Jan 25, 2010

Hey Everybody.

Dad-I hope you're doing okay. Sleeping at Grandma and Grandpa's and everything. I wish I could be there with you. I'm not worried. Just...I wish I could be there. It was sad to hear about Grandma. Please. Tell her I love her. Give her a big hug from me. Tell her that I'm staying away from the Spanish girls. (she'll get that...I hope! Haha)

Mom-Yes I DID get a haircut from Sister Bullock at Christmas. They aren't here anymore!!! I miss them bad. Best senior couple in the mission. Them and the Lingren's. They are legit.

Alright so transfers happened and I am way way way happy. I live in North Trinidad which is very Americanized. They have Pricesmarts here. Owned by Costco, ya have to be a member, ets. Bulk food, everything. Looks exactly like Costco. They even have a hotdog and drink deal. They have a Coldstone, big ol grocery stores, wow. I'm in heaven. We really do take things for granted back home. Our apartment has air conditioning units inside each bedroom. A bidet in the bathroom (instead of toilet paper which is actually quite useful) and hot water hearter. It is BEAUTIFUL. The assistants, Elder Scott and Barton, are some of the coolest guys I've met. They are way fun to hand out with and talk to after the day. Elder Beeson I thought would humble up a little bit but he doesn't like to let me talk in lessons. It's rather annoying. I love the guy, we have a lot of fun, just like dad said in his last letter, pride is definitely the issue. He is a great teacher, way cool guy. We are having a lot of fun.

The new area is sweet. I'm actually serving in a WARD. Curepe ward to be exact. We actually have a good ward mission leader, bishopric, etc. Something I've never had my whole mission. Basically SanJuan area is LEGIT. The missionaries before didn't do a dang thing so we got here and there was absolutely NOTHING. We had to start from scratch. The assistants are going on zone conference tour for 3 weeks and they have a cool investigator, Louis, that we get to work with now. He's getting baptized on the 6th of Februray and is doing great. It's going to be a very very fun area. I hope I get to stay awhile.

I am very proud of Dad for being the awesome father/son he is. Ididn't appreciate him enough back home but I do now. Definitely.

I can't write much more, but please tell Grandma I love her. I hope she is doing okay with all of this. My prayers are with her and Grandpa. Also give Grandpa a hug for me. Tell the Smarts thanks for writing to me. It was fun to hear from them haha. They are awesome. Tell Parker I think he's a G and that the ladies are gonna love him if he treats them right.

Love all of ya. Elder Morris

January 18, 2010

Hey Everyone!

BIG NEWS!! I'm being transferred. Seems like just yesterday I entered Siparia. Basically the way the branch helped us out, supported us, I mean the lack of support, President decided that Siparia is only strong enough to have 1 set of missionaries. I'm giong to be in San Juan, which is north Trinidad (busy city). I'll be with Elder Beeson, my awesome MTC companion. We'll live in the Assistants' aapartment. That's going to be a BLAST. Elder Barton and Elder Scott are the Assistants and I knew them from Guyana and they are way tight. We have air conditioning, water heaters, and a bidet! Haha. Luxuries not found often in this mission. It's been a very long time since I had a hot shower. I'm stoked. Elder Clard and Elder Carter are still in Siparia. I'll miss them a TON. We had a lot of fun as a district. They slept over last night and we just chilled and talked for hours. They're way cool guys. I'm gonna miss Elder Jones too, bad. We got real close near the end of this transfer and now we gotta split. He gave me probably one of the most awesome compliments yesterday. Told me that I'm a lot like Elder Scott wherein I get along with everybody. That meant a lot to me. Elder Jones is a G.

We didn't get close to anyone in the branch really so saying goodbye was pretty easy. Sham is the only one I'm really gonna miss. He helped us do a lot of work and made us many meals. He is a way cool guy. We're goning over for a last dinner tonight. The branch, really, is struggling with pride. They did not accept us and nobody, except for Sham, even knows our names. Well President Nandlall, the Branch President, does but it made it really hard to work when no one is willing to help you at all. If they would have helped we'd probably be seeing a lot more progress letting us stay there.

Zone conference was absolutely amazing on Tuesday. President Gamiette is by far one of the most spiritual influences I have ever met. When he walks in the room you can feel tangible difference. He is absolutely amazing. I learned a ton. The mission is switching to working with members and through them finding new investigators. You can see that's why this area was a bit difficult. Haha. My interview with him was very short. Basically he told me that by the end of my mission he wants me to be a zone leader or an assistant, but that right now I need to get more motivated to go out there and get the job done. I will definitely work on that one. He really has a way with getting you excited for the work.

The Bullocks have gone back to America. We will miss them a ton. They live in Oregon but go down to Utah all the time. Michelle, our golden investigator, didn't come to church, and she isn't praying to knot the truth so I don't know, I feel like we didn't leave the area accomplishing much. Me and Elder Jones worked extremely hard and as smart as possible. I don't feel like it's really a bad thing. Just no success I guess.

That really about it this week. I wish I could send pictures I just don't have time. A DVD of all my pictures and videos will be sent soon.

I love all of you so much.

Elder Morris

PS: Dad I just got your letter. Don't worry about me being humble. I'm probably the most humble person in the mission. (Pun Intended). No really. I've dealt and will continue to deal with prideful missionaries and it's one thing I watch very carefully about myself, making sure I don't let myself slip. It's human nature to think that you're better and more correct than everyone around me. . But it's not the nature of a future God. PPSS: Mom, yes I have been in contact with Elder Sanchez. Haha he's doing great!! His spirits and his testimony I've never seen better. I'm really happy for him. PPPSSS: Mom and Dad, thank you so much for your support. I love you guys.

January 11, 2010

Hey Everyone!

This week was sweet! We worked way hard this week and it paid off. We found a truckload of new people. Hopefully they progress. We're working hard to do it.

We're working with this really smart lady, Michelle. She came to church yesterday and loved it. She didn't stay all 3 hours so her baptism date is pushed back until February 6. You can see how the baptisms are going to be a lot slower now.

Haha it was fun to hear that Jordan's back. I love that kid. Tell him hi for me will ya? I'm sure he did an awesome job on his mission. I can't imagine how much different a mission in the states would be.

The members in the branch here aren't too cooperative. They don't care too much about helping the missionary work out at all. The only one who does is Sham. We go over to his house every other day for lunch then he helps us teach people a couple times a week. Yesterday he cooked us cookup and barbecued chicken. It was delicious. After, he went teaching with us from 2-9. It was legit. Sham is going to the states late this year or early next year.

This week was really really good. I don't really know what to say about it though. Sorry. Haha I have those weeks from time to time. Just know that we're working hard, doing great and the work is moving forward. "Boldly, nobly and independent!"

Elder Morris

PS: Tell Megan to forward her blog to my email. Also. Tell her to send me pictures from California. That's so sweet they went!!! I bet the girls loved it.

January 4, 2010

Alright peeps. Here's what's going on?

So this week was pretty sweet. We decided to take a few paths less traveled and we found the most beautiful, awesome places I've seen on my mission. We took one path and about 15 minutes down it at the end, where nobody is, we found a pig farm. This guy was there, his name was Peters, and we taught him about the restoration. We got videos of our adventures this week. I'll have to fugure out a way to send those home.

Another time, we saw this trail on the side of the road that looked like a hike. We decided of course to take it. We ended up in the deep bush and on top of a hill we found a Jehovah's Witness. We taught her the restoration. We went back the next day and she totally denied everything we taught, tried to at least. We bore our testimonies of it, asked her if she'd pray about the Book of Mormon. She said she would definitely not do that because the New World Translation fo the Bible is perfect which is completely, ridiculously false. So pretty much she's going Terrestrial. Oops for her.

On that hike we found a bunch of fruit trees. Tons of five finger fruit. Look it up on the internet. Delicious stuff. I got videos of that too. It was only a 10 minute walk but is was dang fun. We're not having too much success with progressing investigators. We're going to focus on baptismal dates and keeping that as their commitment. Instead of focusing on finding just new investigators, we're focusing on making sure those new investigators know our purpose, which is to help them get an answer to their prayers, read the Book of Mormon, and get baptized. If they reject if and won't, then we don't teach them anymore. It'll work.

Sounds like everybody had a great Christmas/New Years. Tell Brady I said congrats and that I'm WAY jealous. He's gonna do great. Tell Emilee Congrats too. That's pretty sweet about her engagement!!

I got the Christmas Package!!!! I LOVED IT! The CD is great, along with the notebook. I love thee BYU shirt. I was going to ask for another shirt and I dunno how you did it but that's the perfect one. The Under Armor stuff is sweet too because now that I'm not fat, I actually look semi decent in it, hahaha. Tell Grandma and Grandpa thanks for the nice book too! It was fun opening up that package. All the zone was there when I opened it up and everybody was jealous of that tie - a nice thick fatty. Automatically missionaries began to break the 10th commandment because of that tie. (Don't covet :D)

The senior couple/zone leaders pick up the mail everytime they're in Valsayn. We're about an hour and a half away from the mission home, so we can't go pick it up ourselves.

I really don't know much else to say. Things are going great for me and I'm loving Trinidad. The people are a lot less friendly and the members could care less about you, but other than that it's sweet. Haha.

I love ya all.

Elder Morris

PS: Thanks for the advice Mom and Dad. It'll help. BTW Dad, a lot of the stuff in the book you're reading, we are already doing in the mission! I can't talk much about it but just know that I do know some stuff about that ;)

December 28, 2009

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas in Trinidad was an interesting experience!

Christmas eve, we just went around to members all day because no one wanted to talk to us. The streets were flooded with people buying last minute gifts, just how they are back home. Sham, the coolest guy here, made us ham and cheese sandwiches with onions and they were delicious. We watched "Joseph Smith, The Prophet of the Restoration" with him and his family. He is 29, sweetest guy ever, living with his Mom and Dad. Not married yet. Going to the temple in Utah in September or later. He is legit. Had a fun time with him. We went around to other members all day it was just the most fun there. Haha.

Christmas morning, woke up, then went to our 6 inch Christmas tree where my gift from the Branch President was wrapped. I opened it up and inside was...a TIE!! It was actually pretty nice. A light blue one. We got ready for the day, and got picked up by the Mortons to go to San Fernando where we were going to an orphanage. 12 of us missionaries and the 2 senior couples were there and we sang Christmas songs, did comedy skits, and then dressed all the kids up as wise men, angels, etc. We had them perform a little nativity. It was fun! One of the kids, they were all saying, didn't get any gifts. His gift was that a family from the states was flying him to the US so he could have a FAMILY for Christmas. What a better gift than that? It was a cool experience.

After that, we went to the Mission Home for Lunch and a program. President Gamiette's kids were all there along with all the missionaires and couples throughout Trinidad. President's children are the sweetest coolest kids ever...French Speaking that is. My nieces and Bryce owns all the other ones. This little girl, Amy, is like 3 and she has the cutest smile ever. She would run around and just hang out with all us missionaries. It reminds me of President Monson and how his family was over the Canada Mission. While they were there his wife Frances had a child. How fun would that be? Haha the miossionaries cared for it like their own sister. The lunch was fantastic. President Gamiette is a whiz at ping pong so a table was set up and missionaries were trying to beat him. Elder Nielsen and Elder Beeson actually came pretty close. Elder Mcintosh, a senior, did a cheesy hilarious magic show, and then we just had a talent show with everybody. It was a fun time. After that we went home and enjoyed the rest of the evening talking to our FAMILIES!!!! That was the sweetest thing ever. I thought it'd be different. But it was just fun to relax and gaff with my family. I was laying on the roof of our apartment (little flat concrete roof) looking up at the coconut trees and stars while talking to the people I love. So much fun. I loved to hear from everyone. Amber and Dave, I will talk to you on Mother's day! I wanted to talk to you guys on Christmas but you'll just have to wait 5 months. :D. Hahaha.

Apart from that we had a great week. Elder Jones and I are getting along a lot better. He is a little ADHD. Well a lot ADHD, but we've had some good fun. We're working a lot harder and better. It'll be a fun next few weeks. It was fun with the holidays but I've had enough of being hassled by horribly drunk or hung over people. Haha.

I didn't mention that for 2010, the baptismal requirements in the mission have been raised completely. In the past, they had to be at church 2 times, and be able to get through the baptismal interview. Now they have to have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon being the most correct book in the world, and Joseph Smith being truly a prophet. A lot of other things as well. They have to be at church all 3 hours three weeks in a row. They have to read the Book of Mormon 14 days in a row. There is a ton more but that's just an idea. It will be extremely harder but in return the church will in fact be built. The people brought into the church sill be ones that will help prepare Trinidad and the rest of the West Indies for a temple. Our goal is 1000 endowed members in the mission. President Gamiette said "That's a Temple!" His goal is by the end of his mission, having the West Indies prepared for a temple. It'll be SWEET.

Basically it was a great week. I loved talking to my family. Loved it. Can't wait for Mother's Day. I was able to talk to Grandma and Grandpa which I loved! I miss everyone so much. But I know I'm out here for a reason. How great it is to be doing the same thing that the missionaries of old were doing: Brigham Young and Samuel Smith in Europe, Joseph Smith himself in Canada, the apostles in the east 2000 years ago. I am really out here on behalf of my Heavenly Father. Like Joseph Smith said. "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" I love this work :D.

Elder Morris