just what this next week would be like and it was just too weird. This past week was a sure grinding one, trying to finish strong and keep going, luckily we really did have a good week. President Jackson is crazy awesome. He took 2 hours with us each day for 3 days and we went tracting, just trying to find some families to teach. We didn't have much success but the fact we were out there with him that long was absolutely amazing. If all members of the church were like that we'd see some amazing things happen in the world.


I had a couple questions actually. Things i'm bringing home include pepper sauce, mauby syrup, a cutlass, etc... Is there anything you would like me to buy and bring with me? I don't know what kind of things you'd like. I'm getting a haircut tomorrow, doing some last minute shopping, and seeing all the members i can to say goodbye. Today is a holiday here in St. vincent, "Whit Monday". The branch right now is having a big fun day with food, drinks, games, sports, etc. They're having a blast. The internet shop lady that we go to every week opened just for us so we could email our families. She's 30 bucks richer and we are happy. Haha.


Elder Bharat is staying in Calliaqua (unless he complains to president), Elder Winzenried is training a new missionary in Kingstown 2, and Elder Jensen is staying to have a new ZL come to St. Vincent. Pretty cool if you ask me. To answer your question, i love our apartment.... a lot. We can open our back door and watch the sun set over the ocean, or the moon over the ocean, or the waves on the ocean.... Can you tell i'm going to miss the ocean? It's just a beautiful apartment, and one of the cheapest in the mission.


This past week was pretty fun, Gracie whom i have told you about, told us that her son caught 2 iguanas and asked if we wanted to buy them. I jumped at the opportunity, bought myself to big iguanas for about 15 dollars USD, and it was way cool. Gracie cooked them up for us and they tasted way good. Was like a fish mixed with chicken. It still had its skin on it and it was weird, but still good. Church was great, a lot of members came and it was a good week for Calliaqua. Brother Woodward, who was baptized about a month or 2 ago, was given the aaronic priesthood yesterday. I felt the spirit strong and i felt like i actually helped in his conversion. It was good to see someone with whom you spent so much time, take that step and receive those blessings. They're a fun family.


This morning we took one more day on the beach. We played some short games of cricket and just enjoyed the beach once more. Nothing like it at home. the Salt lake doesn't count.


To answer some questions from last week, I LOVE breadfruit. What they do here with it, they take it and put it in the fire and roast it for about 20-30 minutes. Then it gets soft on the inside and it's way good with like stewed chicken or something like that. Stew chicken is not like a stew you make and put in the oven by the way... it's a lot different! I"ll show ya later. My favorite fruits here are wax apples, mangos, plumrose, pineapples, and that's about it. I love soursop too. Way good. They have a lot of provisions here, like edo's, plantains, green figs, sweet potatoes, dashin, irish potatoes, etc. I love them all but sweet potatoes and dashin is my favorite. Dumplings are found a lot in their soups. We drink about 1 or 2 coconuts a day, they're delicious.


I don't know what else to say. I"m trying to record all my thoughts, feelings, and impressions daily, and when i return home i'd like to write down a bunch of stuff about each place i've been, maybe you can help me with that, but i've noticed i don't have a good memory for details. journals are way important. i've filled up 4 by the way..


I just want to say THANKS for everything you do for me. I can't believe this is the end. It's been quite the crazy rollercoaster and i'm excited to talk to ya'll about it. It seems like when you get at this point, you're alot more sensitive to the spirit and you feel some pretty crazy feelings. I am gonna bawl leaving this west indies. I can't imagine serving anywhere else. You NEED to meet these people i've served for 2 years!


I love ya'll. I'll see ya thursday...

--

Elder Nathan Morris

PO Box 601
Kingstown, St. Vincent
West Indies

6/6/11

Hello!


Things went pretty good this past week. We did a lot of service and worked pretty hard at making sure our recent converts stayed.. converted. Haha. President Gamiette gave us a challenge when we were in Trinidad that all those going home should not speak of it with members, and limit it with other missionaries. So I haven't told anyone that i'm leaving next week. Not telling anyone until Sunday after church. Weird i just have 1 more sunday here.


As per the work, our "progressing" investigators didn't come to church, but we saw a lot of good things happen. There's a family here, the mcdowald's, who are just an awesome family. They're struggling with basically everything but they're way fun. Saturday they helped us plan an activity to watch the new joseph smith: prophet of the restoration movie. So we got everything ready, and they brought some neighbors and some othe rmembers were there. It was way fun. I felt the spirit way strong and i know everybody else did as well. One of their neighbors was in tears and didn't want it to end. (she has never been interested previously.) Basically it was a good experience for the family and it strengthened their testimony a lot (and mine too.. haha) I felt such a strong feeling for those pioneers and early members of the church. Couldn't imagine going through things like that...


Next week i'll be there with ya'll. That feels way weird. We gotta plan a trip back here. I can already tell i'm going to miss it here way bad. I love these people. This week we got to help Gracie (picture of her included - the one with the sombrero) cut down the bush on her land that she's minding. We took some cutlasses and chopped away for 4 hours. It was really fun and she cooked some good food to eat when we finished. Today we went to the Owia Salt Ponds. We didn't swim don't worry, but we had a lot of fun climbing on the rocks and taking fun pictures. It's like this big circular rock formation a little out from the beach, and it makes a nice, calm pool for people to swim in. We had a lot of fun. It was a WAY long drive, it being at the very most north tip of the island, and us living at the very southern tip. We had a blast though.


Personally i'm feeling fantastic. I haven't felt this good in a long time. Through fasting and prayer, lots of study, i've received a lot of strength from the Lord and i'm making it through these last weeks. I pray we have a good one this week. I love ya tons and i hope you have a good week as well. Don't stress too much. BTW - I would like to know the topic of my homecoming talk. if possible please. Not saying i'm not confident i could do it on a whim but i'd rather be able to think and ponder about it awhile.


Don't get too trunky folks!


Elder Morris

5/30/11

Hello everyone! This past week was kinda bad actually. I had food poisoning on Thursday, then we’re moving into a new apartment. Infact we already did, this morning. It’s BEAUTIFUL!!! It’s overlooking the ocean, has air conditioning, hot water, huge fridge, brand new appliances, all from the states.. I tell ya what it’s amazing.. And! It’s half the price of our other apartment. That took up way too much time so we weren’t able to get tons done. Sadly. I hit kinda a mental wall this past week. I was having a tough time keeping myself going but i received a lot of personal revelation which really helped transform me. I am feeling tons better now and am ready to get some work done. Elder Bharat asked me, is Sister Nicholls going to be your last baptism? I didn’t know how to answer that cause i don’t want it to be but i think it will be. But what a great baptism to end on..

Sister Nicholls gave a talk on Testimony this past week in church and it was awesome. She bore a powerful one and i was way proud of her. Shevorn John is teaching the Young Women’s class now and is doing awesome. I’m really happy with all of these people. Things are going so well for them. We’re having a bit of trouble getting the other leaders (except President Jackson – you gotta meet that guy) to do their jobs. Church was great on Sunday though. No kids peeing on the floor or mental teenagers. Hah.

Mom – just an idea, dad was telling me that you’re putting together a bunch of stuff from my mission. I have a ton of awesome pictures that we can all look at and print out when i get back. So don’t think that all the pictures i’ve sent is it. Haha.

In other news, i’m leaving in the nick of time. Carnival is beginning about a week after i leave. I’m so sick of seeing their “costumes”(really just an excuse to wear lingerie on the streets) and hearing their disgusting music.. That’s one thing i won’t miss about the Caribbean. They’re already starting a bunch of festivities and stuff so the Elders in Kingstown are surrounded by sin.. haha.

I don’t know what else to report on, really. Tell Elder Cox i miss him bad. He is awesome and i’m sure that he was a legit missionary.I hope things are going well at home and i can’t believe things are going so fast. Yes, time is still flying by. Life is good though. Can’t believe i won’t be a missionary for much longer.... i don’t know how to feel about that one.

I love ya tons!

Elder Morris

5/23/11

I really don't have much to say... i don't know why!


Church was crazy yesterday. A child peed her pants during sacrament meeting making a mess everywhere, meanwhile a 16 year old kid with mental problems was just making one set of problems for everybody at church, asking for money, stealing food from the kitchen, etc. It was quite the sunday...


The week was pretty good. We worked really hard and had a lot of great lessons. We found several new people we can start working with. So that's good. Patrick and Natasha's other daughter that's 10 should be baptized in the next few weeks. The branch is doing kinda good. Most people here can't get over the traditional belief that God and Christ are the same person. Few members get the basic doctrines of the church. That's been quite the obstacle to overcome.


Ah. One thing. I love the hymn selection of "A poor wayfaring man of grief." for the sacrament meeting on the 19th. Did you know that was my absolute favorite hymn? You had to know... haha. I'd like to know the topic i'll be speaking on too...


That's about it though i guess. hah. I love ya tons!

--

Elder Nathan Morris

PO Box 601
Kingstown, St. Vincent
West Indies

5/16/11

I don't have much to report on this week. Half the island (missionaries that is) is sick and so we had a lot of stuff to do still and didn't get tons done. However Sister Nicholls was baptized on Saturday. We asked her husband (1st counselor in EQ pres.) if he was coming, and he said probably not, that he had something else to do. He didn't want to baptize her either. Kinda weird... but Elder Henderson pretty much made him come to the baptism and actually he performed the confirmation the following sunday. It was great to see Brother Nicholls fulfill his priesthood duties. It was a great weekend in that respect to see her make those covenants with the Lord.


Elder Bharat, my companion, has a really bad cold, another Elder has some weird virus, so we did a lot of splits this week to cover other areas. There is so much potential here in Calliaqua branch.


We were teaching the Brown's last night, and i felt an impression to begin talking about the temple. We taught about it, and brother brown, who is having trouble getting divorced to his previous wife, just lit up. He is way excited to go the temple now, and he told us he's finally going to get the marraige stuff in order so he can get baptized and go to the temple a year later. He really loves his family and wants to get sealed to them. It was a great experience. You should have heard his prayer as we left. Way sincere and we all felt the spirit.

5/9/11

Hello!


Weird i just talked to you last night. I was telling Elder Winzenried on the phone, it doesn't even feel real! Like i just talked to you but it doesn't feel like it at all. It was fun however and I enjoyed seeing everybody. All the kids are getting way older and i like how Addie thinks that i'm just inside of a computer. haha.


This past week was pretty tough due to transfers, we had to buy the elders a bunch of stuff, do a bunch of errands, carry people to the doctor (missionary is sick), etc. We weren't able to get much done which at the end of the week can be really stressful because you have to report to president your not so good of a week..


We are however excited for this week. We might have a baptism of Sister Nichols. Her husband is in the EQ presidency and she's finally getting baptized. She's been an investigator for years. We also are going to do a lot of finding so that we can see even more people come into the fold later in the transfer.


I don't know what else to report really, i'll answer your questions, haha. Elder Stewart's companion was Elder Jensen. Elder Jensen is from Salt Lake City. Now we have Elder Winzenried with Elder Charles, from Las Vegas and Guyana respectively. There's like 15-20 natives in the mission. Elder Livingston from Wyoming is with Elder Jensen now. It is a sweet zone. I'm excited for it.


It's kinda funny emailing right after you talk to your family... you just run out of things to say. Ooh! One thing i'll report. This morning we gathered as a zone and played cricket on the beach. We got some sweet pictures and had a lot of fun. I love it here!


Love ya'll - Elder Morris

5/3/11







On Thursday of this past week I received a phone call from the Assistants. I will be staying with Elder Bharat in Calliaqua to finish my mission. Quite the uninteresting transfer, ent? They're opening up a new area and we'll get the car full time. Yes! We had been sharing it during the week. We had it Tuesday through Thursday then Elder Stewart had it Friday through Monday.


We did have 2 baptisms this past weekend. Patrick and Natasha Woodward. The fact that it happened Saturday is the real miracle. He was working day-shift this week so we had to meet with him in the night. Here's the catch. We had to teach them a bunch of stuff and get them interviewed on Thursday. Well, we didn't get to teach them at all throughout the week until Friday night at 8 o clock. We had a great lesson, taught them the rest of the things they needed for the interview. Before this lesson we thought we weren't having a baptism and it'd need to be pushed back. Well we had Elder Stewart come over in the morning and interview Patrick and Natasha at about 8 in the morning Saturday. They passed and we set the baptism for that same day for 4 o clock. The baptism went great! Now, Patrick was working Sunday during the day but in order to receive the gift of the holy ghost (and to keep the day holy) he missed work to go to church with his family. He won't lose his job or anything, he works for a security company and they're easy about stuff like that, but it was a great sacrifice that he needed to make and because he made that he'll be blessed immensely. It was a great experience to see the Lord's hand in making sure that they were added to the fold this weekend.


Sunday night the other elders came over after planning to spend the night and we baked the awesome cake in my package, and decorated the apartment. Haha it was 2 weeks late and we just did it for fun and some funny pictures but it was a fun time. Delicious cake by the way... wow.


Weird to hear about the new appliances. Our kitchen will look completely different! I'll cook ya some chicken curry if ya let me. Roti too! By the way, I don't know how to pay for tuition for BYU so if you could help me and do it, that would make my day! Everything is changing so rapidly it seems. Young single adult stakes? That's way weird! I was expecting to just go back to the family ward for a couple months. Oh well change is good, haha.


To answer your question, Dad, I am interested in what's going on in the NBA finals. I'm not like obsessed with it but it's nice to hear what news is going on. Crazy thing about Bin Laden and all that. Hope nothing bad happens because of it.


As per mother's day, i think i added you already on the Henderson's computer but i'll be skyping you about 7 o clock our time, which i think is 4 o clock your time. i think.. I'm excited too but yeah it doesn't feel the same cause i'll just be there in a few weeks.


I only remember a couple times where missionaries ate at our house. I cannot imagine having a dinner appointment every single day of the week. Most days we don't even eat dinner. The only times are the rare occurrence of a member feeding us (about once a week). Sounds like you had fun though. I had myself a potato bar this past week. Chili and cheese on the potato but it works for me and it was delicious. We're buying more today. I hope and pray nothing happens with the flooding.


Things are going well here in St. Vincent though. I"m happy, Elder Bharat and I are doing alot better together and the work is progressing. I'm staying strong and not very trunky, just doin the normal thing. I love ya tons!


Elder Morris


I attached some pictures. 2 before the baptism, 1 of the Browne family (the girl in the yellow is Annie, who was baptized last weekend), then 2 of our birthday party Sunday night.

4/25/11

Happy Easter Monday! Do you celebrate that at home? I forgot.. but they do here! It's a holiday but the internet shop lady opened just for us. she is awesome. This past week was a big ol' rollercoaster. Companion problems were the low part of it, and the high part of the rollercoaster was trinidad.


Here is why i loved the meeting in Trinidad.
1. I saw Elder Beeson. Haven't seen him since last April.
2. I saw Elder Prince. Haven't seen him since last August.
3. I shook hands with President Vinas of the 70.
4. We had an amazing meeting where the spirit was there in abundance.
5. I got to fly in a plane!


I didn't get to eat any doubles which was disappointing, but i did get to have trinidad KFC which is the best KFC in the entire world. Seriously. I'm turning black. Not in color but i talk like one and eat like one. FRIED CHICKEN!


The meeting with President Vinas was pretty great. It was really basic and wasn't as deep as i thought it would be. We talked mostly of the challenges the church is experiencing in the caribbean. Mostly with the leaders of the individual branches. We read a lot out of Handbook 2 of the church handbook of instructions and focused on the missionaries role in the missionary work of the branch. It was a really good experience and I learned a lot. It was quite the opportunity to be at that meeting.


I don't really need to go into details about the companion stuff, really it sufficeth me to say it was enough trials and is pushing my endurance to its limits.


Saturday, while i was in Trinidad, Annie Brown was baptized. I don't have pictures yet of it but i will soon. I heard it went really well. This upcoming saturday the Woodward family will be baptized as well. They hopefully will be ready for their interview and all will go well for this weekend.


My birthday as you can guess was just a normal day, except i ate at subway, and bought reeses' peanut butter cup ice cream. Delicious. Thanks dad! My companion actually wasn't hungry and didn't want ice cream. He was depressed that day. Oh well.


I will surely get your packages this week! Hopefully. I got Grandpa's birthday card which was a great surprise. It was fun to hear from him. Please let him know how much I love him and am grateful for him!


I don't have much more to report about, transfers are next week so i'll find out about that this week. Pray for a change. I've been here forever... haha.


I love you all and thanks for all you do!


Elder Morris

--

Elder Nathan Morris

PO Box 601
Kingstown, St. Vincent
West Indies

4/18/11

I mean.. Great week! We are teaching a wonderful family, the woodward's, who came to church yesterday and is converted to the true restored gospel! They will be baptized on the 30th! (if he can miss work to come to church this sunday..) And we're having a daughter of a part member family, Annie Brown, get baptized this Saturday. that's pretty cool. I'll miss it cause i'll be in trinidad but that's alright.


I don't have tons to report on though now that i think about it.. It was a week of success and a week of disappointment. Some of my favorite members here fell back into past addictions that they (in the past) had overcome. However at church we had a record breaking week. For the first time in mission history, Calliaqua branch had 72 people at church. There's like 140 members total so that's really good!! We were way excited. A lot of our investigators we're working with came to church and things are looking good here.


It doesn't feel like my birthday's tomorrow. Just another day in my book. I haven't gotten any packages yet, but that's okay! We'll check the mail tomorrow too. I think i'll celebrate by... eating stew chicken and rice (like every other day) and teaching. Maybe we'll make the trip to Church's chicken. Haha. I'm happy though all in all. I don't really have any complaints at all. I'm just content with life, but am excited to continue getting better.


Love you all!!


--

Elder Nathan Morris

PO Box 601
Kingstown, St. Vincent
West Indies

4/11/11

Life is good, again, here in St. Vincent. I've been here awhile!! I need a change of scenery... I had a dream a few nights ago i'll be going to St. maarten to finish my mission but that just wouldn't make sense. Who knows? Haha.


No baptisms this week but this week was good for finding new people to teach. We found the Woodward family which are really cool and prepared. (A real family!!! They don't drink, smoke, do drugs, beat their kids, etc.) They have values! They all want to get baptized, however didn't come to church. Neither did anyone really that were preparing to be baptized last week. Shana couldn't come again, we don't know what to do with her. She just doesn't have the fire she used to. The woodwards had a weird concern. We taught the plan of salvation, but they believed that all we do is sit around and glorify god forever and ever after we die. We're all brothers and sisters up there and there is no need for families in heaven. What?? What's the point? Why would God create us for that purpose?? We all know his work but it was just interesting to hear others' views of God's plan for us. The knowledge we have as saints is just priceless. I dunno we had a good week. Elder Bharat was sick a couple days, but our zone here in St. Vincent is kickin butt. We're going to have some baptisms by the end of this month. A wife of a member came to church, Sister Nichols, and just told us that she is finally ready to be baptized. Great! I have no objections at all! Haha being a missionary is really fun sometimes.


I have gotten into the fad of listening to firesides, conference talks, etc. I can get them on the church website and put them on my ipod during my hour here. This week is a Bruce R. McConkie week. His voice freaks me out sometimes. He yells when he gets really into the talk, but they're always mind-blowing.


i'm 21 next week. That means i have the option of legally purchasing alcohol in the United States! However here all you have to be is 18. However, here no one cares, i saw a 6 year old purchase a huge bottle of rum last week. Rum, marijuana, and immorality is just rampant here. But! I was thinking about it today and I just love these people. There are some great ones. For example, a member named Gracie. she is a gem. She loves to feed us. This past week she fed us Turtle, iguana, cow skin (yes.... the skin of a cow.. there was hair on it still too. nasty), and cow bobby (breast - really she means the utter... yes... the utter.... yes... it was gross!). However whenever she cooks normal food it is always amazing. vincy people are so generous and willing to serve. They're an example to me of the lady that gave those 2 mites compared to the rich guys giving just part of their wealth.


I love hearing your testimonies and the things that the Lord is doing for all of you. Know that I love you all tons!


Elder Morris

4/04/11

What a week! Airport runs, zone conference, fireside, general conference (all 5 sessions), and phew... it's over. We were extremely busy but were able to get a lot done as well. Our baptism this week didn't come to church so next week it'll be pushed back to. My soul was filled however and am ready as ever to keep going. (sounds cheesy but true.) My favorite thing ever was President Eyring's joke at the beginning of his talk in Priesthood session. that was hilarious. "Well.. pete went to prison too.... I lived in a tough neighborhood..." haha. All of conference was amazing. Elder Bednar's talk on revelation, Elder Scott's talk on his marraige to Jeanine. I learned tons and am excited for what lies ahead in my life.


Zone Conference was pretty good as well. Now, our car is pretty beat up due to past missionaries not knowing how to drive well. Therefore we are missing the rear bumber and there's dents all over the front bumper. Having no choice I proceeded to pick President Gamiette and the Assistants up in that vehicle on Friday morning. Luckily he was so disappointed in the car he told me to secure a new car. Hooray! We need one bad. Haha if all goes well. It was a good conference however and even though there were 30 missionaries here Heavenly Father helped us get everyone back and forth where they need to be on time. Everything went great!


Now, here's something I'm embarrased about. In Priesthood session there were 4 local members that hold the priesthood, 6 missionaries (including Sister Henderson) and 3 wives of those local members. Really?? The most important time of the year to be there and nobody shows.. I dunno. Not many realize the full import of having a prophet on the earth. I made some resolutions which i will never break. 1, never to miss priesthood session of general conference. 2, to feast on the word of christ daily. 3, to be a full tithe payer. I dunno it's just simple.


life is good here in vincent, nothing much else to report. I'm happy and healthy.


Love ya!


Elder Morris


--

Elder Nathan Morris

PO Box 601
Kingstown, St. Vincent
West Indies

3/28/11

I love it here. The people, the culture (the good parts of it. not the rum), the scenery, etc.


This past week was good. Really busy getting everybody transfered and to and from the airport but it went well. Elder Bharat is now my companion and he's a short east indian kid. haha. that's really how i can describe him. I don't have pictures yet or i'd send some. But he is way cool! Elder Beeson served with him for like 3 transfers and he is just a really hard worker. He's focused on the missionary work 100 percent and that's helping me stay strong. I'm just happier when we're working as hard as we can.


With all the school stuff, i wrote in my journal basically the same thing. How in awe I was of how Heavenly Father opened up the way for everything just perfectly. Signing up for summer semester, registering for classes, etc. I really didn't ever feel way good about you coming to pick me up and now we know why! I had to go to school 3 days after i get home. Haha. I dunno i'm excited to live at home during the summer and also go to school. Everything really just went well. Just trust in the Lord and all things will work out. I was happy about it all.


This week is going to be way hard to get stuff done. Here's why.
Thursday=33 missionaries fly in to St. Vincent for zone conference (i'll be driving to and from the airport all day.)
Friday=Zone Conference from 9-4, Fireside from 7-8.
Saturday=General Conference
Sunday=General Conference.


That basically leaves us 2 days to get work done. But it'll be good. We found a lady from St. Lucia last week named Kizey (pronounced Kizzie). She was super interested and actually called us over asking us what we teach. She has never really been close with her Heavenly Father and wants to be baptized. She coudln't come to church this week but the next two weeks she'll come and then get baptized. Really it was exciting. We've already taught her a bunch and she's doing awesome. We also started teaching Sister Rogers' (member/recent convert) granddaughter, Shana. She has come to church the past month or two. she's 21 but she told us she wants to get baptized. Before she was very hesitant and didn't do anything we invited her like reading or such. So we stopped teaching her. But this past week we picked her back up and now she'll be baptized on the 9th. She's doing great and really is preparing herself.


Life is good here in the West Indies. I couldn't really be happier. The only way i'd be happier is if Prince and Beeson were here with me. I'll see wha ti can work out with president for my last transfer ;).


I can't believe the weeks are just coming to an end. I really don't have much time left. But i'm working hard and things are going well in St. vincent. Elder Stewart is here with me and he's training a next missionary. He was an ap when i was in the office and he's a way good missionary. We're all going to see some great miracles come our way here in St. vincent.


I dunno what else to say. I love you all and am excited to be there soon, but i wouldn't be anywhere else right now.


Love, Elder Morris

--

Elder Nathan Morris

PO Box 601
Kingstown, St. Vincent
West Indies

3/22/11

So guess what? On Friday afternoon I received a call from the assistants. They informed us of our transfers on Wednesday. Every single person on the island is leaving, except me! Haha. I'll be staying in Calliaqua with an elder named Elder Bharat. He's guyanese, and east indian, about 5 feet tall, and 90 pounds. He served awhile with Elder Beeson and I think it'll be a good transfer. He's a good missionary i hear. Last time i served around Elder Bharat was my 3rd transfer when i was in Rose Hall in Guyana. Before he was a set apart full time missionary. Kingstown is going back to 2 missionaries and Elder Stewart, one of the AP's when i was in the office is going to train a new missionary there. It'll be an interesting transfer. I really liked serving around Elders Barstow, Ackerman, and Peterson. Elder Murray and I were just getting some things going here in Calliaqua but he'll grow a lot going back to Guyana.


Calliaqua branch was awesome on Sunday. President Macintosh was here with his wife and a lot got done! Brother Rondell Lewis served as a temporary missionary for last week with Elder Peterson and he was ordained an Elder on Sunday. He is too old to go on a mission but he is doing so great. It's awesome to see people's conversion push them for bigger and better things. He now is preparing to go to the temple at the end of this year. The branch is doing a ton better. We don't have any really good investigators right now, honestly. But there's a part member family where the daughter (10) will be baptized in a couple weeks. Then there's a granddaughter of a member that's 20 that's been coming to church the last several weeks. She'll probably be baptized in April we just haven't been able to work with her a lot. Really we just keep getting tons of distractions keeping the work back. We did 3 service things last week and all day Saturday we helped with a marraige at the Kingstown church (awesome actually. Young couple getting sealed in the temple this week). We weren't able to get a lot of work done in the field cause of all this. We gotta limit the service we give. Usually people don't like us to help but we've been weeding farms, building houses, etc the past 5 weeks. haha it's fun but it really takes a toll on me. (Physically and Mentally)


Life is good in general. I'm relieved that you're not coming to pick me up honestly. Now i can just focus on things that matter most. I am excited to finish strong. It'll be fun to go back with all of you to see the mission but it'll be fun to meet ya'll at the airport in a couple months. Can't believe Ryan Nelson is gonna be home this time next month. Crazy sauce. yesterday was a good day. We ate dinner at the Henderson's and they fed us delicious chicken enchiladas and had cake and ice cream. I love having a couple here serving... :D

I love ya tons and am grateful for everything and all of the encouragement. I wouldn't be anywhere else right now.


Elder Morris

3/14/2011

We had a fantastic baptism after church on Sunday. Shevorn was ready and it turned out so great. We started at the branch with song/prayer and 2 talks on baptism and the holy ghost. Then we moved down to the beach. A truck came and picked all the members who wanted to go up and we drove the rav4 down with the senior couple. It was a gorgeous sunny day by the way and the beach was perfect. It felt way good to go in the water. Don't worry i didn't take a swim. Haha. The spirit was so strong the whole afternoon. After the baptism on the beach we sang I am a child of god and then had a 10 minute testimony meeting. Shevorn was crying and just had this huge smile on her face. We talked to her later on in the day and she just told us how good she felt. How clean and pure she felt and how excited she is to come to church for the rest of her life. What a great experience..


The events leading up the baptism were quite hectic. We had her 1st interview on Wednesday and we found out Friday (which really made me vexed) that she needed to talk to President Gamiette to finish up the interview process. We should have found out Wednesday but we rushed over to shevorn's then we couldn't get in contact with president. We had to leave Shevorn's and finally around 7 at night he called back. He couldn't call her that night because he was getting on a plane that moment to Guyana. So we had to push the baptism back to Sunday after church. But all in all, more members were able to come, and really Sunday was just the perfect day for it. Heavenly Father really throws us some curve balls sometimes.


That really was the highlight of our week.

I love ya and thanks for all you do!


Elder Morris

3/7/2011

One time in a lesson a couple weeks ago we sang Hello hello hello hello we welcome you today hello hello ......... that one primary song. It was awesome. It was 3 missionaries and a member family that knew the song too. It was way random and hilarious. At the end we just cracked up laughing. Haha.


This past week was a tough one. We tried to make the best of it but this is what made it tough. Tuesday we had service, where we loaded up rice bags half full of sand, carried them down a hill and continued the process for 4 hours. We were dead. Imagine 50 pounds of sand, lifting the bag onto your shoulders then going down a hill, unloading at the bottom. It seemed like the large pile of sand at the top was neverending. It was a member that was building his house. It was really fun actually, got a great workout, but were dead the rest of the day. We worked and stuff but we were tired. The NEXT DAY we went to anothe rmember's farm and picked peanuts in the blaring sun from 8 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. My neck and legs were absolutely scorched. Worst sunburn of my mission. Reminds me of my farewell talk. That took a ton out of us too. It is way fun doing service but i think doing things in moderation applies in this instance.


Shevorn came to church and is still planning to be baptized this Saturday. I'll send pictures next week. She is an amazing person and we took a member couple with us teaching last night and they loved her, said she was one of the coolest people they've taught. I love seeing member work in action. Let's just be friends with everybody. Dang it's not that hard.


The work other than that is moving along. We have a couple other people that are progressing towards baptism. There was about 52 people at church on Sunday and so things are still going well for the branch. I love it here in St. Vincent. I wouldn't be anywhere else, yes that includes home. 3 months from now i'll want to be home... haha.


As per our discussion on coming to pick me up. I think the kaeteur falls trip is worth it. It's definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. It's the tallest single drop waterfall in the world! I was thinking just Trinidad on Wednesday Evening, Thursday Guyana (Kaeteu Falls), Friday Guyana (to see people and places), Saturday Trinidad (see people and a beach or two), Sunday Church in Curepe ward in Trinidad, Then home monday would be fine. IF! If you want to go somewhere else and if we can afford it. We could do Barbados or St. Vincent, haven't thought that far but that's what i'd like for Guyana/Trinidad. I can't think too much about it or my brain will explode.


I love you and I'll write more about it next week!


Love, elder Morris


PS: Mom, for my birthday package, I don't really need too much. Just a nice classy 34 inch belt, 2 stafford short sleeve shirts, and some new socks. That's all i need!


Thank you so much. ONE LOVE!

2/28/2011

So l ike i said last week I visited St. Lucia this past week for 2 days. Left Tuesday got back Wednesday night. It was gorgeous there. It was like St. Vincent except less hills, and white sand beaches. It was way pretty. The people were really fun to talk to and it was a good place. I'd love to serve there. It was an amazing meeting we had with president Gamiette and the AP's. We learned a lot about the spirit and how to keep it with us constantly. I learned tons and it's really helped us already in our work. The meeting was Wednesday so on Tuesday we got to eat at Dominos. Best pizza i've had on my mission. Dang it was american. I love America.


We had an awesome lesson with Shevorn this past week the day after I got back from Training. She had been through so much but finally has decided to give all she has to the lord, like King Lamoni "I would give up all my sins to know thee". She has that idea about her now. She asked us "I'm ready to get baptized, if i come to church on sunday and keep coming, when is the soonest I can get baptized?" The spirit was so strong. We taught and invited her to be baptized on the 12th of March. On Sunday, she was the 1st person there. An Hour early. it was so great to see. She is so committed now and knows it's true. The next lesson, we had an awesome lesson and this lady from Guyana committed to be baptized. The rest of the week as we relied 100 percent on the spirit we saw similar miracles and things just fall into place. The spirit is real and we saw so many blessings come this past week. I'm excited to have a baptism coming up next weekend then we have more coming the following weeks. There really isn't a better way to teach except by the spirit.


I dunno what else to report. Life is great in my opinion. I'm happy. I always have room to improve and i'm really trying to buckle town and be the best i can be. This upcoming week i want to really purify myself to be 100 percent led by the spirit. I know that this is the true gospel and i'm only humbled and grateful for my call to serve as one of Christ's representatives.


Love, Elder Morris

2/21/2011

This past week started out different, which was hard on me personally. We took the senior couple around and showed them members, branch leaders, etc for the whole week. The first 4 days we didn't get almost anything done. I was praying and prayin g and praying for sucess to come, and Saturday and Sunday actually turned out way good. We borrowed the Henderson's car and found a bunch of new, really cool people. We found the bacchus family which expressed to us their intense desire to go to church and get baptized. They sounded awesome. The Laborde family, the family we taught a few times then handed over to the Zone leaders, i dunno if i told you about them, is getting baptized next weekend! I was way excited to hear that. It made me feel like i actually did something!! I have been working my tail off and i feel like i'm doing okay but i'm starting to see success come.

Church on Sunday was one of the best parts. We were surprised to see 61 people at church!!! It just keeps getting better. It was awesome. President Jackson is doing such a good job. Usually it's 50 a week to get a building but the area presidency says the average weekly attendance needs to be over 65 to get a real branch building. We're at a rented house right now on top of a hill. Beautiful sight but we're running out of room. Wouldn't it be great to see that fulfilled?? Even though we're not having a lot of success in terms of baptisms, the branch is getting stronger! A month ago i wouldn't have believed seeing 61 people at church. The highest it's ever been was like 65 or so. That was like a year and a half ago.

Found out actually i'm going to St. Lucia for a couple days for some training. That'll be really sweet and i'm excited. I don't get to see Elder Prince who is serving there which is sad but i'm definitely going to have a good phone conversation with him. I miss that kid bad!! I'm happy with the area and things are getting a lot better. Elder Murray and I are having fun and being on our own two feet actually isn't that bad. It's pretty fun. I feel like a real missionary again. Hah.

One of our progressing investigators, Shevorn, i dunno if i've told you about her, she was beat by her kid's father and it was really bad this time. He should be arrested today and going to prison for awhile. She had a lot of stitches on her face. It is really sad to see... Domestic abuse is so prevalent here in the west indies. Is that how it is back home too?? Hope not.. I barely remember what home is like and driving on the right hand side of the road seems like a foreign idea to me.

I don't have much else to report about, but i will have more to report about next week. I love the work and i'm happy:D

Love, Elder Morris

2/14/2011

Some interesting news. Because the zone leader here crashed so much driving he can't drive in Kingstown. Therefore Elder Murray became my companion and Elder Taylor went to Kingstown to be with Elder Peterson. I was way disappointed. It happened mid-day Wednesday (transfer day). Elder Taylor and I really got along well. Elder Murray is from Guyana and Elder Carter was serving with him last transfer. He is an interesting kid. He's way homesick for Guyana. It'll be a very difficult transfer all of a sudden. I love the Guyanese people to death they just are different than us and it'll take some getting used to (again).



Because of the fact Kingstown elders didn't know Kingstown at all, we were with them the rest of the week showing them around and going on splits. Because of that, Calliaqua was hardly touched and we weren't able to teach many people. However church attendance was at 58!!!! the average is about 40 or less and it was so great to see that small chapel fill up. President Jackson is doing such a great job as the branch president and Calliaqua will never be the same since.


A new senior couple is coming to the island. That's pretty cool. The Henderson's. We picked their apartment and it's way nice. It's 3/4 the price of our apartment and about 4 times the size and 10 times nicer. I was tempted to just take that apartment as our own. But yes we will be on foot from Tuesday on. That'll stink. But i guess i'll lose some more weight.


About that. This morning, we drove to La Soufreire, the volcano here. We hiked to the top of it. It was awesome!!! About a 3 hour hike round trip and it was pouring the whole time. I loved it. There was so much wind that it was dangerous at the top. It was a steep fall. The crater is huge. But we couldn't see it because the fog was so thick. Like 30 foot visibility. Great P-day though.


I'm excited about calliaqua but i wish i was still with Elder Taylor. That's gonna be tough. Thanks for all you do and i'll have a better report next week. I love ya tons!


Elder Morris

2/07/2011

I'm excited this week!

President Jackson is going to turn this branch around. He's been a member for 10 years, been to the temple several times, and is just overall a very awesome strong member. We're going member finding on Tuesday with him, to introduce him to all the members. We left our apartment at 7:45 Sunday morning to pick him and his family up at 8:15, then getting to the church before 8:40. So it'll take awhile but it's very worth it. We're losing the car next week as well. A senior couple is coming. But everything is very promising! We're going to get a lot more people at church and i'm excited for the progress that will come.

We received transfer calls this past week. I will be with an Elder named Elder Taylor. I was in the office when he came through his first few days and he'll be really fun to serve with. President said he's having a very difficult time right now however and he has expressed his desires to return home early. So my assignment is to keep him here and get him loving the work again. He said it's going to be a heavy load but I hope it goes well. I'll be on my knees plenty this next transfer. Elder Welch is going home but spending about 2 weeks in the caribbean with his family. He is extremely excited. President told me that if i do well this next transfer he'll let me do whatever i want the last two transfers of my mission. He said as long as the lord approves.

So, yes I am still in Calliaqua for the next 6 weeks but it'll be good. I am learning to love it here. Now here's something cool about this past week! Sister Brown, a member in Kingstown, told us about a family of one of her students. She teaches at the school for disabled kids. The daughter is always super sick but she's the nicest cutest little girl. Her family is very interested! The husband isn't of course, like most of the men here, but the entire family went to Kingstown church on Sunday. They're on the border of areas so Kingstown will be teaching them from now on but they loved church and they are very promising! We taught them twice this past week both with Sister Brown and it was way fun. Member teaching and fellowshipping is well, there's no good substitute.

There's not much else to report about, this next week will be quite interesting but it'll be good. Not much time left but i'm very excited to push until the end. It's going to be a good finish. I love the gospel, and this transfer I'm trying to purify and perfect myself to try and have the spirit with me more fully to see more success. I feel confident that success will come after this long drought i've been in. I love and am grateful for all of you!

Elder Morris

--

Elder Nathan Morris

PO Box 601
Kingstown, St. Vincent
West Indies

1/31/11

Hello!

This past week has been so up and down. Definitely not the best week on my mission. There were so many crazy things that happened.

1. Our branch president was released this past sunday for branch conference. Replaced by a strong melchezidek priesthood holder named Brother Jackson from Kinstown branch. He doesn't have a car so we will pick him up every week for church. I've never seen that before, transplanting members between branches. Calliaqua really needs the help thouh.

2. On Friday in Kingstown there was a political rally for the opposing party. They were rallying against the new bill that they're passing. I guess a few more taxes will be added. But we were walking through town past the crowd of like 1000 people and we heard some screams. We look to the left and we see like 15 army guys walking toward the crowd holding riot shields and big police batons. They didn't do anything to the people they were just providing protection. But a bunch of people were running from them and screaming. It was pretty intense. One police officer was hurt in the rally but that was it. We got out of there pretty quick.

3. We were driving Brother Lewis home Saturday night and we saw a guy beating a lady in the middle of the street. We put on our brights, stopped the car and Brother Lewis got out and stopped him. It was horrible. The lady was pregnant and the guy was just evil. A bunch of people came out and helped and Brother Lewis talked to him for like 20 minutes calming him down. I guess she was doing drugs and he was mad at her so he decided taking her out to the main road and physically abusing her publically was the best solution. Goodness...

4. Someone stole the toyota chrome logo on our car above the license plate today.... Lame.

I dunno all these things were just ridiculous. We weren't able to get much work done but this next week should be tons better. I'm excited about the new branch president. He's a great man and we'll be able to get lot of things done. Our past branch president just wouldn't do anything and the branch was falling apart. President Macintosh in the WIM presidency was here over the weekend and we were able to get a lot of things sorted our. Institute and Seminary are going to be a lot bigger part of the church here in St. Vincent now. The programs were not working very well but wow it'll be so much better now. I'm excited about what will happen in the next little while. We're going to see a lot of success. It really does come from having a good branch president.

Dad to answer y our question, a few missionaries break rules, but it's nothing as bad as what you described. Sometimes a missionary will take a swim, but most of the disobedience is coming in early and long lunches. It's not too bad here. It sounds like everything is so busy at home and you don't have any time at all. I hope things are going well. Things are going well with us. We have a few really great investigators. They didn't come to church this past week but they are still progressing along. The work has been slow but it's still moving.

I love you all!

Elder Morris

1/24/11

This past week was pretty up and down!


Ups include Barbados. Wow. That was so great, to be able to go back and visit the island again. I forgot how civilized and americanized it is compared to st. vincent. Monday night we slept over at the zone leaders' apartment and I got to call Black Rock and talk to Elder Hoepel. he just got put back in the area and we had a blast gaffing about the area and the good times we had. Some cool news about Black Rock, it is on fire right now! Not literally but missionary work wise. The week after I left they got a new branch president, President Moody. He is from Utah and has a family and everything, works for the embassy. Well he totally has changed everything around! When I was there we'd get mid-30's at church every week but last week they had 60! Baptisms are happening and people that haven't been to church in years are coming back. Home teaching is going, and things are just going great there. Sherneal hasn't been baptized still, she hasn't overcome a few things but she still is interested and comes to church every other week or so. That was pretty sad to hear but she will. Zone Conference the next day was great. Really my favorite part, sadly, wasn't the actual conference but seeing Elder Hoepel and everybody that's in Barbados. Elder Hoepel and I are great friends and I miss him a ton. Zone conference was great and President spoke a lot about relationships with our companions. It was pretty interesting and helped a lot. Elder Welch and I get along okay, but it definitely could be better. It helped a lot though. The spirit was there in great abundance. Interviews was interesting. We talked a lot about next few transfers. I asked him what the possiblieties were of serving around Elder Prince or Beeson and he didn't really answer me. He said he could only guarantee that they'd be at the departure devotional. He did tell me however that he might want me to train next transfer. It'll be interesting to see what happens. I can't believe that after February 9th, I'll only have 3 more transfers left.. Wow.


The week was pretty difficult actually. We tried, but none of our progressing investigators came to church. Jasmine is still doing well we just think she felt shamed because she doesn't have modest church clothes. That was one of the things Elder Oaks spoke of at last week's conference so she probably felt pretty guilty. She definitely wants to change and be baptized though. She has 5 kids in this tiny board house. I feel way bad for her but the best medicine is the gospel. It would help her and her family so much. We don't really have much else going for us right now. Except that last night the Adams' family came teaching with us (they're from Kingstown branch) and they wanted to visit Brother Lewis, a recent convert here that is receving a calling and the melchezidek priesthood this next week. We got to visit with all 3 of his sisters which was a first. First time we've been able to sit with all of the family there and they should be coming to church next week. So I hope that turns out well.


Today was pretty great. We woke up early and drove to Dark View Falls which was pretty fun. Took some great pictures. 2 waterfalls that's just a short 5 minute hike away from the road. On our way back we stopped at Waliliabou bay which is where they filmed a lot of Pirates of the Caribbean. Remember the part with Jack Sparrow riding in on his tiny boat that is sinking as it gets to the port? I stood on that port today! I bought a bunch of shells from this cool rasta guy that was selling and I got a whale tooth necklace. It was a cool morning and i'll send home the shells in the next few weeks. I'll attach some pictures.


Well I don't know what else to report. Life is good. It's weird being with a missionary that's going home. He is trunky and he tlaks about home a lot. Haha. We're still working though and i pray to see some of these great people get baptized soon..


Love, Elder Morris

--

Elder Nathan Morris

PO Box 601
Kingstown, St. Vincent
West Indies

1/17/11

Hello!

Tomorrow is Zone conference!!! I can't wait. We only have them every 3 months and so this is my 2nd to last zone conference. Grenada and St. Vincent missionaries are flying to Barbados tonight then flying back tomorrow night. Zone conference usually goes from like 9-3 or something. I'm way excited for I haven't seen President Gamiette (let alone talked with him) for 3 months. That can really be hard sometimes, not seeing the mission president very much. All is well though cause tomorrow i will. Dad- to answer your questions, the planes that LIAT uses are these small twin propeller planes. They carry about 30 passengers or so and wrok really well for inter-caribbean flights. No big jet planes can come to st. vincent cause it's such a small airport. the security stuff is still the same just smaller lines because less people are flying. The mission pays for the trip and orders the tickets when they know when the Zone conferences will be which is usually about 2 weeks before the Zone conference. The president always travels with the Assistants, yes. It's quite fun and I'm way excited to see barbados again. I love that country. I just hope i can get some flying fish and chips. Mmmmm....

I want to tell ya of a cool experience we had yesterday. At church we met in Kingstown with both branches and had District Conference. It was a broadcast from the Conference Center broadcasting to the Caribbean area. Sister Thompson of the R/S spoke first, then an 70, Kent Richards, then Elder Oaks, then President Uchtdorf. It was amazing because they spoke to the needs of the Caribbean which are of course different from other parts of the world. Elder Oaks seemed to be the one that had to give the bad news and tell us what work needs to be done and where the caribbean needs improvement. He used many statistics t hat were really interesting. For example. 40 percent of children being born in the US are out of wedlock. I can't imagine the percentage for the Caribbean but it seems like it would be 70-80 percent. That seems to be such a horrible trend these days. Finding a husband and wife is a rarity and when we meed some we usually congratulate them for making that wise decision. Elder Oaks talked a lot about tithing and how when when it is paid in a country the entire country (not just the tithe payers) is blessed. It was an amazing meeting. The spirit was way strong. Elder Oaks' talk was my favorite just because he really did bring up the things that they need to change. Here there is no real youth programs set up yet and that's taking a toll, not many are paying tithes, and law of chastity issues. He talked a lot about the "gospel culture" which needs to be implemented in these developing countries. President Uchtdorf was very encouraging and spoke for a long time about how to become converted and stay converted. I wish more people could have been at the meeting.

At the end of the meeting we saw one of our investigators that came, Jasmine. We didn't see her come into the church, we weren't even expecting her, but she came all on her own. She lives on the top of a large hill in a small, 5 foot by 10 foot wooden house. She has 5 kids and only gets about 50 dollars a week from her child's father. It was amazing to see her make that sacrifice to come all the way to Kingstown to find the truth. We taught her later that day and she said that she felt strange ( a good kind of strange). She had the spirit with her as we read from the Book of Mormon and someone that we didn't think would go anymore now became one of our strongest investigators. Great thing to see that happen.

This week we worked harder than i ever think i've worked in my whole mission. On Saturday night we walked in and just fell on the couches. We were exhausted and fell asleep within minutes. I'm still trying to get over it as I am still way tired. However when we're working our hardest it feels so much better. We had a really successful week. I'm happy. I was thinking just now about how much i love the west indies. Despite all of its quirks and bad habits, I love these countries. There is nowhere like it in the world. This week ahead i'm pretty excited about and i'll let you all know how the zone conference goes and everything. I love you all!!

Elder Morris

PS: Grandpa, I did get your package! I thought i mentioned it two weeks ago but thank you so much! I also got the one from the caldwells. They were welcome treats and I will write back, when I have time. Which today i have none.

--

Elder Nathan Morris

1/10/11

Hello there!

Life is going pretty normal here in St. Vincent. We're working so hard but sometimes it can be really hard to see the fruits of your labors. Especially if you worked your 100 percent hardest the whole week to try and get people to come to church and none of them come. There's a cool family that we're teaching. The mom, Pompei and her 2 boys. She's older but the boys are pretty young, both 11. (1 adopted). They seemed golden. Everything was looking great, like they have all prayed about the message, they are feeling the spirit, all excited to be baptized. But Sunday comes and one of the kids was sick and had to go to the hospital. Next week we're crossing our fingers. Elder Welch is especially trying to keep his hope alive because this is his last chance to bring someone into the waters of baptism as he's still Elder Welch.

It was fun, yesterday, after church we went to one of the members' houses. His last name is Bullock. His wife isn't a member but her father passed away last month. They're an east indian family so they invited us over to have 7 curry. Vegetarian curry but 7 different kinds. Like eggplant, pumpkin, dhall, etc. Eating them on these big leaves. Usually it's a Diwali tradition but they do it once in awhile for special occasions. I missed my chance to do it when I was in Guyana for Diwali but it was really fun. All the elders came and we definitely had a great time. About 100-150 people there, and 6 white guys from America. We felt pretty awkward and out of place but some drunk guys came up to us and made us feel right at home with some jokes they thought were hilarious. It was pretty funny.

Some weeks are better than others, and there have definitely been better weeks than this past one. Sometimes it feels like we're just working for numbers which isn't good. We did get most of our goals this week but none of our investigators came and so it's like all our work that we had didn't really help the branch progress. Calliaqua (Cal-ick-wa) is having a lot of problems. But good news, to cheer us up we made some Sorrel and homemade oreo cookies. We were pretty proud of it and shared with the rest of the district. Next Monday night we fly to Barbados for Zone conference. I'm way excited to see people there again. I'm going tofind out how Sherneal is doing there to see if she's been baptized or if she's still having problems. It's always nice to fly.

About coming to pick me up. I think a cruise would be fun, but i think it'd be very fun to do just a simple trip. Like 1 or 2 days in Trinidad, and 1 or 2 days in Guyana. In guyana i'd definitely want to do the kaietur falls. Please tell me what you think. We can go to the islands on a cruise another time but i want you to see Trinidad and Guyana.

That about wraps up our week.. We continue to try, I'm studying and learning tons and personally i feel pretty good but the work just isn't progressing the way we wish it would. Time to buckle down.

I love ya!

Elder Morris

Pictures next week ;)

1/3/11

What a fantastic week! We worked extra hard. Elder Welch and I both want to finish our missions strong and he's going home in 5 weeks, so we did work! It's kinda sad though. This week we found a ton of new people around the island that seemed way prepared, way ready for the gospel. A lot of them fell through, however. That's such a problem here. We'll find some great investigators then they'll talk to their friends and get a bunch of anti back about us. We were teaching this guy, Junior, this week who pulled out a piece of anti-mormon literature that was 30 years old! It was an antique. He has heard so much bad stuff that he does not have ears to hear if you know what i mean. Blinded by craftiness. This week really was great though. I've felt lately the Spirit's direction more than I ever have... it's the best.

We do have some news. There was an emergency transfer and we have 2 more missionaries now on the island! We have Elder Ackerman, who i was real good friends with in Trinidad, then Elder Bybee who was in the same zone as us June-July time. They're going to be a way fun addition and it makes this island feel like we actually have a district. 4 just wasn't enough. New years was kinda weird here, just lots and lots and lots of alcohol. We were going to wake up at like 11:50 and call the other missionaries and drink our sparkling grape juice but we slept through the alarm.

It's pretty cool, I've been studying tons from Jesus the Christ lately and am just learning all these cool pieces of doctrine about Christ I never thought about. Like how Adam and Eve being cast out was a result of them breaking the word of wisdom. I just never thought of it like that. Right now i've never felt better in my entire life. Over the course of my mission i've really gotten to know the Savior personally. He helped me a lot through some hard times. He helped me feel clean and pure as I've repented over and over and over again. I wouldn't be anything without the Savior. It's interesting too, the more you're focused on Christ and the stronger your testimony is of the Atonement, the stronger your desire to help others know the truth. It really is an interesting dynamic.

I was reading a conference talk by my main man, President Eyring, and he talked about Remembering. About looking for the Lord's hand in your life, and remembering it by writing those things down and things like that. I started at the bottom of every journal entry to write a small thing of how the Lord influenced my life that day. How he helped us in some way. It helps me see even bad days as blessings.

Church was okay, none of our "progressing" investigators came to church but we still have a lot of promising people coming up. Honestly i can't fathom in my small brain what it's like to be in a ward with over a hundred people (at least) in attendance every single week. I can't remember what it feels like. The only thing i really remember is my farewell, seeing over 500 people in front of me. Dang that was scary.

Overall it was a fantastic week, i hope i can save you the mushy stuff by just saying i'm changing and i'm happier than i've ever been. I love this gospel. I know my Savior lives and i wouldn't be doing anything else right now.

Love, Elder Morris

Mom, about the travelling, I think i'm happy with just going home the normal way. Flying home and getting picked up at the airport. It would be fun to go back though, that's for sure!! A cruise could be fun.

Pictures: A kid washing our car with his new toy, it was free :D, some picture i thought was cool in the bush while we were tracting one day, and fried chicken wings overlooking the ocean. I love food!
--

Elder Nathan Morris