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