March 15, 2010
Hello America!

The other day when we were at Ruby Tuesday's there was a white family there from Mesa, Arizona. They said they're the only non-LDS on the street. Haha kinda funny. They were going to Park City next week to go skiing.

We...............(drumroll)..........had a baptism Saturday!! It was great. Trini Time helped it start 1 hour late but it was a great baptism. Very spiritual. It's always good to have baptisms especially future Melchizidek priesthood holders and future missionaries. Amos is way excited and a legit guy.

Another great week. We continue to see many miracles coming our way. Our baptism we had planned for this Saturday couldn't come to church so Olivia will be getting baptized in a couple weeks. Also that awesome family of 4 we found couldn't come as well but are way excited and want to be baptized. It's all in how you teach the first lesson and how they understand how the priesthood keys were restored. We learned a lot from president. We had great success this week. 5 investigators came to church, one family that can't get baptized because the parents aren't married and are illegal from Guyana. But.... somehow the Lord will provide a way. That's Simone and her family. Way cool. Then this lady Jacqueline who is rather crazy but she has a baptism date for the 27th. Things are looking pretty good. Elder Beeson and I are still doing great.

We tried out a new way of planning the week and it has helped a LOT. We have had members teaching with us every day and it is extremely effective. More investigators are excited about coming to church, more members are excited about missionary work. Members that wouldn't teach with us before all of a sudden are asking when they can come teaching. I don't want to leave this area at all. Haha.

We had Papa John's twice this week. Talk about FANTASTIC. It tasted like real pizza. Mozzarella cheese and everything. In the Caribbean they have this "New Zealand cheddar cheese" which really should be called "fake cheese made from cardboard and dirt". Haha Mario's pizza parlour uses that cheese on their pizza which doesn't end well usually.

This morning we played basketball and we had a blast. We dominated.... again! Haha We had 4v4v4. One team would rest while the other two would play. Elder Huntsman, Beeson, and Jones and I took everybody for all they had and more. Haha just kidding it wasn't really that good but we had fun. My favorite play was me posting up on the box against my defender, then Beeson who was up top would lob the ball under the basket over my defender while I cut and make layups all day. I wish I could shoot but it was cool.

I dunno what to say more. This past week was great. This coming week will also be wonderful. It was good to hear from everybody. Dad, I do notice "do good, be good, aim high." It was in a conference talk last October. Of course I remember! Also dad, we have the same problems. We usually catch up on lessons and investigators on Saturday or Friday because most people are home but we don't work as hard or effectively on Tuesday and Wednesday. I would love to fix that problem as well.

It sounds like things are going good.. I love ya. Keep being awesome. Tell Ryan to behave himself. Hah.

Elder Morris

PS: I haven't taken many pictures this transfer so I will repent and take more. I really don't have much recent ones to send.

PPSS: It just started to pour! Hasn't rained in about 2 months. FINALLY!!!!

March 8, 2010
Hey Everyone –

Things have been going great. We have a baptism this Saturday, and we have been teaching a SWEET family of 4 that should be getting baptized in a few weeks.

Right now I’m sweaty and dirty for we just got done playing American football in Arima. Our team killed. 10-5. (10 TD’s) Haha there was this one play where I faked out my defender, caught the ball, then the safety was comin at me but I juked him out of his boots! TD for the Chupacabras! We had a blast.

The zone is still doing very well with the Zone standard. We worked our butts off this week again and saw the Lord step in again and help us out. We needed a lot of help and received it.

Amos is doing great. Yesterday we had a lesson with him and he’s been preparing for this Saturday and he asked us in the lesson, “Am I getting baptized too soon?” We read Mosiah 18:8-10 with him and the spirit was felt way strong. He sat there for a second after we talked about the scripture then just said, “I feel so light, man I gotta get baptized soon! I’m ready!” Haha he was so excited. He was lookin sharp at church. Nice tie, slacks, shoes, all excited about everything. He’s 19 and wants to serve a mission. Pictures will be sent next week of him. Haha he is a legit guy.

About pictures. I have the memory card reader I just haven’t found the time to send pictures. We might become the office elders soon with a car which will enable us to use the computers to transfer and burn a DVD of pictures I can send home which will be sweet. We’ll see though. If we were to go into the office every day it would just be for an hour or two and we’d share the Assistant’s investigators. Sounds like a cool deal. We’d get a car out of it haha.

We’ve been doing pretty good lately. Me and Elder Beeson are good friends by now and am having a blast serving with him. We also have a lot of fun living with the assistants.

Oooh almost forgot. We got to take out the new missionaries with us on Tuesday when they came in. Went on splits and taught some cool lessons. It was fun to talk to guys that were home a month ago. Haha kinda weird. Luckily it didn’t make me trunky. They were pretty cool. Oh I didn’t even mention. I’ll be staying in SanJuan for another transfer. Haha it started this past week, just forgot to tell ya.

Well I really wish I had more to talk about. Dad it sounds like you did a great job on your talk at stake conference. You’ll have to send me your talk. Also, Dad, what happened to all those quotes and stuff you’d send from your leadership books? Haha just kidding I know you’re busy.

I love ya and know that I’m doing fine. I’m being taken care of.

One love,

Elder Morris

March 1, 2010

Good Afternoon!

So basically this week was absolutely amazing. At zone conference last week we set a standard of excellence of our key indicators: 10 member lessons, 11 new investigators, 10 referrals, and 5 baptism dates. By Friday we only had 4 new investigators and things were looking very, very down. I began to pray harder than I ever had before. Friday during the day was not good at all, but then near the evening we found 5 new investigators, taught 4 member lessons, and received 2 referrals, set 2 more baptism dates. Wow!! This past week I prayed so hard that Heavenly Father would help us reach our goals and that He’d step in and help where we needed it. He definitely did. We saw so many miracles this week. We ended up reaching and exceeding by a lot our goals for the week. We were able to help out other areas that were suffering. Trinidad North Zone hasn’t had this good of a week for so long. We tore it up.

We had stake conference on Sunday, the 2nd ever in Trinidad. They called the first stake patriarch of Trinidad which was awesome. Now people will be able to receive their patriarchal blessings. It was a great meeting. They’re basically focusing on the members putting their focus on the temple. It was sweet. We were able to get 2 investigators at the stake conference. We were lucky because it was in Port of Spain which is about 20 minutes travel time.

Amos, our investigator getting baptized next week Saturday is awesome. He is so excited to share the gospel. He knows its true and he loves the Book of Mormon. He’s 19 and so he wants to serve a mission as well. His friend, Jeremy King, who is a member, has been teaching him when we can’t meet with him so that has been working great. He will be baptized on the 13th. He’ll definitely be ready. With stake conference they had a young single adults activity in San Fernando on Friday, about 40 minutes drive, and he went! He has a great support system which is key; 3 member friends. Perfect. Haha. He went to stake conference as well.

Anthony came to stake conference. He is very femme. Sister Kotiah picked him up. He’s moving to Port of Spain. Everyone thinks that he is well, gay. But, he’s never told us and he has accepted the Law of Chastity so I guess he’ll still be taught by the missionaries in Port of Spain. I don’t know what’ll happen there.

We have some other great investigators that we’re working with. Things are really looking great in San Juan. This past week pumped us up and we’re way stoked to get going and do the work. I LOVE THIS WORK SO MUCH. I am so happy right now writing this email. You should think about coming to pick me up. The West Indies is just something you just have to experience. Elder Beeson and Elder Prince have people picking them up. We all go home the same time so we could organize a sweet expedition to Guyana, seeing Kaieteur Falls, the rainforest, the Amerindian villages, the beaches in the islands. I don’t know, just food for thought. I love this mission so much! I wish I could show ya what it is like.

I got the Valentines package!!! I loved it. Definitely was packed with awesome stuff. The Twinkies were a bit much. Here I am trying to keep the weight off. Haha. Nah it was awesome. I got the memory card reader but I couldn’t use it at this internet shop so I will be able to send pictures home soon, wasn’t able to today though. Sorry!

I was definitely sad to hear about Grandma but I’m happy she left this life peacefully. I know the Plan of Salvation is real and true. I know I’ll see her again. I love this gospel so dang much. It is the only thing that really brings us true happiness. It sounds like the family is doing well. I love you guys so much!

Elder Morris

PS: This past week I bought some soccer jerseys and some other stuff. We ran out of mission funds yesterday so I’ve used personal money more than usual. I don’t know how much is left but I need to take out a few hundred just to have some cash in case I need to buy something. That’s 50 US. Haha.

Love ya!

February 22, 2010



Hello from the Caribbean!



We made it out safely from Carnival. All the missionaries in North Zone went to Curepe’s apartment except us and the assistants so we had some fun just chillin’ at home. On Monday, we went to the office to do some work there and then went to Curepe to have a ping-pong tournament and played the game Signs with 16 people. So much fun. We had a blast. It felt weird just chilling not doing any missionary work but rules are rules. We didn’t hear much music, didn’t see anything bad, which was opposite of what people told us it would be. We figured that it got bad on the main road and in Port of Spain - centers of strength. After Signs we went back to our apartment. It was in the middle of Carnival. We had to cross the main road to get to our apartment and it was just FULL of people holding 2 or more beer bottles and dancing around like they were mad. Lots of crazy costumes like Halloween and stuff too. We got out of there FAST and luckily didn’t see much. Over Carnival we played Monopoly 3 times. Elder Scott, like in Georgetown, Guyana, re-did the chance cards and community chest and made it CRAZY. We had a blast.



This week really was a week to remember. Loved it ALL. Wednesday morning the ZLs picked us up, and the whole zone went to this campground up in the mountains next to Correr River or something like that. There we had a zone study. There was a big log in the river, which was just a slow creek, that half of us sat on and we had our feet in the water up to just below our knees for like 2 and a half hours. We talked about what we wanted out of zone conference and what we were going to do to make it the best one yet. We all decided to fast and pray for it and we had a great talk about the atonement. Two in the zone, Elder Duncan and Sookram are going home so we talked about them and what they’ve done in their missions and it was just a way spiritual experience. Loved it.



Thursday we had Zone Conference. The actual conference lasted from 9-4. Then lunch/dinner at 4. The Zone conference was absolutely phenomenal. I wish I could tell you all the things I learned. A lot of sweet stuff about the plan of salvation and how the Celestial Kingdom is the easiest kingdom to get to because the rest have to suffer for their sins because they didn’t take advantage of the atonement. There was a lot more to it but the Assistants and President Gamiette taught us some amazing stuff. The mission is making great strides lately and things are going to be SWEET.



We find out about transfers this Thursday. Should be interesting. Seven new English speakers are coming so a lot of people think that either me or elder Beeson will train. It’ll be fun to see. I’d love to. Elder Prince is just TEARING IT UP in St. Lucia. I wish I could be there with him. One of the best missionaries in the mission. So great.



This week was a bit of a disappointment with our investigators. None of our progressing investigators made it to church. They have been looking so great. Anthony and Nadia are awesome. Nadia is reading the Book of Mormon, asking questions, but she’s afraid to come to church cause she barely knows how to get around in Trinidad. Anthony couldn’t come so Nadia didn’t come on our own. Nadia is still sweet. Anthony is moving to Port of Spain though which is sad.



I feel so great about the work right now. I’m excited to get going and do what the Lord wants me to do. Inside I feel the Spirit more and more. Things are just sweet right now. I realized this week that we represent Christ in San Juan. Like it hit me harder than ever before. I can only be that representative of him for 15 more months. I love this work.



It sounds like everything is crazy back home. It’s always sad to hear about Grandma but I hope she passes away peacefully, and soon. It’s been very hard on everyone it seems. I wish Uncle Craig had the knowledge that we do that if he does indeed come unto Christ he’ll be able to live with them again. It is so real, the spirit has just told me over and over that it is.



I love you all!

Elder Morris



PS: Yes I talked to Elder Richardson on the phone. We were at Sister Doris and Rita's house, 2 cousins from Guyana, (SWEET MEMBERS) that feed us every Sunday after church. They are so cool! It was fun to talk to him, kinda weird though. Just did for a minute or two though.

February 15, 2010



Hello.

We... have.... new email addresses! So. My new email is nathan.morris@myldsmail.net. Check that. There's a DOT in between my name. Hah. I tried to have it the same but it didn't work.

We're in the office because the AP's were asked by President who is in Grenada with his family on vacation to write the weekly email to the missionaries. Checked my email.

The new email address is done with Gmail which is sweet. Looks exactly like Gmail from home and everything. Sweet.

So with Carnival and everything, we didn't get very many people at church. Anthony and Nadia didn't come, but they still are progressing and doing well, I just don't know what happened. We'll see what happens.

We had a great week but with Carnival and everything it was pretty crazy especially how the bars were full and also the parking lots were full which isn't such a good sign. We had to go in early yesterday and Saturday just a couple hours just cause things started getting pretty crazy.

Sounds like everything is doing fine at home. I didn't get Dad's email. One thing, there's a 3 hour difference and so if Dad sends his email at 9 o clock in the morning your time it gets here for me at 12. Sometimes we email in the mornings like this on P-days.

Can't really write much more than that other than I love ya. I'll write a bit more on Thursday or so when we do 40 days to Zion.

Love,

Elder Morris

February 11, 2010

Hey Everyone-
This week was such a great week. Awesome! There were ups and downs but, in the end it was sweet.

News about Louis. He was supposed to be baptized Saturday, but...he didn't. The interview was Thursday so we went over with the District Leader, Elder Bryan, and Louis was scared out of his mind. We got talking and Louis just wasn't ready yet. We taught a good lesson, helped calm his down then set a date for the next weekend. Well, he was in Port of Spain of Friday and Saturday then Sunday, he didn't come to church. We tried and tried to meet with him. Went to his house. All the lights on, door cracked open, they didn't come to the door. I guess he got freaked out. He should have been baptized a month ago but all this extra time he's had has made him freak out. We're still going to try with him but it's really too bad. The missionaries before failed to set a baptismal date, which is KET. If you're not working towards a date, you're not really working towards anything. He didn't have one before we got here, then we seet one and worked towards it, did everything we could have. We're going to try this week to get him to church.

News about Anthony. Anthony has been progressing GREAT. He is excited, reading the Book of Mormon. He came to church and we went by about 4 later after church and he told us that he's prayed about it, received an answer and is willing to do absolutely anything to prepare for his baptism on the 20th. He's way ready and very excited.

This week was fantastic. We worked extremely hard, relied on the Lord, and we saw the fruits of our efforts. We have 4 people getting ready to be baptized. We have a strong ward, where some of the members get together and teach others. We taught this guy Amos who is friends with a strong member, Jeremy. Amos had been taught the whole restoration by Jeremy when we met him. Way excited to be baptized. Things are going extremely well in San Juan.

Next week for Carnival, everyone in the Trinidad North zone are coming to our apartment. 16 missionaries in one apartment. It is going to be crazy. Good thing I get my own bed. Haha. It'll be way fun though apart from the really loud soca music and dancehall. We'll have to cover the windows. It's said that of the people on the streets, over 90 percent of them are half naked. Not good at all. We'll have a ping pong table, football, and board games to keep us busy from Sunday afternoon to Wednesday Night. It's not too good of a holiday. Sure it would be cool to see one of the craziest holidays in the world but...as a missionary? Not for me.

Thank you so much for your support. I love all you guys. The work is going fantastic and we're having a great time. About writing letters to converts, I think it's a great idea. I'll have a list for you next email home of people you could write a letter or send an email to. They'd love it. Also, next time I email might be Saturday due to the Carnival. I'll find out then let you know when we get on Thursday to do 40 days to Zion.

Hey, question, when is the package supposed to be here? Thanks for sending it btw. I'm excited to get it. And to send you pictures with the memory card reader!

Love ya!

Elder Morris

service for haiti

Sorting clothes for Haiti with Elder Beeson

Zone Conference

Christmas Day haircut by sister Bullock

Christmas 2009 - Service at the Orphanage

Christmas 2009 - Service at the Orphanage

Christmas 2009 - The Nativity

Feb 1, 2010

Hey!

THis week was quite a good one. We are having a baptism on Saturday, that's part of the good news. His name is Louis. He's about 26 years old, awesome guy. Had a bad past, but has a family now and wants to change. He is great. Loves coming to church each week. He has a 2 year old daughter, Renisha, that is hilarious yet very distracting when she sits there and screams at you. Haha.

Elder Beeson and I are having a great time. We're working very hard and it's just fun when you're doing everything you can to serve. He hurt his foot this week so it was a bit harder getting around but we made do. He is an awesome companion.

This week we did a LOT of service. The United Way for Trinidad and Tobago asked the church to send people to help sort food and clothing donations to be sent to Haiti. On P-Day of all days we went for like 4 hours. Then Wednesday we got asked to come back so we did that for another 4 hours. Took a lot of time out of proselytine, butu we did get a lot of work done. It's pretty cool to see that we really do know how to get things done. Who knew, the white boys know how to work!! As opposed to everyone thinking that we're very lazy and don't know how to work. On Friday we went to Curepe to help Elder Duncan and Elder Jones out doing some service and teaching lessons. They overbooked and couldn't change the appointments so me and Elder Duncan went and cleaned up this lady's yard for a few hours.

It was fun, this morning we played basketball at the Arima chapel. We had a way good time. Our team, the Assistants, Elder Beeson and I and Elder Duncan kicked butt. Way fun. I, however, haven't played forever so I wasn't too good. But it was fun anyways. Made a couple good drives. I love sports on P-day. We couldn't do that in South zone because Siparia was way far away from the other areas so we couldn't move to other areas. Elder Clark and Elder Carter call me from time to time and we chat about how Siparia is doing.

It was great to be able to talk to Grandma. She was able to talk for about 10 minutes which I was grateful for. Grandpa said she wanted to sit up to talk to her grandson on a mission. I love Grandma. Don't worry, I'm not worried about her. I am happy she's going in peace and that people are showing her that she is indeed loved very much. She said that she wanted to send me some money to buy a souvenir. I kept telling her not to warry and that I don't need anything but she wouldn't listen. Haha. Grandma is great. I love her a lot.

Ah. Here's something I can tell you about. Carnival!! Sounds nice, doesn't it? Biggest Holiday down here. Honestly, it is pretty much a holiday of sin. The streets get filled with people wearing barely any clothes, dancing to "soca" music and doing very very immoral things. The missionaries get shipped out and we can't go outside for 3 days. It starts on the 14th this month so two weeks from today. We go to Sangre Grande on Sunday then stay until Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday is when the streets are bad. Wednesday everyone goes to the beach to end the holiday with more badness. Sounds like fun right? One of the biggest tourist destinations in the Caribbean. The biggest one in the work is in Rio de Janeiro, Taylor's mission, so pray for him. Haha.

Curepe ward, the one we go to is awesome. There are some great member families that we can work with and it's the ward that President and his family go to. His family is pretty much one of the coolest families I've met. They are so cool haha. We stacked the chairs and Amy, the little 3 year old girl was climbing on the stacks. My back was turned to the stack of chairs talking with Elder Duncan and all of a sudden, she jumped on my back and grabbed onto my neck. Haha it was hilarious. She's crazy. Sister Gamiette got mad at her. Haha.

Well that's pretty much it folks. The mission is going SWEET. I am loving every minute of it. Can't ask for much more. Except packages and letters including lots of candy (including airheads, sour patch kids and watermelons, and Swedish fish.) Anything like unto it is great too! Ties....ties ties ties. My collection is large in stature but I could use a lot more. (Ryan that one is for you.) hahaha. I'm kiddin. This is a long list of demands. Just ideas of stuff you can send. Elder Barton got a package from his parents from dearelder.com and it had these cravers brand cookies with fudge on the bottom. They were absolutely phenomenal. Haha.

I love the Lord, love this mission, love the missionaries, and love my family back at home. I know this gospel is true and I know that as we seek guidance and counsel from the Lord we really can receive it. Just have faith.

Love ya -

Elder Morris

PS: Included is a picture I took in Guyana. I need a card reader for my memory cards so I can send new pictures. I lost my cord. Next package could you send me one? I need a good one that'll work for both XD picture cards and SD cards. Thank you! I love ya.

PPSS: I didn't get emails from Mom or Dad. If you had questions, I won't be able to answer them until next week. :D