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

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Elder Nathan Morris

PO Box 601
Kingstown, St. Vincent
West Indies