Time flies when you have none of it.

Hey family!

I don't have much time to write this week, because I have to finish up some stuff for school that's due in a couple weeks (aka a couple days missionary time because of pdays) but here a few of the fun things that have happened :)

This week at the Visitors Center has been so different. It has been the first week that has been significantly slow. There are only like 5-6 families that come in during one shift, which is SOOO strange and different from when I got here. In July, there would be 700-800 people coming in each day, and now it's around 150 people. But it is so great because there is so much time to study which is such a blessing.   

This week we have been focused on getting all of our teaching records and paperwork inputted in the iPad which is... So fun. Haha, but it really is a blessing to be able to go through all of the old and current investigators in the area. It is really helping us to know our area so much better. Last week and the next two weeks, we are still trying to spend 2 hours a day working on it. 

Back to the visitors center though.. There was the CUTEST couple that came through the VC the other day. They are from São Paulo Brazil and are the managers of the Brazil MTC. They joined the church when they were 16 and 18 years old and it has been their dream to come to independence since then and they finally were able to come. They were just so happy to be here. I wish I could describe them better to you all in an email.. The most humble, kind, loving people. They wanted to film the entire tour so they could take their institute class on a "tour" through the VC. #presh I grabbed a Portuguese Book of Mormon from the Book of Mormon table on our way down to do the history tour so I could share the scriptures I wanted to in their language. The wife got so excited when she found out. Ahh, I love the VC and all the people we get to meet that come in. 

And speaking of visitors that i love that come into the visitors center.. SUMMER! 

She came to visit on her way back up to school. And wow. It made my day. It was soo good to see her :)

She even played in the cabin with me.. Hehe. Jk,   BUT she did let me give her more than one hug, my roommates will all know the miracle that that is :)

ALSO, speaking of another highlight of the week, I introduced the Willis House to cookie logs :) happy to announce they all fell in love with it. It was worth guarding the cookie dough for a week from my companion ;) 

And .5 seconds later.... Gone. 

Yesterday we got to see Kyle at the VC. He is getting ready to be baptized in a couple weeks and we can't wait! :)

All the VC sisters went to waffle Wednesday breakfast at the Torontos house! They are the directors of the VC and the Liberty jail. 

Sister Hansen and I went to this place in the square that has all these different types of hot dogs and I got a Hawaiian hot dog. Haha who knew those even existed. 

And now to today! PDAY! It was soo great. We found e cutest little old soda fountain shop and ice cream parlor on the square. Family... I'm taking you here. Their sundaes are TO DIE FOR. and I like I already emailed to yall, they have frosties there :) so Texas Fam... Life is good here :) just patiently waiting for bluebell 

Oh ALSO! I don't know how I forgot, but once again, miracles happen. Yesterday we were fasting for one of our investigators and so many prayers were answered. Ahh! It's so hard to describe miracles like this and just stories in general in an email, but know that your Heavenly Father loves you and is aware of your needs, feelings, and desires. He never ceases to amaze me. He answers every single prayer. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have and we all have to have the help of our Heavenly Father in our lives. Guys, (even though we aren't allowed to use that word in the VC. Hah #sistermissionaryproblems) this gospel brings so much happiness to everyone's lives. I LOVE being able to share it with the people here and the people that come into the VC. Lives are changed because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And miracles happen. 

I love you all so much. Don't forget to pray each morning and night everyone :)

Sister Morgan

Hola Amigos!

You all are sick of me saying this... But this week (again) was FULL of miracles!

Also ps. My sweet sis Lynds updated my blog with all the pictures that didn't go through last week. Haha (sistermorganinmissouri.blogspot.com) 

Anyways, back to this week. So many exciting things happened. Here are the top 5:

- our investigator, Kyle. Ahh! We invited him to be baptized on Friday and he said yes! He has been wanting to be baptized for a while now, he has just been wanting his mom and dad to be more supportive and they have been gradually becoming more supportive. This Sunday at church, he was soo happy. It is so amazing to see him progress and see him change so much from the time we first met him. This gospel changes lives! He has so much light about him and is always so happy.

"When you choose to follow Jesus Christ, you choose to be changed" -President Benson

 And THEN, yesterday, we got a call from a woman in our ward, whose son (John) has been really good friends with him and said that Kyle has some news for us but wanted to tell us in person.... So he came to the Visitors' Center while we were on shift to tell us. He came running in and was so happy and said that his dad said he could tell baptized and that he wanted us to push his baptism date up a week so that his friend, John, could be there and baptize him before he heads off to school. We are planning on September 5 for his baptism and we are all soo excited for him!! Miracles happen people. I can't even describe to you the feeling of joy that comes from watching and helping people change their lives around and seeing them find so much joy in the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Thank you so much for the prayers that were directed to him this past week. It is through faith, that miracles are brought about! 

Quick scripture break before we move onto the next miracle:

Moroni 7:35-37. I love these scriptures that I read this morning. Has God ceased to be a God of miracles? Absolutely not. I can testify that He still is and always will be a God of miracles. 

- so, this whole week has been a miracle. We found 7 new investigators, which is, for us, HUGE! All of the investigators we found are solid too. They all really want to learn more. Three of those investigators speak Spanish.... And only Spanish. Ha. I want to tell you Rosa Maria's story. We found her when we were looking for a less active member in her apartment complex. And we were able to set up a return appointment with her for Sunday. Before I go on, quick shout out to my mom, dad, and Sr. Peterson. Thank you so so sooo much for giving me the opportunity to learn so much Spanish. 

Anyways, we have been studying so much Spanish up until Sunday. And praying so much for the ability to teach this lady in her native language. I have read a whole 4 chapters from the Spanish Book of Mormon (ha which is not a lot for the amount of time I spent haha)

Anyways, fast forward to the lesson. We were able to teach the whole first lesson (the Restoration) in Spanish. And... I think she understood it! Haha jk, she did. Thank goodness for the members. I was trying to translate back and forth for Sister Hansen throughout the lesson. And wow, everything that I was understanding and was able to speak in the lesson was because of the help of God. It was incredible. When we were telling her the first vision, the spirit was so strong and seriously the whole lesson, the spirit was so strong. We were talking with her about how Christ came to the Americas after He was resurrected. And we read in 3 Nephi 11 with her of when Christ came to preach to the Nephites. Ahh! Guys! We invited her to baptized and she said maybe and told us that she already knew that Christ came to the Americas (wow. sooo prepared for this message!!) she told us of these dreams that she has had.. Pretty much exactly what we read in chapter 11. 

And yeah.. Miracles happen. I can promise you all that everything and anything Rosa Maria learned in that lesson was through the Spirit, and not through what we were telling her... Because.. Well... We don't know Spanish!!! Haha. Heavenly Father is preparing everyone to hear and accept His gospel and it is such a blessing to be able to see that. 

- we went to the Kansas City Temple on Saturday to do baptisms with Randy, one of our recent converts and it was such an incredible experience. 

The temple is amazing. The opportunity that we all have to be sealed to our families for eternity in these temples is so incredible and such a blessing! I can't even begin to describe to you how important temples are and my feelings towards the blessings that come from them. 

- this week is going to be an absolutely crazy one. We are transitioning EVERYTHING over to iPads. And our mission president wants what normally takes other missions months to transition and record everything to take 1 WEEK for this mission.... Haha yeah. We are supposed to spend two hours each day transitioning our records to the iPad. Which... When we already have a 6 hour VC shift, 3 hours of study, 7 new investigators to try to visit, and other appointments to teach, it can be hard to find the time.

- and, I can't remember what the fifth thing was that I was going to tell you, so I just want to tell you that I love you all. And want to let you know how much I LOVE this gospel and how much it changes lives. If you haven't read the Book of Mormon, read it. If you haven't prayed, pray. And if you have done both of those things, keep doing them. This gospel is for anyone and everyone. Jesus Christ lives everyone. He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and died on the cross for you. He knows everything you are going through and is always there to help you and comfort you. He has never and will never forget about you. Don't forget about Him!

Love you all,

Sister Morgan

Long time, no see... Or email. Haha

Sooo... I just typed up a loonng email for y'all andddd.. It got erased 

So talk to ya next week! Ha. Just kidding. But seriously, technology sometimes. 

First things first.. First transfers! And welcome to Tuesday p-day with this transfer! I am staying in my ward (inde 4th ward) which I am sooo happy about. I love it. I could seriously serve my whole mission in this ward and be totally okay with it. The members are amazing and I love all the people we meet in the area. 

Yesterday, we took one of the youth in the ward out with us on a team up and it was so fun! We found 3 new investigators with her there! #miracle

We also had the BEST day on Thursday with the youth. We taught them their mutual activity lesson and it was soo fun. We tried to give them a little MTC experience. We taught them our favorite parts of the plan of salvation. (This is the part that I had typed out in my last email but.... It was soo long. Haha. So maybe another time. We gave the a lesson that focused on the scripture, Moses 1:39, which I could literally talk to you about for hours, so it will probs come up another week)

But we shared with them how much our Heavenly Father and Savior love us. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, died for us in order for us to have the opportunity to experience eternal life and be able to live in God's presence. 

Then, we talked to them about missionary work and finding missionary opportunities. That was my favorite part. We got to teach them all about using social media for sharing the gospel and invited them all to make a Mormon.org profile and share it online (soo... Here's mine, we always like to do the same commitments we leave with people we teach haha. http://www.mormon.org/me/H6QC/Cydne). We also challenged them to share a Book of Mormon with a friend of acquaintance at school this school year and helped the, find ways to do that. The Book of Mormon is amazing. If any of you haven't read it, read it. It changes lives. 

Ah! I LOVE working with the youth. It is my favorite thing. And I still consider myself a youth, so really it's just a party. We even snuck into the Laurel class at church this week because we couldn't stay away :) ALSO, we got the idea we had for mini-missions approved by the bishop! We are having youth come out with us for a whole weekend and be our "mini-missionary". We are gonna have them sleepover with us and do a shift at the VC! I'm so excited for it :)

Afterwards at the VC... We may or may not have blasted efy music in the car all the way there. He he. 

Last p-day, my bae, Hermana Cuevas taught us how to make arroz con leche :) she is the cutest person ever. She was having all the American sisters teach her all the English slang and idioms. Haha, "bae" is one of them. 

Hermana Cuevas got transferred to someone in Kansas which was so sad. We had to say goodbye to her Thursday morning :( 

Afterwards, Sister Hansen and I took all the new missionaries that came in (29!) through the VC in the morning before they met their new companions. It was so fun. 

Also with transfers, we got a sister from Tonga that is serving in the VC and that lives in the Willis house with us :) Sister Hafoka. I told her I was on Tonga last summer and her face was priceless. Haha. Here's us at the temple lot across the street from the VC. Ps. She has the prettiest hair in the world. I told her she can't wear her hair in a bun anymore after I saw it down. She just laughed. Haha. It is seriously so long though. 

Poor sis hurt her knee the other day in p-day sports so we made her roll around in this all day. Haha. We got to act out one of the scenes in God's Plan for His Family with her as the grandma. Feat. Sis. Helmbold as grandpa. Hahahah

The Wednesday before transfers they have a departure breakfast for all the sisters that are going home that were serving in the VC and the Liberty Jail, which means we had to say goodbye to Sister K. Hansen. 

She is seriously amazing. She gave me so much perspective and motivation to be diligent on the mission. She has a testimony like none other.   Here are all the sisters from the breakfast :)

Miracle moment: we had a lesson with our investigator on Friday and wow. So many miracles I could tell you about in that short amount of time. But, his sweet mom finally agreed to sit in on the lesson! The lesson was the best we've ever taught. The Spirit was so strong and they were both so focused (which is abnormal) it was a miracle. We taught the Restoration to them and invited her to read the Book of Mormon.    Another miracle.. Normally, there are like 10 people over at their house and it's always madness and so just having it be them two was amazing. No joke, as soon as we said the "Amen" to the closing prayer, the door opened and the rest of the family came home from the pool.  #tendermercies

They also invited us to their Civil War reenactment on Saturday which was soo fun!

Kyle was so happy that we came. Haha he showed us everything in the little "village" including the tent he slept in the other night...

He said they didn't smile back in Civil War times so he wouldn't smile for any of our pictures. Haha. He came to church on Sunday with his beard shaved off! And walked in with the biggest smile ever. It was the cutest thing. He was so happy to be at church. It was the best. Please pray for Kyle and his mom, Candi. They are so amazing and it has been such a blessing to witness all the miracles that have happened in the last two months. We are hoping to put Kyle on date to get baptized later this month! :)

We "introduced" (we can't call it hazing... He he. Jk. It really wasn't) the new Willis sisters to the Willis dungeon. Aka our sketchy basement that we get to hang out in during tornados :)

That awkward moment when Jehovah's Witnesses leave this on the door of the house that 8 Mormon missionaries live at. Haha.

Oh and also!

I caught a firefly this week finally! Except the picture doesn't show it :(

Everyone.. I love you all. So much. I love hearing from you. And wow. I hope EVERYONE is having fun in Hawaii! Haha. I mean... Missouri's got the humidity, the heat, and all the Polynesian people though :) just missing the ocean I guess. Haha. 

I hope you are all having a great last few weeks of summer :)

Thanks so much for the support and all you do for me. Remember to pray everyday this week and read the scriptures. You really will begin to notice a difference in your life as you make those a priority. :)

Here's some fun things to check out this week:

Love,
Sister Morgan

2 months!

Hello family,

So many thoughts for you all this week. 

I just wish I could share with you everything that goes on here each week along with everything that I have learned, but it really would be impossible to do that. 

But, fortunately, every single one of us has the opportunity to learn just as much through the Spirit. We can each learn from our Father in Heaven what we are supposed to be doing in our lives as individuals. What a blessing that is. I can't even begin to describe how incredible this Gospel is. 

I am so looking forward to this Thursday when we have the opportunity to teach the Young Women in mutual about missionary work. It is something that stuck out to me after hearing their testimonies after they went on a church history tour. I may have already said this a couple of weeks ago, but the youth of the church are incredible.  Just reading emails from my sissies about efy, girls camp, and missionary experiences that they've had truly shows that better than me just saying that does. And hearing the testimonies of the youth was and always is life changing. I want every youth and every single person on the earth to have that fire. That fire for the truth and the Gospel. It changes lives. 

As my companion and I have been studying for this mutual activity, which is so important to us, we both have thought that it would be so important to just teach them principles in the Gospel before we talk about how to share it, etc. So that is what we are doing. I am so stoked. 

We are going to teach them about the Plan of Salvation and how necessary it is in everyone's life and how much we NEED our Savior. God's whole plan for us on this earth is centered around Jesus Christ. We need Him. 

Ah! I am getting so pumped just typing this out. Again, it is truly impossible to tell you all everything right now but I just want each and every one of you to know that your Heavenly Father has a plan for you. You are loved. And you are here to find that plan that he has for you. I was reading in Helaman the other day and these two verses really stuck out to me.

 Helaman 14:30-31.  (Go look them up)

We are all given agency. As I was reading that, I was really understanding how important agency really is. And how that shows how much Heavenly Father loves us. He wants us to be happy so deeply that He is willing to let us choose where we want to be after this life. Obviously, He wants us to return to live with Him and have eternal life, but He and our Savior want us to want that as well. How incredible is that!? 

Use that agency. Choose to do good. Choose to learn more of your Savior. Choose to accept Him and follow Him. Make the decisions and choices necessary in this life that you will be able to have the opportunity to hear Him praise you for your life here when that time comes. 

I love you all so much. I can't even begin to say how much. 

So anyways, I hope you enjoyed that little sneak peek into my thoughts. Haha. This gospel is just so so amazing. 

And if you care to keep reading about how my week went... Ha

The trailer park neighborhood seems to be our favorite because we somehow happen to be here everyday. Haha. It really is great though. And this is a cute little puppy we were so tempted to take home with us the other day. It was so crazy and cute. I fell in love. 

We are in the process of teaching a few people in that neighborhood right now. It is so awesome to witness miracles in other people's lives. Getting to see people change because of this gospel is such a blessing. 

We had a a mid-training conference meeting this week (apparently normally it's a conference call). They are having some people train new missionaries this transfer that have only been out 6 weeks because President is trying to increase the experience of the mission quickly because these next three transfers, we are losing 90 missionaries and getting 90 new missionaries. The meeting was so so good. I honestly can't remember too much what the training was about, but the Spirit was so strong. We learned so much about the Savior's life and His Atonement.

Oh, and yes, transfers are this week. So this next transfer, my p-day will be on Tuesday!

Saturday, we helped out with a baptism of two kids in our ward. It was so fun. And exciting to see their excitement. I wish I remembered my baptism more! Haha

Today, Willis House got together and had breakfast together. Sister Helmbold and Marshall made us all French toast. I love these girls so much. It has been such a tender mercy to be able to live with all of them this transfer and get to know them so well. VC life is the best. 

My mind is running blank on what else happened this week... Haha. The weeks go by way too fast here. Can you believe I've already been out 2 months!?!  Crazy stuff. 

Anyways, I hope you all have a fantastic week. Don't forget to read your scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, and pray every single day :) I'm being serious though, do it. 

Jesus Christ, our Savior, lives. 

WATCH THIS VIDEO. It plays on loop at the VC at one of the displays. So sometimes I find the song make an appearance in my dreams ... And oops.. Sometimes in my prayers. Haha but it is truly amazing. As you watch it, think of your Savior and think of everything He has done for you and what He continues to do for you each and every day. 

He Lives - Celebrate Easter Because Jesus Christ Lives

Love,
Sister Morgan